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By Oliver Darcy, CNN Business
A version of this article first appeared in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter. You can register for free here.
Staff are angry, confused and demanding answers inside ABC News after a lawsuit was filed Wednesday alleging former “Good Morning America” boss Michael Corn sexually assaulted two Staff. The allegations, which Corn denied, rocked all levels of the news network, several sources tell me. As one source told me: “There is a lot of anger and confusion and people want to understand what happened…”
The trial
News of the lawsuit rocked people’s phones via a Wall Street Journal push alert on Wednesday morning. Journalist Joe Flint picked this up Corn, who inexplicably left ABC News earlier this year, was facing allegations of sexual assault from two of his former colleagues. “GMA” producer who filed suit against Corn and ABC, Kirstyn Crawford, said she was assaulted in 2015 while on a trip to cover the Oscars. Crawford also said Corn assaulted former ABC News producer Jill McClain in 2010 during a robbery and in 2011 while traveling to London.
Corn’s legal team fired back with emails showing Crawford and Corn engaging in friendly banter within hours of the alleged assault. Corn said in a statement that the emails prove his claims “are patently false.” He said his messages were “not the words and actions of a woman who had been assaulted hours before”. He also said McClain’s claims “are equally fabricated.” He said she had invited him to his wedding and “communicated to me and my wife several times that he misses me after leaving her job at ABC.”
For its part, ABC only issued a terse statement that said, “We are committed to maintaining a safe and supportive work environment and have a process in place that thoroughly reviews and deals with complaints that are filed.” ABC News disputes the allegations made against it and will address this issue in court. A spokesperson for the network declined to say more …
In Godwin’s 3pm call
At around 3 p.m. ET, ABC News staff members received a curious email from Vice President of News Gathering Wendy Fisher, informing them that the afternoon editorial call with the President Kim Godwin had been delayed until 3:10 pm The call is usually reserved for senior ABC News executives, so the email – which was sent to a large mailing list – baffled people. , according to sources I spoke to. Then, at 3:11 p.m. ET, nearly 500 ABC News staff received another email inviting them to join the call.
At the top of the call, Godwin – who took the helm earlier this year – read ABC’s statement. She said she came to ABC News to help change the culture and is committed to doing so. She said she wanted to be there for the staff and brought up the issue on Wednesday afternoon because she didn’t want to wait for the 9am call the next day. “I’m here,” she said at one point. “You know how to reach me. Call me. If you need anything, even if you need someone to listen to you.
Godwin then responded to questions from frustrated staff. Godwin was asked why the statement released by ABC News indicated that the network was “disputing” the allegations. She replied that she did not believe this was a blanket statement and that the company had certain feelings about certain allegations. Godwin was asked why everyone learned of the allegations from the Wall Street Journal, rather than management. His response: because the allegations were made in the context of a trial.
There was no shortage of questions from the ABC’ers. Bottom line: It was a call full of raw emotion. I was told that one person screamed. Another person cried. As one source told me: “It was really a strained call …”
Will “GMA” deal with the allegations?
According to sources who were on the call, Godwin was asked if “GMA” would address the story on Thursday, but did not give a clear answer. I checked with an ABC News rep but got no response. The network has still not named a new senior EP of “GMA” to replace Corn…
And Nexstar?
After leaving ABC News, Corn joined Nexstar’s brand new “NewsNation” as Chief News Officer. The network does not comment on the allegations made against him. A spokesperson told me, “We have no comment on anything that may or may not have happened prior to Mr. Corn’s hiring at Nexstar…”
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