In an email to staff Monday, Rich Greenberg, the executive editor of the NBC News investigative unit, announced the network is bringing on Wall Street Journal’s Pulitzer-winning reporter, Gretchen Morgenson.
She’ll start as senior financial investigative reporter on Dec. 2.
“[Morgenson] will lead our reporting on the intersection of money and power and will bolster our capability to do more in-depth, groundbreaking work, like our just-aired year-long investigation into child labor in Madagascar’s mica mines, as well as our recent pioneering series on medical devices, and the powerful Dateline hour about Jeffrey Epstein,” he wrote, after saying he’s “delighted” to reveal the hire.
Greenberg praised the investigative unit, noting “this year alone, we have broken over 200 exclusives and have won 16 awards, including the prestigious Overseas Press Club and Murrow awards.”
He added a statement from Morgenson: “I’m thrilled to join the exceptional journalists at NBC News investigations. The financial world touches everyone and I’m eager to help NBC’s vast and growing audience assess its impact.”
The hiring of an investigative reporter to cover the intersection of money and power comes at a pretty unique time in American history, when one billionaire occupies the Oval Office and another just announced over the weekend he is running for the chance to do the same in 2020.
Following Michael Bloomberg’s Sunday announcement of his entrance into the 2020 presidential campaign, Bloomberg News will suspend its editorial board while several of its members join the former New York City mayor on his campaign staff, according to an internal memo from Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait.
“We will continue our tradition of not investigating Mike (or his family and foundation), and we will extend the same policy to his rivals in the Democratic primaries,” Micklethwait says. “If other credible journalistic institutions publish investigative or the other Democratic candidates, we will either publish those articles in full or summarize them for our readers.”
As for current President Donald Trump, Micklethwait says that Bloomberg will continue to investigate the president’s administration and will only “reassess” its coverage if Bloomberg ends up becoming the Democratic nominee and goes on to face Trump. As a general rule, Micklethwait says Bloomberg News will follow the same standards it did when its owner ran for mayor: report but do not investigate. That rule has also been in effect with regards to Bloomberg News’ main competitors, Reuters and CNBC.