By the numbers, ABC Information is prospering. Community information president Kim Godwin has notched, or not less than maintained, a number of wins since taking on in Could 2021. ABC Information continues to be the main broadcast information community, with the primary present within the morning (Good Morning America) and at night time (World Information Tonight With David Muir). Ask folks inside ABC Information what’s happening, nonetheless, and few will begin with the rankings, because the community has discovered itself within the headlines in current months over a raft of controversies and crises. Most notably, an extramarital affair between T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach, the coanchors of GMA3, the third hour of GMA, performed out within the tabloids. As the New York Put up declared in a front-page headline: “Good Moaning America!”
Godwin, initially concluding {that a} relationship between two consenting adults wasn’t in violation of firm coverage, determined to maintain the anchors on air even after the information of their affair broke in late November. At one level the hosts appeared to make a joke in regards to the scandal; the next week, Godwin benched them, and by late January, they had been out. Extra not too long ago, New York printed a narrative in regards to the “Horned Up” workplace tradition at ABC Information and urged that relationships on the community a decade again had been tied to some folks’s profession developments. In the meantime, frustrations with Godwin, each associated to the GMA3 scandal and her broader management, have been aired by Puck and the Every day Beast, complaints exacerbated by the notion amongst staffers that ABC Information wasn’t pushing again aggressively towards the unhealthy press. Publicly, Godwin’s voice was nowhere to be discovered because the tales piled up—the truth is, Godwin has hardly ever engaged with the media in her time at ABC Information, giving solely three interviews in practically two years on the helm.
“It’s very straightforward to Monday-morning quarterback and second-guess while you don’t know what you don’t know, and albeit you’ll by no means know, as a result of we’re not going to litigate it publicly,” Godwin not too long ago advised me of the Holmes-Robach scenario over espresso on the Mandarin Oriental lounge, her first interview this yr. “We ended up the place we wanted to be, and I’m very snug with that call.”
Godwin was equally reticent when requested whether or not she or her staff ought to have pushed again more durable towards the New York story. Godwin emphasised that she “didn’t have any perception into” a lot of what was reported. “It’s onerous for me to return and check out to determine what occurred earlier than I bought there. All I can do is give attention to proper right here, proper now, that is the tradition,” and “there’s a zero-tolerance coverage now,” she mentioned.
Her response to me was just like the one she’s given internally, which has left some staff unhappy. A number of folks I spoke to wish to see Godwin extra vigorously defending the group as a complete, no matter whether or not the problems in query occurred on her watch. A recurring workers grievance about Godwin’s stewardship appears to heart on communications—a perceived lack of transparency or readability—on all the pieces from potential layoffs to editorial imaginative and prescient. Sitting down along with her in a sales space overlooking Central Park, I attempted to get a greater sense of why.
Godwin is the primary Black girl to function a president of a significant broadcast information division. Her historic appointment got here at a tumultuous time for the community, amid a lawsuit accusing Michael Corn, the previous prime producer of GMA, of sexual harassment and fostering a hostile work setting. The swimsuit additionally claimed ABC didn’t adequately handle complaints of alleged misconduct from a number of girls. (The lawsuit was later dismissed.) She bought off to an ungainly begin, telling staffers she’d requested her superiors for an unbiased investigation into how ABC had dealt with the allegations—just for workers to study a couple of weeks later that Godwin’s superiors at father or mother firm Disney had been reportedly caught off guard by her public request for an outdoor investigation, and would pursue no such probe.
“Disney is big, and coming in and never understanding anyone—it’s been a giant studying curve, however I’ve been all in,” Godwin advised me, who says she is “actually stretching as an government.” She famous the problem of coming in because the “first girl, the primary individual of colour, the primary outsider,” all within the midst of a pandemic. “Trailblazing is tough.” Plus, she says, her job requires presiding over “new companies that earlier presidents didn’t need to run,” equivalent to streaming. “It’s not simply the previous manner of, Let me simply sit and watch World Information Tonight. Like, there’s 15 different issues that I’ve to get accomplished.”
There’s additionally been a giant company shake-up since she arrived, with former Disney CEO Bob Iger returning final November to interchange Bob Chapek, his handpicked successor who was fired by the board. Whilst Godwin says she’s stored centered on the work at ABC Information, the shake-up may influence her place. The Every day Beast not too long ago reported that Godwin, who presently stories to cochairman of Disney Leisure Dana Walden, pushed again when her Disney superiors advised her they needed her to report back to Debra OConnell, president of networks and TV enterprise operations, who not too long ago joined Walden’s senior management staff. The transfer would put one other layer between Godwin and the highest brass.
Godwin had a short snort once I requested whether or not this structural matter had been resolved. “The underside line is, I actually don’t know, proper? Our company is making an attempt to determine it out, and making an attempt to determine who stories to who. What I do know is I’m nonetheless main ABC Information, and I’ve the help of each of my bosses,” she mentioned. “As of this present day, proper now,” Godwin received’t be reporting to OConnell, she mentioned, with the caveat, “There are quite a lot of shifting elements, and I’m not aware about these conversations.”
Godwin’s dealing with of the GMA3 scandal has raised questions on her future, however Iger, at a current dinner with prime ABC expertise, together with George Stephanopoulos, Robin Roberts, and Michael Strahan, affirmed his help, saying, “Kim’s success is our success, and we’re invested in her,” a element first reported by the Every day Beast. I requested Godwin whether or not she feels she has the best folks round her to realize that success. “It’s evolving,” mentioned Godwin, touting the range of her government staff and showrunners. “Who is aware of how issues could evolve, however we’re doing fairly darn properly with the staff that now we have proper now,” she mentioned. “Change is tough, however I solely ask for collaboration.”
However some insiders really feel that Godwin is reluctant to lean on others and might be extra communicative. “She’s making unforced errors as a result of she doesn’t belief the folks round her. Numerous us who wish to see her succeed are simply annoyed,” one longtime ABC Information worker advised me. Internally, individuals are nonetheless at the hours of darkness in regards to the 7,000 jobs that Disney is ready to eradicate, as Iger introduced on final month’s earnings name. It’s unclear if ABC Information will likely be hit onerous—or left largely unscathed. Godwin says she advised workers she shares their nervousness and “referred them to Bob’s be aware, which I assumed was rather well mentioned.” However all she will be able to do is inform folks to “maintain on” till choices come down.
Whereas Godwin says she desires folks to see her as somebody they’ll belief, a reported leak investigation carried out by Disney international safety has despatched a distinct message. I’m advised staffers had been interviewed as a part of a seek for staff leaking data, which got here after a Puck article about Godwin, who urged she had nothing to do with the probe. “I didn’t name for it” or “approve it,” she advised me, whereas emphasizing, “confidentiality is essential in all organizations.”
