By David Bauder, Media Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --ABC News President James Goldston said Thursday that he will leave the network at the end of March, after seven years of leading the news division.
The low-profile Goldston leaves at a time ABC's flagship newscasts, "World News Tonight" and "Good Morning America," are both leading its rivals in the ratings.
"I've always assumed that after this extraordinary election cycle, which we've covered at a full sprint for four years, it would be time for a change," Goldston said in a note to staff members. "After a great deal of reflection over the last few months, I'm ready for a new adventure."
His departure adds to the list of top jobs that need to be filled at major news organizations, including The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times.
During his tenure, the network purchased the FiveThirtyEight blog, took over "The View" from ABC's entertainment division and launched a more aggressive online offering, ABC News Live.
Goldston's decision to install David Muir as "World News Tonight" anchor paid dividends as the show now dominates the evening news ratings, often reaching 10 million viewers a night.
One low point came last year when a Goldston deputy in charge of talent relations was forced out after an investigation revealed she had made racially insensitive comments.
Peter Rice, chairman of general entertainment content for ABC parent Walt Disney Co., praised Goldston for his work, particularly during the pandemic and 2020's political upheaval.
"As a leader he is a calming force in the chaos of perpetual news, remaining both thoughtful and strategic while also maintaining his much appreciated wit," Rice said in a memo to staff.
Rice said he's appointing five ABC News executives to run the division as a search commences for a new leader: Derek Medina, Michael Corn, Almin Karamehmedovic, Wendy Fisher and Marie Nelson.
Carrie Coon Relishes Being Part Of An Ensemble–From “The Gilded Age” To “His Three Daughters”
It can be hard to catch Carrie Coon on her own.
She is far more likely to be found in the thick of an ensemble. That could be on TV, in "The Gilded Age," for which she was just Emmy nominated, or in the upcoming season of "The White Lotus," which she recently shot in Thailand. Or it could be in films, most relevantly, Azazel Jacobs' new drama, "His Three Daughters," in which Coon stars alongside Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen as sisters caring for their dying father.
But on a recent, bright late-summer morning, Coon is sitting on a bench in the bucolic northeast Westchester town of Pound Ridge. A few years back, she and her husband, the playwright Tracy Letts, moved near here with their two young children, drawn by the long rows of stone walls and a particularly good BLT from a nearby cafe that Letts, after biting into, declared must be within 15 miles of where they lived.
In a few days, they would both fly to Los Angeles for the Emmys (Letts was nominated for his performance in "Winning Time" ). But Coon, 43, was then largely enmeshed in the day-to-day life of raising a family, along with their nightly movie viewings, which Letts pulls from his extensive DVD collection. The previous night's choice: "Once Around," with Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfus.
Coon met Letts during her breakthrough performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?" on Broadway in 2012. She played the heavy-drinking housewife Honey. It was the first role that Coon read and knew, viscerally, she had to play. Immediately after saying this, Coon sighs.
"It sounds like something some diva would say in a movie from the '50s," Coon says. "I just walked around in my apartment in my slip and I had pearls and a little brandy. I made a grocery list and I just did... Read More