Rebecca Blumenstein Expands NBC News Duties in Executive Reshuffle

And then there were two.

After unveiling an unorthodox three-division structure for NBC News in 2023, the top executive overseeing news operations at NBCUniversal, Cesar Conde, is bringing two units under a single person’s oversight.

In a memo sent to staffers Monday, Conde revealed that Janelle Rodriguez, who has overseen “NBC Nightly News” and the live-streaming service NBC News Now will report to Rebecca Blumenstein, NBC News’ president of editorial, who has responsibility for newsgathering as well as “Meet the Press” and “Dateline.” Rodriguez will continue to supervise the operations already under her aegis, but she will no longer have a direct line to Conde, as she had in the past. Libby Leist, who oversees NBC News’ multi-hour “Today” franchise, will continue reporting to Conde.

Conde said the moves were made to bolster a new “story-centric” approach that “further align our award-winning broadcast, streaming, digital and audio newsrooms. It will enable us to strengthen editorial oversight across all our platforms, build on our exclusives and the original storytelling that is distinguishing our journalism, and expand the reach of our content in ways that are unique to our organization.”

The new structure was unveiled on a day when NBC News and MSNBC were formally separated from one another, as parent Comcast sets about spinning off the bulk of its cable properties into a new company called Versant.

Both Rodriguez and Blumenstein have had notable achievements in recent months. Rodriguez supervised a recent anchor transition at “NBC Nightly News” from Lester Holt to Tom Llamas, and the broadcast has on some evenings won more viewers than ABC’s first-place “World News Tonight” among viewers between 25 and 54, the demographic most coveted by advertisers. Blumenstein has overseen the a continued expansion of “Dateline” into digital venues such as podcasts and the rise of “Meet the Press” in the same advertiser demo. She was also at the helm as “Meet the Press” moved from Chuck Todd to current moderator Kristen Welker.

And yet, Rodriguez has more experience in TV news than Blumenstein, who nonetheless has impeccable journalistic credentials garnered from a career at The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

The choice to broaden Blumenstein’s oversight comes as mainstream TV-news divisions are grappling with difficult economics as consumers get more of their headlines and information from mobile video and social media. Others are also tapping executives who in years past might not been seen as obvious candidates. Warner Bros. Discovery’s CNN, for example, recently unveiled the hire of Bridget Ruane, who has worked as an executive coach and consultant at ZRG Partners and the former Sucherman Group. Ruane was named “head of organizational change” at CNN and has been tasked with looking at “operational and organizational design and new ways for us all to work together on our shared goals,” CNN CEO Mark Thompson recently detailed in a memo.

The desire to shake up traditional TV-news executive structure got a giant spotlight on Monday when Paramount Skydance named Bari Weiss, a digital-media entrepreneur with no history running a large TV operation, as the editor in chief of CBS News. Weiss’ hire has gained so much notice because she has made her mark as an opinion writer, not as a mainstream fact-gatherer, and her stands on various issues would seem to tilt CBS News away from the neutral stance it tries to maintain.

Conde offered details on other new initiatives at NBC News, noting that a launch is looming for a new NBC News subscription service “that will feature the best of our coverage and include new premium offerings.” That new product is expected to aim for mobile customers. NBC News is also expanding its recent foray into sports news, an effort made as NBCUniversal pivots more strongly into sports with the launch of an 11-year NBA rights deal, and prepares for Super Bowl, World Cup and Winter Olympics coverage in 2026. NBC has also been in talks with Major League Baseball about running a Sunday-night package of games, according to two people familiar with the matter, that would have the NBC broadcast network hosting top sports on most Sunday nights throughout the year, adding baseball to NFL and NBA games on Sunday evenings.

Conde also noted that NBC News will soon launch a new marketing campaign “that will reinforce our reputation for rigorous fact-based reporting that is indispensable and accessible across all platforms for all,” which he billed as “the first such campaign in modern memory.”

Conde suggested NBC News would have more new ideas in future months. “Our strategic priorities continue to focus on content, innovation and culture,” he said. Even so, NBC News will do all that with two business divisions rather than three.