Latest news with #SimoneSwink
The Independent
06-03-2025
- Business
- The Independent
ABC News staffers ‘crying and upset' amid sweeping layoffs that gutted GMA3 and shuttered FiveThirtyEight
FiveThirtyEight, the influential political data site first launched by stats guru Nate Silver in 2008, is being shut down amid sweeping layoffs being enacted by Disney across ABC News and Disney Entertainment Networks, a source familiar with the matter told The Independent. Additionally, all three hours of programs branded under the news network's flagship morning talk show Good Morning America have been consolidated under one leader, GMA executive producer Simone Swink. Previously, the third hour — known as GMA3 — ran under a separate production team headed by executive producer Catherine McKenzie, who has been let go along with much of the GMA3 staff. The gutting of the third hour's staff — as well as other deep cuts across the newsroom — have left many ABC News employees shaken and concerned. 'It's a very somber scene in the building—people crying and upset,' a network staffer told Status News' Oliver Darcy. 'Lots of panicked phone calls between staffers trying to make sense of it.' The job cuts, which were announced to staff on Wednesday, will impact roughly 200 employees and represent about six percent of the total workforce across ABC News Group and Disney Entertainment Networks. The majority of the layoffs are at ABC News, with most impacted employees based in New York. Besides the shuttering of FiveThirtyEight, which will result in the elimination of about 15 jobs across the news site, ABC is also consolidating some of its other programming that will lead to reduced staff. The news magazine shows 20/20 and Nightline, along with other long-form programming, will now fall under one leadership unit. The shows first aired in 1978 and 1980, respectively. Besides the shuttering of FiveThirtyEight and GMA3 being 'entirely gutted,' the company also got rid of investigations team executive producer Cindy Galli and Zach Toback, vice president of news and non-fiction production and studio operations at ABC News who had been a mainstay at the network. Notably, Toback was let go after helping move the company over to its new New York City headquarters at the Robert A. Iger building. 'It's a massacre,' an ABC News employee told Darcy, while another staffer compared the dire situation at the network to the dystopian Netflix series Squid Game. 'You just feel like you've made it to level seven of 'Squid Games' at this point if you've survived,' the employees stated. 'I've actually thought of this a lot," the person said. "I don't know if you have watched 'Squid Game,' but they put you in teams and they pit you against each other. And then they just watch and it's brutal. And then even the people who win the prize in the end ... they're so unhappy. That is literally network TV.' Even in his own memo to staff about the layoffs, network president Almin Karamehmedovic described the situation as 'incredibly challenging' and said it would 'undoubtedly be difficult for our organization.' At the same time, while informing the FiveThirtyEight staff of the site's demise and the loss of their jobs, Karamehmedovic had no explanation for why the site was being shut down and appeared to be reading from a script. Within minutes of the meeting, the website was pulled down and the staffers had their access revoked. While the company will be winding down the FiveThirtyEight brand, ABC News is expected to continue to provide 'best-in-class polling and political data analysis' across the network, a source noted. Whether this means retaining editorial director of data analytics G. Elliott Morris, who currently leads FiveThirtyEight, remains to be seen. It also isn't clear just yet what will happen with 538's extensive trove of data. 'As reported, the entire staff of 538 was laid off this morning,' Morris posted on Wednesday morning. 'This is a severe blow to political data journalism, and I feel for my colleagues. Readers note: As we were instructed not to publish any new content, all planned updates to polls data and averages are canceled indefinitely. Huge loss :(' Morris, for his part, further reacted to the news by praising the site's data collection as 'game-changing' and expressing hope that 'it gets a rebirth.' He added that it 'would need a modest budget for 2-3 researchers and 1-2 engineers.' He also noted that AI has 'made things easier' now, but that ABC News had forbidden the data site from using it in the past. Many journalists, meanwhile, have already been bemoaning the shuttering of the pivotal election data site. The 19th's Grace Panetta reacted by calling it a 'catastrophic loss not only for election journalism but also as an election data resource,' adding that she couldn't 'even count the number of times I've relied on 538's polling averages, redistricting trackers, etc for my reporting.' Former FiveThirtyEight reporter Kayleigh Rogers noted that '538's open source API and all the other data we/they freely compiled and shared over the years drove so much important work across the industry,' adding that 'this is going to have pretty severe ripple effects.' Silver also expressed heartbreak over his brainchild's imminent demise. (Silver departed the site amid previous widespread Disney/ABC layoffs in 2023.) 'Oh geez, I just saw the news about 538,' he tweeted Tuesday night. 'My heart goes out to the people there. They were tremendously hard-working and produced a lot of extremely valuable data and insight for everyone who wants to understand politics better. They deserved much better.' Disney Entertainment Networks, which includes Disney Channel, FX and Freeform, is also expected to lose staff from its planning and scheduling teams, though the precise figure was not immediately clear. Disney's digital editorial and social teams are set to be integrated with news gathering, shows and ABC-owned stations. The latest wave of staff cuts comes as the entertainment giant wrangles with declining television ratings and revenues over recent years, with audiences — and advertisers — opting to move to streaming platforms. Time spent on streaming platforms surged to more than 40 percent, with cable and broadcast plummeting to about 27 and 21 percent respectively, according to a Nielsen report published last summer. Media giants are reshaping their business strategies in response to the continued migration. CNN, for instance, recently laid off six percent of its staff as it looks to pivot to a digital-first strategy. Amid a programming overhaul, MSNBC announced that roughly 100 employees would be impacted, though the network said the laid-off staffers could apply for new jobs that would soon be opening across the network. Paramount, the parent company of CBS, is in the midst of laying off as much as 15 percent of its U.S. workforce. Like many entertainment businesses, Disney is looking for ways to trim costs on more traditional content — such as news programming — and increase spending on sports and entertainment. It follows 75 employees being laid off by ABC News and ABC-owned stations in October last year to reshape its team to 'embrace the new media landscape,' Almin Karamehmedovic, president of ABC News, wrote in a memo. A month earlier, Disney axed about 300 employees from corporate departments as it looked to redistribute its resources to 'fuel the state-of-the-art creativity,' a company representative said in a statement to Variety in September.
