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ABC

ABC News is the news gathering and program production division of the American Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Programs include “Good Morning America,” “World News with Diane Sawyer,” “Nightline,” “20/20,” and “This Week.” Ben Sherwood is the president of ABC News.

ABC’s ‘This Week’ Moving Out of the Newseum, Al Jazeera America Moving In

The studio space at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. is changing hands, Broadcasting & Cable’s John Eggerton reports. Next month, ABC’s “This Week” will vacate the space and return to the network’s Washington bureau, and Al Jazeera America will move in.

“This Week” is hosted by George Stephanopoulos in New York a majority of the time. ABC’s D.C. bureau will be home to Washington-based guests and for the one week a month that Martha Raddatz guest-hosts the show.

Al Jazeera America, which B&C reports will have both office space and editing facilities in the Newseum, is preparing for its launch later this year. The network recently hired Adam May, a local reporter from Baltimore, as a D.C.-based national correspondent.

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Broadcasters Plan Extended Evening Newscasts, Special Coverage Of Tornado Aftermath

The broadcast networks are planning to give their news organizations extra space tonight to update viewers on the aftermath of the devastating tornado that ripped through a suburb of Oklahoma City. In addition to expanded evening newscasts, NBC and ABC will have dedicated programming to coverage of the devastation and recovery.

NBC: NBC News will have a special from 8-9 PM live from Oklahoma, anchored by Brian WilliamsLester Holt, Ann Curry, Harry Smith and Kate Snow will be among the contributors. “NBC Nightly News” will also offer an hour-long newscast to affiliates this evening.

CBS: CBS News will not have a primetime special, however Scott Pelley will host a special edition of the “CBS Evening News” from 6:30 PM until 8 PM, offered to affiliates.

ABC: ABC News will be offering a one hour edition of “ABC World News” to affiliates. Diane Sawyer will be in New York, with David Muir in Moore. In addition at 12:35 AM “Nightline” will be special edition dedicated to Oklahoma.

Also: Muir, Ginger Zee and Mike Boettcher will reportfrom Oklahoma this afternoon on “Katie.”

Robin Roberts Gets Standing Ovation at Peabody Awards

“Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts received a standing ovation as she accepted her George Foster Peabody Award Monday. Roberts is the first journalist since Walter Cronkite to get a standing ovation at the awards lunch, held annually at the Waldorf Astoria.

Roberts, pictured here with ABC News president Ben Sherwood, was honored for reports on her bone marrow transplant, which successfully raised awareness for Be the Match, an organization that registers potential bone marrow donors.

“As journalists we want to cover stories that cause a reaction that leads to action,” Roberts said in her speech. “We had no idea chronicling my journey would cause such a catalyst for action … many becoming bone marrow donors.”

Scott Pelley emceed the event. CBS News, PBS and CNN were among this year’s other winners.

Jon Karl Becomes News After Email Revelation

ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl finds himself in an unusual and never comfortable position: he has become the news.

Karl has released a statement expressing “regret” after it was revealed that he inaccurately identified reviewing handwritten notes based on emails as having reviewed the actual emails in his bombshell “exclusive” on Benghazi. While Karl did say that his story was based on “summaries” on the web story, in the stories that aired on the ABC news broadcasts it was reported that ABC had “obtained” the emails.

The full emails, (the first of which was obtained by Jake Tapper) which were released later that week, revealed content and quotations that did not entirely match up with the notes that Karl was given, although they did support some of the issues Karl raised. That said, Karl and ABC News maintain that the crux of the reporting–the changing talking points–remains accurate.

“I regret that one email was quoted incorrectly and I regret that it’s become a distraction from the story, which still entirely stands,” said Karl in a statement. “I should have been clearer about the attribution. We updated our story immediately when new information became available.”

Karl became the story on cable news last week, and was even mentioned on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where he was effectively accused of being used by Republicans by White House adviser Dan Pfeiffer. Karl was also one of the stories covered on “Reliable Sources.”
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Why ABC’s David Muir Likes Long Plane Flights

ABC’s David Muir is the subject of an AdWeek Q+A. The “World News” weekend anchor talks to Sam Thielman about reporting from Iran, transitioning to the “20/20″ anchor desk and the reason why he looks forward to trips to faraway places:

How does the new agenda compare to what you started off with?
It is sort of an insane schedule, I’ll admit it. Last year I worked every day; there was Tahrir Square and Fukushima, and then the famine in Africa. I thought, “At least this year will be easier,” and then they asked me to take on 20/20.

