ABC News and NBC News were once considered the crown jewels of media but have been beset by crises in recent months, with everything from disgruntled employees to lurid scandals plaguing both organizations.
"ABC and NBC haven't experienced this kind of tumult and uncertainly arguably in their respective histories," Fox News contributor Joe Concha said.
"When this happens, just as it does in sports, you look at the head coach and question whether they are the right guy or girl for the job," Concha continued. "Whatever the case, if the numbers keep going down, soon accountability will be leveled. These networks are part of publicly traded companies, after all."
NBC News management has been described as "criminals" by their own employees in recent days as an ugly labor dispute resulted in rank-and-file staffers walking off the job last week. Over 200 employees from NBC News and MSNBC ditched work to air grievances with the Comcast-owned company during a NewsGuild rally outside NBC’s New York City headquarters on Thursday.
NewsGuild president Jon Schleuss has said NBC News is "breaking the law" by illegally laying off union journalists, while management insists the guild is misrepresenting the facts and wants to work toward an agreement. Things have gotten nasty and digital staffers from NBC News held signs declaring the network stands for "Nothing But Criminals" outside the iconic Rockefeller Center.
The labor issues surfaced only a few weeks after a significant leadership change inside the newsroom, as controversial now-former president Noah Oppenheim was replaced by Rebecca Blumenstein, who came to NBC from The New York Times.
But while Oppenheim was president of NBC News, Blumenstein has the title of president of editorial. The subtle difference indicates that NBCUniversal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde – who is seen as a businessman, not a journalist – has more control than ever.
The leadership change and labor beef came in the wake of NBC News refusing to explain why it mysteriously retracted Miguel Almaguer’s Paul Pelosi report. Media insiders have been puzzled by NBC’s lack of transparency on the issue.
ABC NEWS’ ‘SQUALID CULTURE OF SEX’ CONTINUES TO HAUNT DISNEY AS ‘HORNED UP’ OFFICE MAKES HEADLINES
Over at Disney’s ABC News, the scandalous extramarital affair between co-hosts Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes dominated tabloids and caused "internal drama" among staffers until they agreed to walk away late last month.
"[The affair] makes the network look bad… it's supposed to be a family network," a current ABC News staffer told Fox News Digital days before the lovebirds agreed to exit.
The network first insisted that Holmes and Robach would not be disciplined for their relationship, as both parties were considered consenting adults. The following Monday, ABC News president Kim Godwin did an about-face and pulled Holmes and Robach off the air, claiming the "distraction" had become too significant. The made-for-tabloids scandal generated an onslaught of bad publicity as paparazzi chronicled every step Robach and Holmes made during a bizarre eight-week probe into their relationship.
Holmes has since been accused of other affairs with multiple former ABC News employees. Last week, New York magazine’s The Cut published, "Inside the ‘Horned Up’ Office Culture at ABC News," a stunning look at the company that featured a variety of current and former employees dishing on office romances.
"It felt like everybody was sleeping around," one source told The Cut while another added that it felt like the network was staffed by "a bunch of horned-up high-school students."
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The cheating story sucked up so much oxygen that Cecila Vega ditching the network for a new gig at CBS was an afterthought, but insiders have noted that the sudden loss of Vega, Robach and Holmes has crippled ABC News’ bench.
While the Robach-Holmes affair was in the forefront, a pair of former ABC News producers also generated headlines.
Earlier this month, ex-ABC News investigative journalist James Gordon Meek was arrested and charged with child sex crimes. Meek abruptly resigned from the Disney-owned network following an FBI raid of his Arlington, Virginia, home last year. The sudden resignation of Meek, who regularly worked on sensitive stories while working as a national-security investigative producer for ABC News, baffled media insiders who thought the raid could have been tied to his work.
The Justice Department issued a press release that finally shed light on the mysterious raid of the journalist's home. Meek is charged with transportation of child pornography and faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if convicted. Meek allegedly "engaged in sexually explicit conversations where the participants expressed enthusiasm for the sexual abuse of children" and had devices containing such images.
T.J. HOLMES, AMY ROBACH REACH DEAL WITH DISNEY’S ABC NEWS TO EXIT AMID CHEATING SCANDAL
A week after Meek’s arrest was made public, it was reported that up-and-coming ABC News producer Dax Tejera, who died in December at age 37, "choked on food due to being intoxicated."
Godwin previously wrote in a memo to staff that the "This Week" executive producer had "passed away suddenly of a heart attack," leaving behind his wife and two young children.
However, the Daily Mail reported Tejera actually "choked on food due to being intoxicated" according to the New York City's Office of Chief Medical Examiner.
The inconsistency between ABC News and the medical examiner were accompanied by the disturbing circumstances that surround his death.
His widow, Veronica Tejera, was arrested hours later and charged with child endangerment when it was revealed the couple allegedly left two young children unattended in a hotel room prior to his death.
The Tejeras were allegedly dining out at a ritzy New York City steakhouse with friends as their two-year-old and five-month-old were by themselves for at least two hours at the nearby Yale Club. Yale Club staff reportedly called the police upon learning about the unattended children.
While NBC News has ongoing labor issues because NewsGuild members believe the company unfairly laid off staffers, ABC’s parent company is bracing for a bloodbath. Last week, Disney announced it would eliminate roughly 7,000 employees as part of a major restructuring aimed at saving the company billions of dollars.
ABC’s "World News Tonight" averaged 8.8 million viewers and "Good Morning America" averaged 3.3 million during the week of Jan. 30, while "NBC Nightly News" managed 7.6 million viewers and "Today" was a smidgen below the three-million mark, according to Nielsen. While both networks still draw significant audiences, TVNsewser reported that all four programs were either flat or down compared to the same week last year.
It's unclear if nonstop negative publicity is hurting viewership, but it’s certainly affecting respect among the industry. A longtime media executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, can’t believe what’s happening at the once-proud news organizations.
"It’s sad to see these once great news organizations ABC and NBC News devolve into sordid sex scandals, lay-offs, backstabbing and buyouts— all the while delivering poorer and poorer quality programming to their fast-shrinking pool of elderly viewers," the media executive told Fox News Digital.
"These latest rounds of layoffs and cuts will be the final dismantling of both institutions," the exec said. "They will go out not with a bang, but a whimper."
Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Fox Business’ Breck Dumas contributed to this report.