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
ABC News eliminating 538 amid layoffs
ABC News Group is eliminating its political arm, 538, which specializes in polling, surveys and data, amid wider layoffs at the Walt Disney parent company, according to information obtained by The Hill. The layoffs are expected to impact 200 employees which represents under 6 percent of the staff at the company and Disney Entertainment Networks unit. Fifteen employees at 538 will be let go. The Wall Street Journal first reported the reductions. The move is a part of broader consolidation efforts that include changes to ABC's on air programming, sources told The Hill. The network's '20/20' and 'Nightline' shows are set to be merged into one broadcast segment while the 'Good Morning America' production team will be shaved down into management overseen by one person, Simone Swink. Seni Tienabeso was named to the new role of VP, ABC News Live and some specialized units ABC cut approximately 75 jobs last fall under the leadership of Almin Karamehmedovic who was named president of the network in August of last year. Disney Entertainment Networks will also face workforce reductions amid low ratings, the sources said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Disney to Cut Nearly 200 Jobs Across News and Entertainment, ABC News Hit Hard
ABC News Group and Disney Entertainment Networks are laying off just under 200 employees, or roughly 6% of staff, across news and entertainment starting on Wednesday, TheWrap has learned. A majority of these cuts come from ABC News, where its employees are largely based in New York. In line with the changes, ABC News Studios, '20/20,' 'Nightline' and 'Impact x Nightline' now fall under one leadership structure. ABC News' digital editorial and social teams are similarly now integrated within the news gathering, shows and owned stations units. Additionally, the 'Good Morning America'-branded shows have been consolidated into one under Simone Swink, while Seni Tienabeso was named VP of ABC News Live. TheWrap has reached out to Disney and ABC News for comment. The ABC News layoffs are just the latest in a rocky start for media jobs in 2025. Scripps also underwent cuts this week, while Indiewire let go of three top editors last month, Forbes cut 5% of its staff in late January and Vox was recently hit by its third round of reductions in just two months. The Washington Post and the Huffington Post also let go of employees last month. In October, Disney laid off about 75 employees from ABC News and its eight ABC Owned Television Stations in another effort to cut costs. Oliver Darcy's Status newsletter was first to report the cuts were taking place this week. The post Disney to Cut Nearly 200 Jobs Across News and Entertainment, ABC News Hit Hard appeared first on TheWrap.
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Disney Cuts Nearly 200 Jobs at ABC News and Entertainment Networks
The Walt Disney Co. is slashing just under 200 jobs at ABC News and at its Disney Entertainment Networks division as the traditional TV business continues to face economic headwinds, a source familiar with the decision tells The Hollywood Reporter. The cuts represented about 6 percent of the division's workforce. ABC News will be hit particularly hard, with the data-driven digital news brand 538 being shuttered, teams from Nightline and 20/20 being consolidated, and all three hours of Good Morning America moving under the same top producer, Simone Swink. The company is also merging its digital and social operations. More from The Hollywood Reporter Disney's Cinderella 75th Anniversary Drop Includes a $7K Diamond Engagement Ring, Dreamy Dresses, Starbucks Tumblers and More Disney's 'Star Wars' Succession Problem: Who Will Replace Kathleen Kennedy? Jon Bernthal to Return in 'Punisher' Special for Marvel and Disney+ Disney's entertainment networks will see cuts in program planning and scheduling, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the cuts there. Disney's channels include FX and Freeform. The newsletter Status first reported the looming cuts at ABC News. ABC News last saw job cuts last fall, when around 75 jobs were eliminated. The news division had announced Almin Karamehmedovic as its president last August. Broadcast news divisions in general are grappling with the changing economics of TV, with structures increasingly consolidated in divisions alongside local TV stations, and the role of network news president being a smaller role than it was in they heyday of TV. Disney writ large announced structure-driven job cuts last September. Best of The Hollywood Reporter How the Warner Brothers Got Their Film Business Started Meet the World Builders: Hollywood's Top Physical Production Executives of 2023 Men in Blazers, Hollywood's Favorite Soccer Podcast, Aims for a Global Empire
