NBC News is looking to change up their newsroom. The organization has a goal of having a more diverse workforce, which NBCUniversal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde says is reflective of the audience they serve. This need for diversity is what led the company to create the "Fifty Percent Challenge."
"As a news organization we have a unique responsibility to reflect the country and all of the communities we serve," Conde said in an internal memo. "Simply put, we aspire to achieve two concrete goals: that 50% of our News organization employees be women and 50% of our total workforce be people of color."
According to The Hill, the company employs roughly 3,000 people. Their news organizations include NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC.
As of now, women make up 50 percent of the organization's workforce. People of color make up 27 percent.
“We want to increase diversity and inclusion both in front of and behind the camera, and earn the trust of every community in America that relies on us for exceptional journalism,” Conde told the Los Angeles Times. “We realize that this is an ambitious objective and it will of course take time to do in a proper way. We understand this is a challenging time to start this effort but there are always reasons to say, ‘Not now.’ To get there tomorrow, we have to start today.”
In addition to diversifying the workforce, the chairman said the company will focus on doing more long-form investigative pieces on issues that impact people of color.
The sudden shift comes as businesses and organizations across the country address concerns stemmed from the Black Lives Matter protests and riots following the death of George Floyd.
New memo from NBC News chief @cesarconde_ sets a goal for representation: "that 50% of our News organization employees be women and 50% of our total workforce be people of color." pic.twitter.com/s3B5KmHz7Z
— Ben Smith (@benyt) July 7, 2020
What this memo really says is that NBC, as an organization, will look at people based on their gender and skin color over their resume and professional experiences. This also confirms what we know to be true: the whole NBC/MSNBC newsgroup is focused on activism over journalism. They're more concerned about making sure they push the typical Democratic talking points instead of reporting the news.
Now the big question: what woke white people will be tossed from MSNBC? Joe Scarborough? Rachel Maddow? Chris Hayes?
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