NBC News and MSNBC have hired Dylan Byers away from CNN to serve as a senior media reporter for the network. His beat for NBC will focus on many of the same topics he covered for CNN — Hollywood and Silicon Valley — and he will remain based out of Los Angeles.
“In this new role, Dylan will cover the meeting point of media, entertainment and technology — from his perch in Los Angeles — and bring insight and context to this transformative moment. The impact of big tech is far-reaching — changing our culture, politics, commerce and much more,” say network heads Noah Oppenheim and Phil Griffin.
“Dylan will focus on Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Netflix, but he’ll also keep a sharp eye on emerging players. His work will appear across all our television and digital platforms, including the newly redesigned Tech & Media vertical on NBCNews.com, and he will of course continue his essential newsletter.”
The decision by NBC is a significant move to beef up their in-house media team. CNN and Fox News has long devoted considerable resources to covering the media with its beat lead by the always camera-ready Brian Stelter. His evening newsletter is essential reading for fellow journalists, media reporters and beyond. Fox News meanwhile added former Wrap reporter Brian Flood to their roster last year to augment the network’s longtime media analyst Howard Kurtz.
Before Byers, the most prominent media watcher at NBC/MSNBC was Claire Atkinson, who is most known for nuts and bolts coverage of the media business on the NBC News media blog “The Query.”
Byers led a mostly scandal free existence while at CNN, with the exception of this moment when he lamented the loss of talent the #MeToo movement was bringing to the industry.
“Beyond the pain/humiliation women have endured (which is of course the paramount issue), it’s worth taking stock of the incredible drain of talent from media/entertainment taking place right now,” he wrote in November, 2017. “Never has so much talent left the industry all at once.”
An outrage mob and apology came in swift succession.
I've deleted my previous tweet. It was poorly worded and didn't properly convey my intended observation.
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) November 22, 2017