ABC News
The news division of the American Broadcasting Company, providing television, radio, streaming, digital, and podcast journalism.
Last updated October 23, 2026
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Overview
ABC News is the news division of the American Broadcasting Company, the United States television network owned by The Walt Disney Company. It operates as a multi-platform journalism organization spanning broadcast television, streaming video, radio, websites, mobile products, podcasts, and syndicated news services. Its principal broadcast identity is built around ABC World News Tonight, while Good Morning America, Nightline, 20/20, This Week, World News Now, and GMA3 provide morning, evening, overnight, magazine, public-affairs, and daytime coverage. The organization developed from the news and public-affairs operations associated with ABC, whose institutional roots reach back to the NBC Blue Network. NBC was ordered to separate its radio networks in the early 1940s, and the resulting Blue Network became the foundation of the American Broadcasting Company. ABC began regular television broadcasting in 1948, initially operating with fewer affiliates and less programming strength than CBS and NBC. Its news operation consequently ranked behind the two older networks through much of the mid-twentieth century. A major transformation occurred after Roone Arledge, previously associated with ABC Sports, became president of ABC News in 1977. Arledge brought a more heavily produced, personality-led, and visually ambitious approach to television journalism. Under his leadership, ABC established or strengthened several programs that became long-running parts of American television, including World News Tonight, 20/20, Nightline, and This Week. The division’s growth was supported by ABC’s stronger entertainment schedule, broader affiliate base, and increased investment in national reporting. ABC News now distributes news through several related services. ABC News Radio, subsequently branded within ABC Audio, provides hourly newscasts and syndicated audio content through affiliates and digital channels. ABCNews.com, launched in 1997, expanded the division into online reporting, video, and audio. ABC News Live, introduced as a streaming news channel in the late 2010s, supplies continuous live coverage, breaking news, interviews, documentaries, and scheduled programs across connected-TV platforms and streaming services. FiveThirtyEight was also moved from ESPN to ABC News in 2018, adding a prominent data-driven politics and public-affairs publication to the division’s digital portfolio. ABC News competes with CBS News, NBC News, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and digital-native publishers. Its positioning combines the reach and familiarity of a major broadcast network with a broad digital and streaming presence. The brand remains particularly associated with national election coverage, presidential interviews, breaking-news reporting, morning television, investigative and documentary programming, and the large audiences of its flagship broadcasts. Its journalism has also faced scrutiny over editorial decisions and legal exposure, including the 1985 cancellation of a Marilyn Monroe report and the 2024 settlement of a defamation lawsuit brought by Donald Trump.
History
ABC News emerged from the broadcasting infrastructure of the American Broadcasting Company. ABC’s predecessor was the NBC Blue Network, which was separated from NBC after federal regulators sought greater competition and diversity in American radio. The Blue Network became the basis of ABC in the 1940s. When ABC began regular television operations in 1948, it also established news production capacity through its New York station and production facilities. During its early decades, ABC News operated at a disadvantage against CBS and NBC. Those competitors had older radio news organizations, larger affiliate systems, and stronger established positions in national television. ABC news programs generally ranked third until the network’s broader entertainment business improved in the 1970s. Additional advertising revenue and higher overall network performance allowed ABC to invest more substantially in news gathering and presentation. Roone Arledge’s appointment as president of ABC News in 1977 marked the division’s most important twentieth-century turning point. Arledge applied production techniques associated with sports and entertainment while retaining conventional reporting operations. The result was a more visually dynamic and program-driven news organization. World News Tonight, 20/20, Nightline, and This Week became durable franchises, while ABC News correspondents and anchors gained greater prominence in national political and cultural coverage. ABC World News Tonight, launched in the late 1970s, became the division’s principal evening newscast. ABC News also developed a substantial news-magazine and special-reporting operation. Programs such as 20/20 and Nightline gave the network formats for investigative reports, interviews, breaking news, and longer-form analysis. The division expanded its international video capabilities and, in 1998, participated in the sale of its interest in Worldwide Television News to the Associated Press while entering a content relationship involving AP’s television-news service and ABC News One material. Digital expansion accelerated in the 1990s. ABCNews.com launched in 1997 through a venture involving ABC News and Starwave, bringing written reports, short video, and audio to the web. The organization later entered a strategic content-sharing relationship with Yahoo News, which was expanded in 2015 and ended in 2018 as ABC News and Good Morning America continued with separate web presences. The twenty-first century brought repeated attempts to extend ABC News beyond the traditional broadcast schedule. ABC News Now launched in 2004 as a digital and broadband news service, following ABC’s earlier and unsuccessful Satellite News Channel venture with Group W in 1982. ABC News later emphasized social, mobile, podcast, and streaming distribution. ABC News Live became a continuous streaming channel available through a growing range of connected-TV and online platforms. In 2018, FiveThirtyEight joined ABC News, strengthening the division’s data and election-analysis capabilities. ABC’s audio operation was relaunched in 2015 and renamed ABC Audio in 2019. It supplies radio newscasts, podcasts, and other on-demand material through affiliate and digital distribution. Television programming also continued to evolve: GMA3 began in 2018 as an afternoon extension of the Good Morning America identity and was repurposed during the COVID-19 pandemic as a news-focused program. ABC News has periodically faced editorial controversy. In 1985, the decision to withhold a 20/20 report concerning alleged links among Marilyn Monroe, John F. Kennedy, and Robert F. Kennedy generated internal and public criticism and contributed to Geraldo Rivera’s departure from ABC. In 2024, the division and its corporate owner faced legal consequences from a defamation case brought by Donald Trump. The settlement illustrated the legal and reputational pressures confronting major news organizations while operating in an intensely polarized political environment. ABC News remains an active, integrated news brand across broadcast, radio, streaming, web, and audio formats.
