ABC News Correspondent Suspended Over COVID-19 Violation

With the rise of COVID-19 again, ABC News once suspended chief national correspondent Matt Gutman over a report during the initial pandemic. Deadline reported in 2021 that he had violated a company policy that involved safety rules when going to a hospital for a story without permission from management. Gutman had done a decent amount of reporting on the pandemic, including the previous month when he reported on hospitals struggling to take care of the rising patients while also trying to respond to other trauma emergencies.

That wasn’t the first time Gutman had been suspended. After Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, along with seven others, were killed in a helicopter crash, Gutman falsely stated that Bryant’s four daughters were onboard. While he did later apologize and acknowledge his mistake on social media, he ended up getting suspended for a month. His suspension for the violation was also brief. As of now, he seems to still be with ABC News, so not much has changed. The suspension was over a year ago, and there doesn’t seem to be anything else that Gutman was involved in, which is always good news.

Matt Gutman has been with ABC News since 2008. He’s regularly appeared on World News Tonight, 20/20, Good Morning America, and Nightline. Named Chief National Correspondent for ABC News in 2018, Gutman has two books out: The Boys in the Cave, about the 13 Thai boys and their coach trapped in the Tham Luang cave, and No Time to Panic, which chronicles his 20-year battle with panic attacks.

Meanwhile, ABC News Live is staying pretty busy when it comes to correspondents. Beginning this week, viewers can look forward to four different coverages throughout the day. Not only will they be expanding the coverage, but they will also be expanding the variety of topics. While it will still focus prominently on breaking news, there will also be topics that are both relevant and close to the correspondents. So ABC News is continuing to stay lively and evolving.

COVID-19 is continuing to rise with a new mutated variant, according to CBS News. BA.2.86 does remain a small fraction of the new cases nationwide, but it’s definitely not the only one that has been showing up lately. Hopefully, with the virus re-emerging, safety precautions are taken whenever and wherever possible, including while reporting. Journalists will go to great lengths to get the story they need, but sometimes it is a bit much.