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Oppenheim’s Split Atoms

A candid discussion with Noah Oppenheim, the former NBC News president, about the headaches at his old haunt (and other industry pickles) as the television news business wades through a series of not-great options.

"I look at this media landscape and I think, at the risk of hyperbole, that it is the greatest threat to our national security," former NBC News president Noah Oppenheim told Dylan. Photo: Travis P Ball/Getty Images
Dylan Byers
February 28, 2025

In the past week, NBCUniversal’s now-splintering news empire endured some significant ruptures: Lester Holt announced his long-anticipated resignation at Nightly News, new MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler unveiled a slate of very notable programming changes, and in response, Rachel Maddow took it upon herself to put Kutler and SpinCo chief Mark Lazarus on blast on behalf of the 30 Rock proletariat. I wrote about all these developments earlier this week—including, most notably, some of the eye-rolling among MSNBC insiders over Maddow’s attempt to play woman of the people. (Addendum: In noting her residences in Manhattan and the Berkshires, I may have overlooked a multimillion-dollar home in historic Provincetown.)