- 2024
Defamation lawsuit settlement
[1]Disney settles Donald Trump’s lawsuit concerning statements broadcast by ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos.
- 2019
ABC News Live expands distribution
[1]The streaming channel becomes available through Roku and other connected-TV services.
- 2019
ABC Radio becomes ABC Audio
[1]The renamed audio division reflects its broader podcast and on-demand portfolio.
- 2018
ABC News expands into data journalism and streaming
[1]FiveThirtyEight moves to ABC News and the division launches GMA3 while expanding ABC News Live.
- 2015
ABC Radio is relaunched
[1]The audio operation is relaunched after a change in its commercial distribution arrangements.
- 2004
ABC News Now launches
[1]ABC introduces a digital, broadband, and mobile 24-hour news service.
- 1998
Worldwide Television News interests are sold to the Associated Press
[1]ABC News and its partners sell their interests in Worldwide Television News and enter a content arrangement with AP.
- 1997
ABCNews.com launches
[1]ABC News establishes a dedicated web operation with written reporting, video, and audio.
- 1982
Satellite News Channel launches
[1]ABC News and Group W launch a satellite-delivered cable news venture, which is later sold to CNN.
- 1978
ABC World News Tonight becomes a flagship
[1]The evening newscast becomes the central broadcast-news program of the ABC News lineup.
Products and positioning
A major American broadcast-news brand extending network journalism into radio, streaming, web publishing, podcasts, and data-driven political analysis.
Evening television newscast · 1978
ABC World News Tonight
ABC News’s principal evening network newscast, covering national, international, political, economic, and breaking-news stories. It is one of the division’s defining broadcast franchises and has been part of the ABC schedule since the late 1970s.
Morning news and talk program · 1975
Good Morning America
A daily morning program combining news, interviews, live reports, weather, lifestyle coverage, and entertainment. Its success has made Good Morning America one of ABC News’s most valuable and recognizable franchises, with weekend and third-hour extensions.
News magazine · 1978
20/20
A long-running news-magazine program centered on investigative reports, interviews, documentaries, human-interest stories, and cultural coverage. It is among the enduring formats developed or strengthened during ABC News’s late-1970s expansion.
Late-night news program · 1980
Nightline
An evening news and interview program designed for extended reporting, analysis, and coverage of major national and international events. It became one of ABC News’s signature programs after its launch around the 1980 Iran hostage crisis.
Public-affairs program · 1981
This Week
ABC’s Sunday political and public-affairs program, featuring interviews with political leaders, roundtable discussion, policy analysis, and commentary on the week’s major events.
Streaming news channel · 2018
ABC News Live
A continuous streaming service offering breaking news, live events, scheduled newscasts, interviews, documentaries, and longer-form reporting. It distributes through numerous connected-TV, streaming, and digital platforms.
Radio and podcast network · 2019
ABC Audio
The audio division encompassing ABC News Radio newscasts, syndicated reporting, podcasts, and on-demand programming. It evolved from ABC’s earlier radio-news operations and was given the ABC Audio name in 2019.
Digital news publication · 1997
ABCNews.com
ABC News’s online publication providing articles, live coverage, video, audio, explainers, and material connected to the network’s television and streaming reporting.
Data journalism and political analysis
FiveThirtyEight
A data-oriented publication known for polling analysis, election forecasting, statistical reporting, and political explainers. It transferred from ESPN to ABC News in 2018 as part of Disney’s internal portfolio reorganization.
