AMANPOUR’S SELECTION DECRIED BY ABC STAFFERS

ABC News staffers are angry and demoralized over the surprise selection of CNN foreign correspondent Christiane Amanpour to host ABC’s Sunday morning This Week show, Washington Post media writer Tom Shales reported today (Tuesday). “ABC News is practically in a state of internal revolt over her selection,” Shales wrote. However, TVNewser.com said Monday that most ABC News staff members are “too demoralized to care” about Amanpour’s selectioin. The reports are a sharp contrast to one that appeared in Daily Variety last week after the announcement of Amanpour’s appointment. The trade publication said then: “Amanpour is seen as a huge get for the Alphabet net — and might be seen as a big morale booster for ABC News, which is in the midst of a massive staff downsizing.” But Shales commented that the network would have been better off if it had selected someone internally, like White House correspondent Jake Tapper or Nightline co-anchor Terry Moran. “Either would have made a better This Week anchor, and neither would put ABC News in the position of having to rationalize spending big bucks on a superstar while making brutal cutbacks in the division.”