Mimi Gurbst: Career Counselor or Cruella Deville?

Early this week, New York Observer‘s Felix Gillette wrote a somewhat glowing story about top ABC News producer Mimi Gurbst and her new career path as a high school guidance counselor.

Gillette wrote:

Ms. Gurbst became a kind of cherished, if unofficial, career counselor at ABC News, helping countless young producers and correspondents find their way at a particularly tumultuous time in an already confusing business.

But since Gillette’s story was published, 67 comments tell a very different story. A FishbowlDC source who worked for Gurbst says, “This woman was the de facto head of news…assigned every reporter and producer for years…and was so cruel. The joke is she’s leaving to oversee children so she can now torture the powerless.”

Another source who pointed out the comments about Gurbst to FishbowlDC said, “Its all about the comments section. The one about having to tell her your sexual preferences, curse and compliment her shoes is so dead-on its hysterical.”

Ouch. Check out Gillette’s story here.

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.