November 16, 2009

Cuomo Better Choice Than Stephanopoulos for GMA

Chris Cuomo on GMA

According to several news sources, it appears ABC will be making a decision in the near future regarding who will be the new anchor to replace Diane Sawyer at ABC's Good Morning America. Some have said George Stephanopoulos is the front runner for the job. When I heard that, my first reaction was someone at the top at ABC must not understand branding and reputation!

Morning television is not all about hard news and politics. It is about a combination of soft news like fashion, cooking, home life and gossip like celebrity news, who is dating whom, as well as hard news like politics, business news and legal news.

Chris Cuomo has been mastering the combo needed to be a morning show star the past several years under the mentorship of Diane Sawyer herself. But more importantly America responded as GMA had some of their best ratings while Cuomo was a part of the team.

George Stephanopoulos, on the other hand, is not the best fit for morning show television. Supposedly, Stephanopoulos is asking the executives at ABC to change the morning show to his liking for him to take the job. Really George? You want more hard news and politics and less fun segments and "soft" news? Have you ever watched morning shows? Do you know GMA's key audience? Hello, it's WOMEN!!!

George seems to think he can re-engineer Good Morning America, like he tried to re-engineer the Clinton White House. That didn't go so well, did it? In fact, it went so poorly many believe he made so many enemies with his former colleagues at the Clinton White House, he had no choice but to look for employment in academia and media. Ooops, he is no longer at Columbia either. Stephanopoulos had a short stint at Columbia and moved to broadcast journalism, where he struggled early on with reading the TelePrompTer. ABC seems to have a lot of faith in Stephanopoulos, but he has never been the political news favorite, nor has he been the broadcast news favorite.

George Stephanopoulos: The Clinton Years

The choice for me to replace Diane Sawyer at Good Morning America is a proven entity: Chris Cuomo. First of all, women love him!! He was once one of the most eligible bachelor's in the country before he married his beautiful and intelligent wife, Christina and became the father of two beautiful children, with a third on the way now. He is a very intelligent, broadcaster with the background of an attorney, along with the strong analytical and oratory skills every Cuomo seems to have. He loves to laugh and have fun with young and old and he is very comfortable in his own skin. Chris has excellent listening skills and has the ability to put anyone he is interviewing at ease. He honed these skills not only at GMA, but also as an investigative journalist on ABC's Primetime and with a stint at Fox News.

Breaking up the current Good Morning America team would be a big mistake. Look for Cuomo to get the nod as anchor at GMA. We all know he has earned it over his 4 years on the program and we also know he is America's choice. Sorry George, politics and hard news is not enough to make a great fit in morning television, especially based in NYC and not in the Beltway of D.C. Ask your wife Ali! She knows a thing or too about being on a successful TV show (Oprah), which is also mostly viewed by women.

The Good Morning America Crew

Remember, do the right thing when your reputation is in crisis and seek the counsel of an experienced reputation management expert. It will be a major challenge, but ultimately the rewards of repairing your reputation will be great. Why? Because Your Reputation Is Everything!™

About Mike Paul

Mike Paul is editor of The Reputation Doctor blog. The Reputation Doctor is a nickname given to him by various clients. Mike's blog is located at www.ReputationDoctor.com. He appears regularly on CNN, MSNBC, HLN, Fox News Channel, TruTV (formerly Court TV), ABC News, ESPN, CBS News, BBC, and others as a weekly contributor and expert in the global news regarding corporations, CEOs, celebrities, athletes, politicians and other public organizations and public individuals with reputations in crisis. Mr. Paul is also president and senior counselor of MGP & Associates PR (www.mgppr.com), a leading strategic public relations and reputation management firm based in New York. For interview requests, keynote speeches, senior counseling or other business opportunities with Mr. Paul, call 212-595-8500 or email info@mgppr.com.

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Comments:

Comment from: John [Visitor] · http://www.gemstonesmarket.com/

What if this time the top bosses have something extra ordinary and therefore they want it that way. If not that than we already are expecting another disastrous result.

Jan 16, 2010, 2:34 pm

Comment from: icr [Visitor]

No one with an IQ above room temperature watches GMA.

And what sort of dumb*** is still talking about Whitewater?

Jan 23, 2010, 10:52 pm

Comment from: Andy [Visitor] · http://www.accidentandinjuryclaims.co.uk/

I agree but sometimes it do happen that the top bosses don't understand the importance of the subject.

Dec 29, 2009, 4:27 am

Comment from: bell [Visitor] · http://www.ares.net/

Diane Sawyer is good anchor. Chris is best option for morning show.

Nov 19, 2009, 2:15 am

Comment from: Peter McGarrick [Visitor] · http://quicklookbooks.com/

How could you -not- love such a perfectly formed bunch or Journo professionals? I'm still trying to work out whose teeth are whitest though!

Jan 19, 2010, 5:24 am

Comment from: bobaloo42 [Visitor]

I agree. Hard news in the a.m. show seems to be limited to sleep diets and blue dye cancer cures. Of course that's what Stephanopoulos deserves.

Nov 17, 2009, 12:07 pm

Comment from: Dawn [Visitor] · http://www.ginkofinancial.com/

I tend to agree that Diane is great at what she does but Chris is pretty good too and a great option for a morning show.

Dec 15, 2009, 5:59 am

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