NBC Information chairman Andy Lack to step down after collection of scandals as NBC tries to avoid wasting face with main company reshuffling

Posted By . Under AMERICA  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,   

The pinnacle of NBC Information, Andy Lack, will go away the group on the finish of the month after two prolonged stints on the outlet, vacating his place underneath lingering allegations linked to misconduct and sexual harassment.

“NBC Information Group President Andy Lack has determined to step down and can transition out of the corporate on the finish of the month,” NBCUniversal stated in a press release on Monday, saying a sweeping company restructuring that may consolidate a protracted listing of networks into one division.

The shake-up on the Comcast-owned media large will see numerous its tv networks – together with MSNBC, Bravo, SYFY, Oxygen, E! and USA – collapse right into a single division headed by Mark Lazarus, the chairman of tv and streaming at NBCUniversal. Lack, in the meantime, will likely be changed by Telemundo’s present chairman, Cesar Conde, who will tackle oversight of NBC Information, MSNBC and CNBC.

After leaving NBC’s information division in 2001 for the highest echelons of the tv community, Lack returned for a second run in 2015, rejoining NBC Information and MSNBC within the wake of a ratings-killing scandal surrounding anchor Brian Williams, who falsely claimed on air to have come underneath rocket hearth whereas reporting from Iraq, leading to a six-month suspension with out pay.

Additionally on rt.com

© Alex Wong
Former MSNBC journalists expose the channel’s ‘pro-establishment bias’

Lack’s lengthy profession on the community was not freed from controversy. He was accused of mishandling sexual-harassment complaints directed at NBC anchor Matt Lauer – who was finally fired in 2017 for inappropriate habits within the office – allegedly outing Lauer’s accuser after vowing to maintain her id confidential. Journalist Ronan Farrow would later cite a number of sources in his e-book, ‘Catch and Kill’, who stated that not solely have been NBC higher-ups conscious of Lauer’s misconduct lengthy earlier than his firing, however that disgraced Hollywood movie producer Harvey Weinstein used the story to efficiently blackmail the community into halting an investigation into his personal sexual harassment scandal.

The NBC chief’s resignation triggered a spate of various theories on-line, with some speculating Lack left the outlet not attributable to fallout over the Weinstein scandal, however quite due to MSNBC’s more moderen reporting on sexual assault allegations dogging Joe Biden, the previous vp and the presumptive Democratic nominee for 2020.

Others argued that whereas Lack’s exit got here “a number of months sooner than anticipated,” it shouldn’t be seen as an organization coup, on condition that he returned to NBC in 2015 in a kind of “non permanent” function and that his contract was attributable to expire later this 12 months regardless. Extra puzzling, nonetheless, is the truth that Noah Oppenheim, who was anticipated to take over at NBC after Lack, was not tapped as his substitute, with the place handed to Conde as a substitute.

Numerous critics additionally weighed in to query the brand new chairman’s health for the function, slamming Conde for his ties to mega companies Walmart and PepsiCo, the place he sits on the board of administrators.

“Cesar Conde is much more of a company [lackey] than Andy Lack. Conde is on the f**king board of Walmart,” one consumer noticed.

Assume your mates would have an interest? Share this story!