Courtney Gousman, who was an anchor at WEWS Cleveland, explained her absence from TV screens in recent weeks with a post on Facebook. “Hey Cleveland, let's talk,” she wrote. “I owe you an explanation. For the past 3 weeks I have been missing on-air at News 5 Cleveland. As painful as this has been to talk about, I want to let you know I was laid off. I was informed the decision was made due to budgetary reasons and station restructuring.”
Scripps owns WEWS. Gousman joined the station in September 2020, after a stint at WGN Chicago. She anchored the 5, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts.
She was last on the air in late July.
“Unfortunately, I am not alone,“ Gousman said. “I’m one of dozens of colleagues throughout the company who have suffered the same fate, and have been recently let go.”
Known as News 5, WEWS is an ABC affiliate owned by Scripps. WEWS management did not comment, on short notice, at deadline.
Scripps will eliminate 300 jobs in the next 12 months as part of a restructuring aimed at reducing annual expenses by $40 million, the group’s WCPO Cincinnati reported earlier in the year.
DaLaun Dillard, Gousman’s co-anchor at WEWS, saluted his departed colleague on X, as Twitter is now known. “In just 2.5 years Court and I quickly grew from co-anchors to genuine friends,“ Dillard said. “The dynamic of putting two Black anchors together was never lost on me nor the viewers. I’m grateful for the opportunity to work alongside a passionate professional like her.”
Gousman thanked Cleveland viewers for watching. “I don't know if I'll ever make an appearance on Cleveland TV again, but I wanted to let you know that I appreciate you,” she wrote on social media. “I appreciate you embracing this Chicago girl who came here in the middle of a pandemic to accept her dream job of becoming an evening anchor and all the challenges and joys that come with it. This journalist who came to a city she knew nothing about, to start over after divorce … You let me hold your babies and have shared with me some of the most intimate moments of your lives. Thank you for trusting me with your stories.”
