James Goldston

James Goldston was named president of ABC News in April 2014. He oversees all aspects of the news division, including broadcast, digital and radio, a combined audience that is unmatched in the United States.

During Goldston’s tenure leading ABC News, the network has responded rapidly to cover breaking news in Cuba, Syria, Iraq, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela, and across the country from San Bernardino to Las Vegas. ABC News has scored exclusive interviews with former FBI director James Comey, President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Caitlyn Jenner, Michael Cohen and former First Lady Michelle Obama, among many others, and hosted landmark town halls with President Barack Obama and Pope Francis.

Under his leadership ABC’s newscasts are delivering their most competitive seasons in years while expanding their reach on new digital networks. “GMA” is No. 1 for the seventh straight year and “World News Tonight with David Muir” won the 2016-2017 television season for the first time in 21 years and is delivering its largest lead over NBC in 23 years. The Yahoo-ABC News Network reaches over 130 million people a month; and in the last year, ABC News has delivered over 10 billion video views, showing dramatic year over year growth. ABC News has built on this success to launch new news products for over-the-top and social networks, including a 24/7 streaming network, ABC News Live, in 2018. The news division is widely recognized as a pioneer in live streaming and virtual reality, winning the first-ever Edward R. Murrow Award for VR programming. Since 2014, ABC News has won three consecutive Murrow Awards for Overall Excellence in Television and Radio, a historic first for any network.

In 2018, ABC News acquired renowned data journalism organization FiveThirtyEight and announced the expansion of “Good Morning America” to a third hour starting in September. ABC’s The View, now in its 23rd season, joined the news division in 2014 and now ranks among the top five of all network and syndicated daytime talk shows.

From March 2012-April 2014, Goldston served as senior vice president for Content and Development for ABC News. In this role, he oversaw ABC News programs and executive producers, and led the development of new shows for broadcast, cable and other distribution.

Prior to his role as senior vice president, Goldston was the senior executive producer of “Good Morning America” from February 2011 to March 2012. During his tenure, the broadcast saw significant ratings gains as it closed in on NBC’s 16-year winning streak in the mornings and covered a wide range of breaking news stories from around the world with distinction.

Goldston joined ABC News in 2004 as a senior producer of prime-time specials and investigative reports, and was promoted shortly thereafter to executive producer of “Nightline,” a position he held until 2011. Under his leadership, the program grew to become the No. 1 show in late-night and won a string of awards including multiple Emmys® and the prestigious Peabody award.

Before joining ABC News, Goldston was the executive producer of Britain’s most-watched current affairs program, ITV1’s “Tonight with Trevor McDonald,” from 2002-2004. There he produced a series of celebrated documentaries including "Shock and Awe" – “Tonight”'s award-winning coverage of the Iraq War and the multi-award-winning “Living with Michael Jackson.” During his tenure as both producer and executive producer, “Tonight” was honored with the Royal Television Society’s prestigious Program of the Year Award three times in five years.

Goldston began his career in television as a producer for several BBC News programs, including “Newsnight,” the network’s nightly news analysis show, as well as BBC’s flagship current affairs program, “Panorama.”

A graduate of Jesus College, Oxford University, Goldston resides in New York City with his family.