Good Morning Britain star James Gooderson has announced he is stepping down from the ITV show after three years. He will take up a new role as a Washington Correspondent for Feature Story News, covering President Trump and Capitol Hill politics for international clients.
Move to the US
In a LinkedIn post, Gooderson said: "After a fantastic 3 years at ITV and ITV News I've joined Feature Story News as a Washington Correspondent. I'll be working out of the DC office covering President Trump and the latest political news on Capitol Hill for a number of international news clients." He added: "Alongside reporting in Washington I'll also be reporting across the US ahead of the midterms. Can't wait to get started!"
Other Departures Amid Budget Cuts
Last week, hosts Ed Balls and Susanna Reid announced on air that director Stuart Earl was leaving after a decade. Susanna said: "We just want to, before we go, say a huge goodbye to our amazing director, Stuart. He's getting on his motorbike and he's off, he's going to be riding over some mountains somewhere. But he's been with us for ten years and we are grateful for every minute. Stuart, thank you. Good luck, goodbye." Ed added: "Stuart, you are a total genius. You have been so brilliant. You support us so much, thank you very, very much."
Over the last year, Good Morning Britain and other ITV programmes have faced huge budget cuts. In January, GMB moved into a smaller studio, along with Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women. Lorraine Kelly's show was cut from one hour to 30 minutes and now airs only 30 weeks a year. Lorraine told Saga magazine: "Really rubbish. A lot of my team got made redundant. It was really hard and harder for them. We were very close-knit, but it’s all about budget. All television shows are in the same boat, we’re not alone."
Kevin Lygo, Managing Director of ITV’s Media and Entertainment Division, said earlier: "Daytime is a really important part of what we do, and these scheduling and production changes will enable us to continue to deliver a schedule providing viewers with the news, debate and discussion they love from the presenters they know and trust as well generating savings which will allow us to reinvest across the programme budget in other genres. These changes also allow us to consolidate our news operations and expand our national, international and regional news output and to build upon our proud history of trusted journalism at a time when our viewers need accurate, unbiased news coverage more than ever."
