Veteran journalist Joanne Lunden, who co-anchored “Good Morning America” from 1980 to 1997, doesn’t admit the slightest bit of concern about the current media environment.
“I think it’s a really sad situation that so many segments of the American public don’t know what to believe anymore,” Landen told Variety earlier this month at GMA’s 50th anniversary celebration. “There’s a lot of fake news, videos and photos. They don’t know if it’s really you. That part makes me incredibly sad and upset. I don’t know if I can put the toothpaste back in the tube.”
While “GMA” remains ABC’s reliable ratings performer, more Americans now get their news from social media platforms. According to a recent Pew Research Center report, about half of Americans say they have a hard time deciding what’s true when they hear the news. The turmoil reflects a broader collapse in trust in both news organizations and social platforms, a decline seen across political parties and age groups.
“I hope we can somehow restore that ship,” Landen said. “But with the advent of AI, I think we’re going to see job losses in media, just like there are job losses at Amazon and everywhere else.” (Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said this year’s large layoffs were due to the company ramping up its deployment of “generative AI and agents.”)
Landen paused for a moment before adding, “But you know what? You can’t replace a host who sits there in the morning and says good morning to you. There’s nothing to say about their chemistry on air.”
Beyond AI-generated deepfakes, Lunden was quick to acknowledge how he has benefited from new technologies introduced since leaving “GMA” in 1997. I remember feeling isolated from the audience I used to greet at every sunrise.
“The hardest part about leaving was the disconnect with the American audience,” she said. “We didn’t have social media, so we were really disconnected. It was a bit of a surprise.”
That void was eventually filled when she logged onto social media for the first time and reconnected with old fans. When Lunden was on the air, she “had a bunch of people (staff) just answering letters,” but the direct connections on social media were on another level.
“Soon I had 50,000, 60,000 followers and my husband said, ‘You can’t talk to all those people every day.'” She laughed and said, “But hey, I’ll try.”
Getty Images
Getty Images
Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos and Michael Strahan were joined by Joan Landen, veteran Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer at the lively “GMA” gala at Disney’s New York headquarters. The event followed the broadcast of Trump’s divisive “60 Minutes” interview the night before, his first since he sued CBS for altering Kamala Harris’ appearance during the campaign. The timing highlighted the increasingly fraught relationship between politics, news organizations and the billionaire owners who now form major media companies.
“We clearly know that the major networks are slowly becoming owned by the wealthiest people in the world,” Landen said. “We don’t want their opinions or their political views to infiltrate our business. But I’m a half-full girl. I truly believe that journalism as an industry can stand up strong. We’ll still be here in 10 years, celebrating our 60th anniversary. And you can still ask me anything you want.”
