ABC News “entirely gutted” the staff working on the third hour of its flagship morning show “Good Morning America” — also known as “GMA3” — as part of the layoffs that were mandated by corporate parent Walt Disney Co, according to a report.
Catherine McKenzie, the executive producer of “GMA3,” was let go as part of the layoffs that were announced by network boss Almin Karamehmedovic, according to the Status newsletter.
ABC News staffers described a grim atmosphere in the wake of the mass layoffs, with one employee telling Status that the cuts were akin to “a massacre.”
Another ABC News employee told Status that “it’s a very somber scene in the building — people crying and upset.”
“Lots of panicked phone calls between staffers trying to make sense of it.”
The restructuring, which included cutting nearly 200 jobs across ABC News and Disney Entertainment Networks, will result in the production team helming “Good Morning America” taking over “GMA3,” Status reported.
As part of these shifts, “GMA” executive producer Simone Swink will oversee all GMA-branded shows across all time slots, while Seni Tienabeso has been appointed VP of ABC News Live and certain specialized units.
Additionally, long-form units such as ABC News Studios, “20/20,” “Nightline” and “Impact x Nightline” will now operate under a single leadership structure, and digital and social operations will be further integrated with news gathering and other teams.
As employees struggled to process the sudden cuts, one staffer summed up the situation by saying, “It’s all about doing more with less. That’s what this is.”
The uncertainty and pressure of working in network television were compared to “Squid Game,” with an employee remarking, “You just feel like you’ve made it to level seven of ‘Squid Games’ at this point if you’ve survived.”
The employee added: “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.”
Other prominent managers who were cut include Cindy Galli, an executive producer on ABC’s investigations team which has focused on stories about government fraud, corporate corruption and consumer advocacy.
Zach Toback, vice president of news and non-fiction production and studio operations at ABC News, was also given the boot, according to Status. Toback had been with the network since 1995 — though he departed for a brief two-year stint at NBC News before returning to ABC News in 2011.
Toback’s portfolio included overseeing resources across several ABC News platforms including “GMA,” “World News Tonight with David Muir,” “The View,” “20/20” and “Nightline.”
His dismissal is considered noteworthy given the fact that Toback played an integral role in shifting ABC News operations over to the new Robert A. Iger building in the Hudson Square section of Manhattan last year, according to Status.
The layoffs also claimed roles at ABC News Studios as well as the digital department, which lost around 30 staffers, the newsletter reported.
That includes 15 employees of the data-driven news site FiveThirtyEight — the blog that was founded by Nate Silver and acquired by Disney subsdiary ESPN in 2013. In 2018, the site was moved under corporate sister ABC News.
Over the years, FiveThirtyEight became known for its detailed polling aggregation, predictive models, and statistical deep dives, particularly in elections and sports analytics.
However, in 2023, Disney laid off much of the FiveThirtyEight staff, and Silver departed. The site was ultimately downsized and integrated into ABC News, losing much of its independent identity.
Karamehmedovic informed the FiveThirtyEight team of their layoffs during a brief virtual meeting on Wednesday, just hours after announcing broader job cuts across the network.
The 15 staff members had already learned of their termination the night before through a Wall Street Journal report, but Karamehmedovic offered no further explanation during the call, according to Status.
Reading from what appeared to be a script, he thanked the employees for their work, declined to take questions, and quickly ended the meeting.
Shortly afterward, employees lost access to ABC News’ systems, and the FiveThirtyEight website was taken offline, marking the abrupt end of the site.
The Post has sought comment from ABC News and Disney.