ABC World News Tonight Sunday and ABC News Live Prime anchor Linsey Davis speaks with WWD about new ABC News president Kim Godwin, where she writes her children’s books, who gave her the best debate prep advice, and stories that have had the deepest impact.
WWD: So you have a new president at ABC News, Kim Godwin, who started in May. What’s she like?
Davis: She has a very refreshing style of leadership that is empowering with a focus on team building. It strikes me that her vision for the direction of the news division is all-encompassing and goes beyond just the viewership and all the external aspects that measure success. She is also looking inward — at how we can work and relate and be better to each other to ensure that we are effective and efficient as a team from the ground up.
AdvertisementWWD: The narrative when Disney executives were trying to hire a new president was that ABC News was a toxic place to work. Is it toxic?
Davis: What I have experienced has not been toxic. But that’s not to negate the experience of my colleagues who may have a different point of view. I think that there has been a machine that has continued to kind of chug along. One word that Kim did bring up during her introduction was kindness. People are optimistic that she’s cognizant of that; let’s be number one, let’s continue to be number one, and let’s be kind in the process.
Fox News @ Night anchor Shannon Bream received the profile treatment from South magazine. Bream spoke about growing up in the south (she was raised in Sanford, Fla.), giving the commencement at Liberty University, and was asked for her thoughts on the term “fake news.”
South Magazine: What do you think of the term “fake news?” Does that bother you as a journalist?
Bream: It honestly doesn’t because I see people using it everywhere on the left and on the right and all in-between. Social media has really changed all of this in the last ten years but I always encourage college students and kids coming up … you should be reading and watching as many different viewpoints as you can, as often as you can. Things that you think you agree with. Things that you think you disagree with. If you do that, it’ll make you a more informed person and then you’re capable of defending your views better and understanding others better too.
Fox Business host Stuart Varney spoke with Northwest Bergen Magazine about his July 4 holiday traditions. His family commemorates Independence Day at their home in Cape Cod with a celebration that extends through Varney’s birthday on July 7: “We have a wonderful parade in town, and my grandchildren make drinks and cookies to sell on the side of the road as people go to the parade. All of the funds are donated to a local charity. We usually raise about $1,000!,” Varney told the magazine.