TVNewser has obtained an email sent this afternoon from employees of the ABC News Washington, DC graphics department to executives of ABC News and parent Disney. It was announced last month that most DC graphics operations would be shut down, and moved to New York. Here's the email:
We were here.
A simple acknowledgment is what we seek. A few words from the company we believed in and lived our lives for.
We were here.
Laying off the Washington Graphics Department means more than bodies you can cut off of your spread sheet; more than a consolidation of resources to move into the digital future. We are a part of what once made ABC News great. We have a history of more than 25 years.
We were here when both space shuttles were destroyed; when planes fell from the sky; when John F. Kennedy Jr. died; when Princess Diana was killed; when the world moved into the new millennium; when a sniper froze our city; when our brave soldiers fell; when America struggled to find a president; when a president was shattered in a scandal and impeached; when the two towers fell — we were here.
We were here for the company, working our hardest to make ABC News the best. We cared about accuracy and research. We cared about the story and the best way to tell it. We cared about what the audience was going to think. We cared about integrity. As you make your cuts and move into an "industry standard" operation — remember that journalistic truth is illusive, and the fewer you have searching for it, the harder it will be to find.
We were here when there was no software, no computers, no internet — just people. We adapted to new technologies from air brushes and stat cams to 3D animation, high definition, and YouTube. We took on those challenges because we loved what we did everyday.
We were here. We had children here. We had heartache here. We had laughter here. We had love here. We became a family here. All of us know each other so well — we spent more time with each other than with our spouses or our children. We saw each other's life's grow up — children grow, homes built, marriages strained — and we were here.
To you this room may be remote. It may be just another expense. It might even just be the 4th floor in a building in Washington, DC. But to us, it is our collective history. It is who we are today. It's Carol, Michele, John, Steve, Ray, Alice, Daryl, Lisa, Sohail, Mick, Karen, Alex, William and Casey. Remember everyone's indelible contribution as you move forward into the digital future.
