NBC News axed 150 staffers ahead of its MSNBC split – slashing the groups that cover black, Asian American, Latino and LGBTQ+ groups.
Around seven percent of NBC Newsroom’s employees were laid off after Comcast’s cable network decided to split.
The diverse verticals will no longer have designated editorial teams, but stories will continue to be published related to these specific groups, The Wrap reported.
One source told The Wrap the news giant might keep up to five employees who will contribute coverage to these verticals.
The team layoffs have triggered outrage among critics – including the LGBTQ+ advocacy group GLAAD, whose communications officer Rich Ferraro labeled the cuts as a ‘dangerous pattern of mainstream media’ that are losing ‘trusted and talented journalists.’
‘This is a terrible and poorly-timed loss for journalism and for our democracy,’ Ferraro told The Advocate.
The dismantled teams include NBC BLK, NBC Latino, NBC Asian America, and NBC Out.
The cuts included teams dedicated to diversity focused coverage, including Black, Latino, Asian American and LGBTQ+ communities
Around 150 staffers were cut from NBC News on Wednesday as the news group prepares for their end of year split
Versant’s Chief Executive Officer Mark Lazarus was announced earlier this year
The Comcast network split separates MSNBC and CNBC, shifting them into a new publicly traded company called Versant Media Group.
Around a dozen of the positions eliminated by the news group are also being repurposed into new roles.
A source told The Wrap the layoffs were not aimed at any specific group- but the company needed to make cost efficient moves for the company.
These layoffs follow previous targeted cuts that included NBC’s graphics team which was shared between NBC and MSNBC back in September.
The cable network’s split is set to be completed by the end of this year.
MSNBC, USA Network, CNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel will soon be under the new parent company Versant.
Versant CEO Mark Lazarus told CNBC: ‘We’re going to focus on the individual brands that we have, not the corporate name. This is a holding company name. It’s going to be used for business-to-business purposes.’
