More change is coming to the television news business.
James Goldston, the president of ABC News, said on Thursday that he would leave the network at the end of March. His exit comes weeks after Phil Griffin, the longtime president of MSNBC, announced his own departure, and as CNN’s president, Jeffrey A. Zucker, is deciding whether to remain in his role.
No successor for Mr. Goldston has been announced. ABC News said it had begun a search for his replacement, which will be led by Peter Rice, the powerful Walt Disney Company executive whose portfolio includes ABC.
TV news underwent a revival — in ratings and influence — under the Trump administration, and Mr. Goldston, who became president of ABC News in 2014, oversaw a nightly newscast, hosted by David Muir, that regularly beat the competition. Last year, ABC’s “World News Tonight” routinely ranked among the highest rated telecasts in all of broadcast and cable television, beating many entertainment and reality shows.
NBC News, one of ABC’s chief rivals, is adjusting to its own executive shifts. Mr. Griffin is leaving MSNBC on Feb. 1, with Rashida Jones, who supervised news programming in various roles at MSNBC and NBC News, set to replace him. The chairman of NBC News, Andrew Lack, exited the network last year; Cesar Conde, who ran NBCUniversal’s Spanish-language network Telemundo, now oversees the network’s news divisions.
Mr. Zucker of CNN, whose contract extends through this year, is likely to announce a final decision about his role soon, people briefed on his thinking have said. He has been weighing whether to exit the 24-hour news channel after tension with his new boss, Jason Kilar, the chief executive of WarnerMedia.
But there are some signs that Mr. Zucker may stick around longer. CNN is in the midst of a record ratings streak and has dominated cable news since Election Day, pulling its biggest viewership in its history. And Mr. Kilar, after holding meetings with key CNN anchors and executives, has effusively praised Mr. Zucker in interviews.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nytimes.com
