‘World News Tonight’ producer gets an eyeful

A story on the New York Observer’s Web site about “World News Tonight” senior producer Mimi Gurbst sparked a torrent of scathing comments. Felix Gillette, who reported that Gurbst was leaving the network after 30 years to become a high school guidance counselor, wrote an upbeat blog post Tues day night on Gurbst, who “became a kind of cherished, if unofficial, career counse lor at ABC News.” But by Friday, more than 70 comments were posted — most of them negative. Several ABC insiders we spoke to backed up commenters’ claims that Gurbst never looked people in the eye in the hallways. A different source told us, “Mimi had a long career here. She had her fans. She certainly has detractors.” An ABC rep had no comment. Gillette said, “After 30 years at ABC News, it sounds like she’ll be well prepared for the cattiness of high school.”