It does sound like an incredibly packed schedule.
When I hear “13-hour flight,” I get excited, because it’s 13 hours no one can get ahold of you on your BlackBerry.

Do you worry that moving to a more prominent position will keep you chained to the desk?
I think the best anchors out there are the ones who globe trot and who are hungry every day to explore another corner of the world. Once I’m done with one project, I’m already thinking, “What’s the next thing I want to investigate?”

Behind the Scenes at ‘Good Morning America’

Entertainment Tonight went behind the scenes of “Good Morning America” earlier this week. Have you ever wanted to know where Josh Elliott hides his Grape Nuts? Watch, and ye shall see.

‘Nightline’ Posts Best Total Viewer Ratings Since Moving Timeslots

ABC’s “Nightline” posted its best Total Viewer ratings since moving to the 12:35 a.m timeslot for the week of May 6.

“Nightline” topped “The Late Late Show” on CBS by +476,000 Total Viewers and “Late Night” on NBC by +11,000 Total Viewers during the second week of the May sweep. “Nightline” was second to “Late Night” in both A25-54 and A18-49 viewers.

The ABC show improved on its prior week performance by +14% in Total Viewers, +4% in A25-54 viewers and +14% in A18-49 viewers.

ABC’s ratings are based on a 25-minute broadcast, while CBS and NBC are based on approximately :50 minutes (prior to the final national commercial break of each program).

  • Week of May 6, 2013:
Show Network Total Viewers A25-54 A18-49
Nightline ABC 1.779M 715K 582K
Late Night NBC 1.768M 823K 689K
Late Late Show CBS 1.303M 630K 472K

TV Critics Evaluate Barbara Walters’ Legacy

As Barbara Walters gears up for her retirement next year, television critics are beginning to weigh in on the legacy she leaves behind in television. The New York Times’ Alessandra Stanley calls Walters “television personified”:

Intuitively, knowingly or just luckily, Ms. Walters has moved — and is moving — in concert with tastes and audiences and real influence. She defected from nighttime to daytime just as many viewers were doing the same … And now, as more and more viewers leave broadcast television altogether, so does she.

Salon’s Mary Elizabeth Williams praises Walters for being first in “nearly everything about women in television news”:

And if television news is still frequently a hollow, sexist echo chamber, don’t blame Barbara. She showed everything that’s possible for a woman of brains and ambition in an industry that has little use for women with either.

Williams’ Salon colleague Alex Pareene takes the opposing viewpoint, calling Walters’ career “an extended exercise in sycophancy and unalloyed power worship”: Read more

Bill O’Reilly Doesn’t Think the AP Phone Taps Will ‘Amount to Much’

When a media outlet becomes the news, it’s interesting to watch how other media outlets cover the story. At issue today, the Justice Department admitting it secretly recorded phone conversations of five AP reporters and an editor. It was a big story on all the morning shows. (We already told you about the reaction on “Morning Joe” from the AP’s executive editor.) On “CBS This Morning” Bob Orr called it “a very aggressive investigation.” On the “Today” show Pete Williams called it “an unusually broad government effort.” But on “Good Morning America,” Fox News host Bill O’Reilly said this may be the least of Pres. Obama’s worries.

“I don’t think that’s going to amount to much,” O’Reilly said of the phone taps. “It looks like they went through the warrant process and they had authorization to look at these records — the Justice Department did. But president Obama, he’s got some problems now. He better start to get control of the situation because there’s a lot of stuff going on.”

Barbara Walters On Retiring in 2014: ‘This Is What I Want To Do’

As expected, ABC’s Barbara Walters announced her retirement on “The View” today. The show kicked off with Walters introducing a brief career retrospective, followed by her formal announcement:

“I have been on television–continuously–for over 50 years,” Walters said. “But in the Summer of 2014, a year from now, I plan to retire from appearing on television at all. It has been an absolutely joyful, rewarding, challenging, fascinating and occasionally bumpy ride, and I wouldn’t change a thing. I am perfectly healthy, this is my decision and I have been thinking about it for a long time. This is what I want to do.”

The audience in “The View” studio was filled with executives, including ABC News president Ben Sherwood (“Not only the best president of a news division but also the tallest,” Walters joked), ABC executive VP Vicki Dummer, ABC entertainment president Paul Lee, Disney-ABC TV group president Anne Sweeney and Disney CEO Bob Iger, who shared the story of when he first met Walters back in 1976.

He was a production assistant, and was asked to bring something to Walters’ dressing room. He wasn’t expecting her to be there, but she was, and she was very kind to him.

“From then on you called me Jim, my name is Bob,” he quipped, adding more seriously:

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