ABC News Job Cuts: 25% of News Division Could Be Hit

by Sudha Krishna | February 24, 2010 at 03:30 pm

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ABC News is facing severe job cuts as 25% of the News Division could be hit. ABC News like many media companies has declining advertising revenues and increasingly fragmented media market.

Three hundred to four hundred jobs could be eliminated of the 1500 jobs at ABC News, President of ABC News David Westin issued a memo to ABC staff saying the network will undergo a fundamental transformation.

In the memo, Westin said that "many job descriptions will be different, different skill sets may be required, and, yes, we will likely have substantially fewer people on staff at ABC News."

Though ABC's parent company the Walt Disney Co has said advertising revenues are up for the last quarter by 11% to $724 million. There is stiff competition from the always on cable news networks like CNN, MSNBC and Fox News combine that with online news and future growth for Broadcast News is grime indeed, hence the need to transform ABC News.

According to the memo, the transformation would have six basic components, including elimination of "redundancies wherever possible".

Among other plans, the company would rely upon its programme staff through day and night to cover unexpected events and marshal personnel across the division to cover scheduled events.