ABC News will stick with “GMA3” despite mass layoffs by parent company Disney that gutted its production staff — leading to speculation that the third hour of the flagship morning show could get axed, The Post has learned.
Almin Karamehmedovic, who took over as ABC News president last summer, calmed the nerves of rattled staffers during an all-hands town hall in New York on Tuesday, sources with knowledge of the meeting said.
“ABC News has no intention of doing away with ‘GMA3,’” one source told The Post.
“The hour is not going away, the show is not going away and the anchors aren’t going away.”
“GMA3” is anchored by Eva Pilgrim and DeMarco Morgan, who took over the show in 2023 following the scandalous affair between married co-anchors T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach.
Karamehmedovic scheduled the town hall at ABC News’ new headquarters in Hudson Square last week — just days after dozens of employees were let go as part of 200 cuts that also targeted Disney Entertainment Networks, the source said.
“The entire industry has been challenged, and restructuring the way we operate has, unfortunately, had an impact on some of our colleagues,” Karamehmedovic said, according to an internal memo sent to staffers following the meeting obtained by The Post.
“As we look ahead, our mission is simple: straightforward journalism.”
ABC News declined comment.
Among those canned were “GMA3” executive producer Catherine McKenzie.
Simone Swink, executive producer of top-rated “GMA,” was given the task of overseeing all “GMA”-branded programming across various time slots.
Other significant reshuffling of leadership included the promotion of Seni Tienabeso to vice president of “ABC News Live.” He will manage certain specialized reporting units for the digital streaming news service.
Further structural changes included the consolidation of long-form content divisions, such as ABC News Studios, “20/20,” “Nightline,” and “Impact x Nightline,” under one leadership umbrella.
Digital and social media operations will also be more closely integrated with news gathering and other editorial teams.
The layoffs extended to ABC News Studios and its digital department, where approximately 30 staffers lost their jobs.
“I have restructured the news division into three pillars to align with how audiences engage with us and how we can better serve them,” Karamehmedovic said during the hour-long town hall.
Those “pillars” are the breaking news operations, signature shows like the top-rated “World News Tonight with David Muir” and longform storytelling, he said.
One of the most significant casualties was the data-driven news platform FiveThirtyEight, which saw all 15 of its employees laid off.
The FiveThirtyEight team was reportedly informed of their termination during a brief virtual meeting with Karamehmedovic, though they knew that their fate was sealed after reading about it in the Wall Street Journal the previous night, according to the Status newsletter.
Karamehmedovic replaced Kim Godwin after a series of high-profile incidents that included her mismanagement of the Holmes-Robach debacle, and the firing of ABC News weatherman Rob Marciano following his alleged “anger management issues,” as the Post exclusively reported
