ABC News staffers got a memorandum Tuesday that promises to leave no part of the organization untouched, and will lead to massive personnel reductions by the end of 2010.
Although the memo from ABC News President David Westin specified no numbers, it was believed the goal for cutbacks is as high as one-quarter of the ABC News staff, which currently totals about 1,400.
“We will likely have substantially fewer people on staff at ABC News,” Westin said in his memo.
He said personnel reductions would begin with voluntary buyouts to be offered employees in the days ahead. If the target number isn’t reached, layoffs will likely follow.
“We anticipate that between now and the end of the year, ABC News will undergo a fundamental transformation that will ultimately affect every corner of the enterprise,” Westin said.
The memo listed several provisions of the news division’s restructuring plan, including an expanded use of digital journalists (who both produce and shoot their own stories), the combination of weekday and weekend operations for both “Good Morning America” and “World News,” and, at the newsmagazines and other long-form programming, “a more flexible blend of staff and freelancers.”
“The time has come to anticipate change, rather than respond to it,” Westin said in the memo.
In a phone interview, Westin would not disclose his cost-saving objective, and would say only that the projected staff reduction would exceed the 140 range.
He said the plan had been ironed out in the past three or four months, a period during which “we wanted to think it through and get it right.”
He said three factors prompted Tuesday’s announcement.
The economic downtown in the advertising market last year “focused the mind quickly on the business realities we face,” he said.
This was followed by the realization that the newsgathering business is going through irreversible changes in the digital age.
Third, he said innovations in technology offered “not a just a challenge but an opportunity” to do more with fewer people and “get to stories you couldn’t get to with a traditional crew.”
“I would not be pursuing this if I thought we would be compromising the news,” Westin said.
At the same time, he acknowledged that the transformation would be painful for many.
“I’m very mindful of the men and women who will be leaving us, voluntarily or otherwise, particularly in this job market,” he said.
The drastic moves and cutbacks, which were not unexpected, echo those two years ago at NBC News, which also saved money by closing facilities in New Jersey and bringing CNBC and MSNBC staff to work at the company’s Rockefeller Center headquarters.
CBS News is currently going through a round of layoffs.
Unlike NBC, neither CBS nor ABC have the advantage of a cable-news network to bring in additional revenue and amortize expenses.
ABC, a unit of The Walt Disney Co., is further hobbled by the fact that its news division’s flagship morning and evening newscasts remain in second place in the ratings behind NBC.
Disney Pledges $15 million In L.A. Fire Aid As More Celebs Learn They’ve Lost Their Homes
The Pacific Palisades wildfires torched the home of "This Is Us" star Milo Ventimiglia, perhaps most poignantly destroying the father-to-be's newly installed crib.
CBS cameras caught the actor walking through his charred house for the first time, standing in what was once his kitchen and looking at a neighborhood in ruin. "Your heart just breaks."
He and his pregnant wife, Jarah Mariano, evacuated Tuesday with their dog and they watched on security cameras as the flames ripped through the house, destroying everything, including a new crib.
"There's a kind of shock moment where you're going, 'Oh, this is real. This is happening.' What good is it to continue watching?' And then at a certain point we just turned it off, like 'What good is it to continue watching?'"
Firefighters sought to make gains Friday during a respite in the heavy winds that fanned the flames as numerous groups pledged aid to help victims and rebuild, including a $15 million donation pledge from the Walt Disney Co.
More stars learn their homes are gone
While seeing the remains of his home, Ventimiglia was struck by a connection to his "This Is Us" character, Jack Pearson, who died after inhaling smoke in a house fire. "It's not lost on me life imitating art."
Mandy Moore, who played Ventimiglia's wife on "This Is Us," nearly lost her home in the Eaton fire, which scorched large areas of the Altadena neighborhood. She said Thursday that part of her house is standing but is unlivable, and her husband lost his music studio and all his instruments.
Mel Gibson's home is "completely gone," his publicist Alan Nierob confirmed Friday. The Oscar winner revealed the loss of his home earlier Friday while appearing on Joe Rogan's... Read More