Weeks After Hosting Disastrous Presidential Debate, Disney Initiates ‘Tough’ ABC News Layoffs
ABC News has recently announced the layoff of 75 employees across its national and local platforms as part of a broader transformation within the media industry. Executives, including ABC News President Almin Karamehmedovic, described these layoffs as difficult but necessary decisions aimed at adapting to the evolving media landscape and ensuring the organization can continue to deliver quality content. Chad Matthews, chief of ABC stations, reiterated the industry’s ongoing changes and the need for strategic decisions to shape the company’s future.
These layoffs come amid a restructuring process at parent company Disney, which has seen multiple rounds of layoffs across its divisions, including ESPN. The announcement follows a widely criticized presidential debate hosted by ABC, where moderators’ performances were seen as biased, leading to negative reviews and ratings for the network. Despite the layoffs, management has stated that they will not use these cuts to impact programming significantly, indicating that the changes are part of a continued effort to streamline operations in a challenging media environment.
Less than a month ago, ABC News was enjoying the political spotlight by virtue of hosting what would turn out to be the second and final presidential debate.
Fast forward several weeks — and through several scathingly bad reviews, as well — and ABC News is suddenly facing turbulent news.
According to multiple reports, ABC News recently made the “tough” choice to lay off 75 employees across both its national and local platforms.
The Hollywood Reporter noted that the layoffs will be split about evenly between the national platform and local stations.
Of note, it appears that no teams were wholesale axed, nor will any of the layoffs have any tangible impact on programming, according to Deadline.
Despite that, top ABC News executives labeled the layoffs as part of broader “tough decisions.”
“As you know, this has been happening across the broader company and the industry at large in recent weeks and months,” ABC News President Almin Karamehmedovic wrote in a Wednesday memo. “For us, it means shaping a team that embraces the new media landscape and evolves along with it, which we must do to continue serving our viewers.
“As we look to the future and refining a team that is not only capable of excellence in reporting and delivering the highest quality content but is also streamlined and sustainable, we must occasionally make some tough decisions.
“Unfortunately, today is one of those days.”
ABC stations chief Chad Matthews also echoed the sentiment that the establishment media landscape, as a whole, was changing.
“It’s no secret that our industry is undergoing a transformation unlike any other, and we’re seeing headlines every day about streamlining across every major media company,” Matthews noted. “While we’re not immune to the pressures facing this business today, we have been — and will continue to be — strategic with decisions about our organization’s future.”
The Reporter did point out that ABC News parent company Disney has been going through a months-long restructuring, which has included several rounds of layoffs.
But knowing that Disney was going through such dramatic reshuffling makes ABC News’ widely panned presidential debate even more peculiar.
The biased performances of debate moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis during the Sept. 10 debate was widely panned for being overtly friendly and neutered with Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, while being hostile and overly critical of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Many felt that the debate was, effectively, a three-on-one affair.
And those biting reviews were reflected almost immediately where it matters most for any news stations — in the ratings.
ABC News joins other Disney-owned entities, such as ESPN, in having faced fiscal-based layoffs lately.
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