Controversies
2026
Former ABC News producer sues CBS News, ABC and Disney alleging harassment and discrimination
A former ABC News field producer filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against a CBS News chief correspondent, ABC News, The Walt Disney Co. and an ABC bureau chief. The complaint alleges the correspondent made sexualized workplace comments and that ABC terminated the producer after denying medical accommodations related to trauma from covering the Uvalde school massacre. It further accuses ABC and Disney of discrimination, retaliation, failure to accommodate medical conditions and wrongful termination. The allegations have not been adjudicated.
2024
Donald Trump defamation settlement
ABC News and its owner, Disney, settled a defamation lawsuit filed by Donald Trump over statements made by George Stephanopoulos regarding Trump’s liability in the E. Jean Carroll case. The agreement included a contribution toward a future presidential library foundation, payment of legal fees, and publication of a statement expressing regret over the phrasing.
2020
ABC News responds to allegations against talent executive
ABC News said allegations that senior talent executive Barbara Fedida used derogatory and racially charged language toward staff did not represent its values. The network placed Fedida on administrative leave while it investigated the allegations. The claims were reported as allegations, not established findings.
2019
ABC News apologizes and removes disputed footage
ABC News apologized and removed video that had aired in two news programs after questions were raised about its accuracy. According to the source, the footage appeared to come from a Kentucky gun range rather than the Syrian border. The apology and removal followed scrutiny of the video's accuracy, and the source reported the apparent discrepancy regarding the footage's location.
1985
Cancellation of the Marilyn Monroe report
ABC News president Roone Arledge stopped a planned 20/20 report concerning alleged relationships among Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. Arledge characterized the material as insufficiently suitable for broadcast, while program figures including Hugh Downs, Barbara Walters, Av Westin, and Geraldo Rivera criticized the decision and its handling. The controversy contributed to Rivera’s departure from ABC.
Brand decisions
2018
Expand into streaming and data journalismStrategyBackground
Audiences were shifting from scheduled television toward streaming, digital video, and data-led political analysis.
Action taken
ABC News launched and expanded ABC News Live and brought FiveThirtyEight into the ABC News portfolio.
Aftermath
The division gained a larger presence on connected-TV services and a stronger role in election and polling analysis.
2015
Relaunch the radio operationStrategyBackground
Cumulus planned to replace its ABC News radio service with Westwood One News through CNN.
Action taken
ABC announced a new ABC Radio operation, later broadened and renamed ABC Audio.
Aftermath
The audio business expanded into podcasts and on-demand content rather than remaining limited to traditional radio newscasts.
1998
Sell interests in Worldwide Television NewsM&ABackground
ABC News, ITN, and Nine Network held interests in the international video-news service Worldwide Television News.
Action taken
The partners sold their interests to the Associated Press and ABC entered a related content arrangement with AP.
Aftermath
The arrangement connected ABC News video resources with AP’s television-news distribution network.
1977
Invest in a stronger, more distinctive news operationStrategyBackground
ABC News had historically trailed CBS and NBC in audience and institutional strength.
Action taken
ABC appointed Roone Arledge and increased resources for ambitious formats, presentation, reporting, and program development.
Aftermath
The strategy helped produce enduring franchises including World News Tonight, 20/20, Nightline, and This Week.
Recent events
- 2019
ABC Radio is renamed ABC Audio[1]
Other
The radio division adopted the ABC Audio name as its work expanded beyond linear radio into podcasts and on-demand programming.
- 2019
ABC News launches ABC News Live on Roku[1]
Product launch
ABC News expanded its continuous streaming-news service to Roku, supporting the division’s broader connected-TV distribution strategy.
- 2018
FiveThirtyEight moves to ABC News[1]
M&A
The data journalism and polling website FiveThirtyEight was transferred from ESPN to ABC News within Disney’s portfolio.
- 2014
ABC announces the relaunch of its radio network[1]
Other
ABC announced that its radio operation would be relaunched as ABC Radio in January 2015 after a change in the service arrangement involving Cumulus and Westwood One.
Sources8 sources
- 1ABC News (United States)en.wikipedia.org
- 2ABC News official websiteabcnews.go.com
- 3Former ABC News producer sues CBS News, ABC and Disney alleging harassment and discriminationfoxnews.com
- 4ABC News apologizes and removes disputed footagenewsbusters.org
- 5ABC News responds to allegations against talent executivenewsbusters.org
- 6ABC apologizes for video wrongly said to be from Syriaarabnews.com
- 7Apple partners with ABC on 2020 presidential coverage in the Apple News app | TechCrunchtechcrunch.com
- 8Breaking News - ABC News Partners with Shawn Carter and Roc Nation, Will Smith and Westbrook Studios, and Aaron Kaplan and Kapital Entertainment for Special Limited Docuseries "Let the World See" | TheFutonCritic.comthefutoncritic.com
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