INTERNAL MEMO FROM MSNBC PRESIDENT PHIL GRIFFIN
Team,
As we sharpen our focus on live, breaking news in the daytime and smart, informed analysis and opinion in primetime – I want to share some new programming elements and management changes with you.
Starting next week, we’ll welcome two new anchors to our afternoon lineup, as we draw on our best breaking news talent from across MSNBC and NBC News.
I’m happy to share the good news that Kate Snow will join our anchor team and be in the chair from 3:00pm to 5:00pm each day. Please join me in welcoming Kate to our dayside lineup, and also congratulating her on another new role – as announced earlier today, Kate is now the anchor of the Sunday edition of NBC Nightly News.
Also, as you know, Brian Williams will be leading our live, breaking news coverage – helping viewers navigate big moments. He will begin on Tuesday with the arrival of Pope Francis.
Then, on Monday, September 28, Chuck Todd’s new show will debut at 5pm. MTP Daily will bring the insight and power of Meet the Press to our air every day of the week. We hope it will become the daily cable news show of record for the 2016 campaign.
Behind the scenes: Powering our new lineup is an outstanding editorial leadership team. Izzy Povich will be the Executive Producer of our morning news coverage, and Pat Burkey will be the Executive Producer in charge of afternoon news coverage. Izzy and Pat are a formidable team – and they both have the distinction of having been with MSNBC on our very first day in 1996. You all know Izzy as a highly accomplished and respected producer. In Pat, we are fortunate to have an extremely talented editorial force coming off an incredible run at Nightly – leading the flagship broadcast through four straight years as number one in all categories in a very competitive field.
Rashida Jones will be the Managing Editor for dayside and will have the pivotal role of overseeing all of our coverage throughout the news day. She will work closely with Izzy and Pat – all three will report to me.
Yvette Miley, SVP, MSNBC, will continue to work closely with me and the dayside leadership team and will be responsible for talent management in front of and behind the camera plus weekend and overnight editorial coverage. In addition, Yvette will take on responsibility for leading diversity for NBC News and MSNBC, working with me, Deborah, and Craig Robinson. Yvette’s editorial and leadership experience will be invaluable to both businesses as we strive to increase the diversity of our viewers and users.
The whole team will partner with Mark Lukasiewicz during big breaking news events. Mark will lead coordination across both networks.
We’ll have more to share soon about some additional assignments, and you’ll be seeing this new structure phase in over the next several weeks.
This is an exciting time. Thanks as always for all your hard work. We’re making great strides every day.
Phil
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INTERNAL MEMO FROM NBC NEWS PRESIDENT DEBORAH TURNESS
All,
I am delighted to share the news that Sam Singal is the new executive producer of NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, effective with Monday’s broadcast.
Sam’s sharp news sense, as well as his creativity and proven leadership of the Nightly team, make him a strong partner for Lester as they take the broadcast forward in the new season and beyond. As senior broadcast producer, Sam has been instrumental in shaping the evolution of the broadcast, and Nightly is about to celebrate its 19th consecutive season as the #1 evening news broadcast in all categories. We strive to do even better but take nothing for granted, and there’s still much work to do. Along with Lester, Sam, Janelle Rodriguez, Jamie Kraft and the best team in evening news seven days a week, we all look forward to the challenges and opportunities ahead.
Over his 17 years with NBC News — much of it with Nightly on both weekends and weekdays — Sam has risen through the ranks and distinguished himself during coverage of major events such as the Boston marathon bombings and two Olympic games.
Both Sam, and Jamie, EP of the weekend edition of Nightly News, will now report to Janelle and Jamie will run the broadcast when Sam is out.
As Phil announced today, Pat Burkey is taking a key new role at MSNBC to help intensify their focus on breaking news coverage. His talent, passion and energy will all be invaluable to that effort. Pat is leaving Nightly, the broadcast he has led at #1 for four years, on a tremendous high note with its current ratings momentum, and I am very happy that we will continue to work closely with him as the resources of NBC News and MSNBC will increasingly fuel each other’s success.
And I also want to congratulate Kate Snow as the official anchor of the weekend edition of NBC Nightly News on Sunday, in addition to her exciting new assignment at MSNBC. As we all know from watching Kate in the anchor chair over the last few months, the Sunday broadcast will be in the very best of hands.
Please join me in congratulating Sam and Kate on their new roles, and in thanking Pat for his leadership of Nightly News, his dedication to the team and all the success he has driven.
Deborah
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