Who Should Be the Next Chief of ABC News? What about… Breitbart?

With David Westin having suddenly bailed on ABC News, the Daily Beast has raised the formidable challenges facing whoever becomes his successor:

In his 13 years at the network, Westin, a lawyer, has fought against the inextricable decline of the broadcast television news business. When he took over for the legendary Roone Arledge in 1997, he inherited an organization filled with stars–Peter Jennings, Ted Koppel, Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer, Charles Gibson–and lucrative, top-rated news broadcasts, including World News Tonight and Nightline.

Now, on the eve of his departure, ABC News is a very different place. The ratings are mostly down, the stars are mostly gone, the foreign bureaus are mostly closed, and the advertising dollars that once poured in have slowed to a geriatric limp. Since Disney isn’t exactly running a charity, something finally had to go, and this February, it did: Westin announced ABC News would cut 25 percent of its work force, or roughly 400 jobs.

But if the news division is ever going to turn out healthy profits again, it will need a lot of work. Whoever takes over for Westin must have news judgment, business sense, and also a certain je ne sais quoi–literally, since no one seems to have any clue how to rescue the foundering broadcast TV news business. There are, of course, all the usual suspects: internal candidates who’ve worked their way up through the ranks; rising stars at other networks. But given the obstacles the next president of ABC News must face, the usual suspects may not be good enough.

The Beast then proceeds to throw a few names in the hopper, including Barbara Walters, NBC chief Jeff Zucker, former New York Times editor Howell Raines and — wait for it — Andrew Breitbart:

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.