NBC News and MSNBC are joining forces.
NBC News President Deborah Turness and MSNBC President Phil Griffin announced in a memo Thursday that Dafna Linzer will become managing editor of politics -- a new position that will operate across both networks.
The move is further evidence of MSNBC's shift to hard news amid sinking ratings, bringing it more in line with parent network NBC News.
Linzer, who has been the managing editor of MSNBC digital since 2013, will ensure that coverage for both networks is "sharp, forward-looking and highly coordinated," according to the memo.
Turness and Griffen said in the statement that both networks have benefited from joining forces in the past and look to formalize coordination during a campaign season likely to dominate coverage for both.
"Now we’re putting a more formal structure in place to build on this momentum and, with the recently increased workload, to bring extra resources to address the needs of the many parts of the organization," they wrote in the email.
Read the full email to NBC News and MSNBC staff below.
All,
As we head into this exciting and important election year, we continue to build up our political coverage across both NBC News and MSNBC. To that end, we're pleased to announce that Dafna Linzer will be the Managing Editor of Politics for NBC News and MSNBC, playing a key role in driving coverage across the two networks. In this newly-created position, she will help maximize the many opportunities and competitive advantages arising from the combination of our resources, expertise, experience and deep bench of talent on all things politics.
As we’ve seen over the last few weeks, we’ve driven the campaign news agenda through every news cycle – with candidate interviews, pivotal moments, and sharp analysis. And we’ve also experienced great benefits when our entire organization joins forces. Now we’re putting a more formal structure in place to build on this momentum and, with the recently increased workload, to bring extra resources to address the needs of the many parts of the organization. In partnership with our senior political team, including Chuck, and working with every show and group that touches politics, Dafna will help ensure our coverage is sharp, forward-looking and highly coordinated.
Doug Adams and the political desk will report to Dafna. She will split her time between Washington and New York, and she will report to the two of us, with a dotted line to Ken Strickland.
Dafna has a keen political mind and a terrific journalistic background. She joined MSNBC in 2013 as Managing Editor of MSNBC digital, following a series of award-winning assignments. Most recently, she was a senior investigative reporter at ProPublica. She was also a foreign correspondent for The Associated Press for 10 years based in Jerusalem and the United Nations. After that, she was a national security reporter for The Washington Post covering intelligence and non-proliferation, and leading the pack in her reporting on the hunt for WMD.
Please join us in congratulating Dafna and supporting her in this new role.
Deborah and Phil
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