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ABC Presidents

Given the obstacles David Westin’s successor faces, the usual suspects may not suffice. The Daily Beast rounds up some unconventional nominees, from Barbara Walters to Andrew Breitbart.

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ABC
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Why doesn’t anyone ever think about the talent? Other than MSNBC’s abortive fling with Dan Abrams, TV news outlets have tended to keep the anchors out of the executive suite. But when it comes to learning how to run a news organization, leading a broadcast must be as good as, say, law school. Walters, who co-anchored the ABC Evening News in the 1970s, has served for three decades as an on-air correspondent for the network, and created the buzz-factory that is The View, probably knows the inner workings of ABC News better than anyone else. And compared to new Newsweek owner Sidney Harman, the 80-year-old Walters is a kid. Has anyone ever approached her about running the network? “No one has ever actually asked me anything about becoming president of ABC News,” Walters said, “although one former vice president who worked closely with me used to say that I was more energized and had more ideas than anyone he knew. But I have always loved what I am still doing.”

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If there’s one person with a fighting chance of getting ABC News’ broadcasts into first place, it’s the former hotshot 26-year-old executive producer of NBC’s Today show. Zucker, for now the chief executive of NBC Universal, is a world-class TV news producer, overseeing Today for eight years and serving as the executive producer of the NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw as well for a short period during that stint. It was only when Zucker moved out of news, taking over NBC’s Entertainment division in 2001, then the NBC Universal Television Group in 2004, that people started questioning his brilliance. But now that Comcast is looking to acquire NBC, Zucker’s future at the network looks less certain. If Brian Roberts doesn’t keep him around, ABC News would be lucky to have him.

Henry McGee / Newscom
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It worked in cable news—why not bring a little partisan bickering to the broadcast networks? In the last 15 years, Fox News has managed to marginalize its competition, leading MSNBC to tack left and CNN to throw its hands up in desperation. Disney could stake a bold claim on the right by bringing in Breitbart, owner of a suite of righty news sites, creator of the Shirley Sherrod scandal, and enfant terrible of online news. Breitbart’s friendship with Matt Drudge alone would mean miracles for ABCNews.com. Reporters at the network have been known to complain privately that MSNBC’s coziness with the left gives NBC an unfair edge. Breitbart would take that brawl into the streets.

Reed Saxon / AP Photo
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The most talented news executive not currently running a news organization, Raines could supercharge what’s left of ABC News’ reporting staff. The former New York Times executive editor, who led the paper to a host of Pulitzers with his “flood the zone” theory of covering major news, has been fly fishing and writing occasional columns since he was forced out of The Times in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal in 2003. Raines even has a (teeny tiny) bit of broadcasting experience, having reported for WBRC-TV in Birmingham in between early-career stints at the Tuscaloosa News and the Birmingham News.

David S. Holloway / Getty Images
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A big-money man might be just the thing for the small-coffered ABC. Rattner is a Brown grad who got his start at The New York Times and is buddies with Arthur Sulzberger Jr. But unlike his cub reporter buddies, Rattner had the good business sense to ditch journalism for a gig at Morgan Stanley and a career in finance. He's tried to get back in the news game before—once reportedly considering buying The New York Observer—so ABC could be just the ticket. Plus, his recent experience restructuring GM and figuring out complex ways to bring it out of bankruptcy could be the kind of imaginative strategic thinking ABC News needs—and with a journalistic background to boot.

Carlos Osorio / AP Photo
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Remember MSNBC before Olbermann/Maddow in prime time? It seems like forever ago that the cable network was an also-ran in the ratings and a forgettable outpost of hollering centrism. Griffin, who became president of the lefty cable news network in 2008 and before that was a longtime producer at NBC, could be a dream hire for Disney CEO Bob Iger, especially if ABC wants to reclaim the lion's share of lucrative morning-news dollars—Griffin used to oversee the Today show and might bring the secrets behind the magic over to Disney.

Frederick M. Brown / AP Photo