NBC News eliminated its teams dedicated to covering issues affecting Black, Asian American, Latino and LGBTQ+ groups as part of its layoffs of about 150 staffers on Wednesday, according to two sources familiar with the matter, a significant culling as the Peacock network separates from its sister news network, MSNBC.
The cuts mean that the verticals NBC BLK, NBC Asian America, NBC Latino and NBC OUT will no longer have dedicated teams bolstering their coverage. The verticals will continue to publish stories related to the specific groups and NBC News may ultimately retain up to five staffers who will contribute coverage on the verticals to the newsroom, according to one source, as the dedicated teams focused exclusively on these verticals are sunset.
The total reductions, which affected NBC News’ entire news operation, make up about 7% of NBC News’ newsroom of about 2,000 staffers and 2% of the wider NBCU News Group, which includes Telemundo and the network’s owned-and-operated local news stations. The cuts did not target specific teams and were driven by the network’s budget and the desire to streamline its editorial efforts, according to one source.
The cuts were announced to staff at a brief, 10 a.m. meeting on Wednesday by NBC News’ executive vice president of editorial, Catherine Kim, who said the layoffs marked a “difficult day for a lot of us,” according to a source in the meeting.
The job losses came as the network no longer needed to support two different news operations, as MSNBC has moved under the spun-off company Versant. It also reflects the challenging nature of operating a large-scale newsroom amid a media environment facing declining ratings and a fragmented audience, with layoffs occurring across news outlets, including the Washington Post, Rolling Stone, CNN and PBS.
The layoffs also reflect the media industry’s larger retreat from efforts focused on diversity, equity and inclusion. Gannett, the nation’s largest newspaper chain, removed mentions of diversity from its website in April and said it would stop publishing demographic data on its website. Disney also rebranded its internal DEI efforts last week to “Opportunity & Inclusion,” according to Puck.
NBC and its parent company, Comcast, have also come under federal scrutiny for their diversity-focused efforts. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr sent a letter to Comcast in February saying he would investigate the company for its promotion of DEI, alleging the company has “executives specifically dedicated to promoting DEI across the TV and programming
side of the business.”
MSNBC has begun growing its own newsroom, hiring swaths of talent from NBC News, the Washington Post, Politico and others as it builds its newsgathering operation. It plans to launch its rebranded image — including its new name, MS NOW — in the coming weeks.
Cesar Conde, the head of the NBCU News Group, touted the company’s investment in news in a memo to staffers last week, referencing its upcoming subscription service and a marketing campaign that “will reinforce our reputation for rigorous fact-based reporting that is indispensable and accessible across all platforms for all.”
Wednesday’s reductions are NBC News’ second round of cuts this year, following its January layoffs of about 40 staffers, which included some from teams focused on diversity groups. The company currently has about 140 jobs open across its news group, and it plans to repurpose a dozen of the Wednesday jobs into new roles that laid-off staffers could apply for.
