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Noah’s Ark

"Jackie" Washington, DC Premiere
For the first time since the 1960s, NBC News will be without a president, as Noah Oppenheim is vacating the position after a six-year run. Photo: Leigh Vogel/Getty Images
Dylan Byers
January 13, 2023

“Who drives coverage?” an NBC News executive asked me this week, with copious rhetorical flourish. Like so many people inside 30 Rock—I’ve spoken to at least 15 NBC News executives, on-air talent, producers and rank-and-file staff, as well as another half-dozen Peacock alumni—he was trying to make sense of the new leadership structure that Cesar Conde, the chairman of NBCUniversal’s news group, unveiled on Wednesday. 

For the first time since the 1960s, the height of The Huntley-Brinkley Report, NBC News will be without a president. Noah Oppenheim, widely admired internally, is vacating the position after a six-year run. Rather than replace him, Conde has created a three-headed leadership team reporting directly into him: Libby Leist will run the Today franchise and its growing e-commerce business; Janelle Rodriguez will oversee Nightly News and the network’s NBC News Now streaming service; and Rebecca Blumenstein, a broadcast neophyte hire from The New York Times, will oversee the newsgathering operation and legacy brands like Dateline and Meet the Press. Conde, as I reported Wednesday, has now consolidated his power over the network,  effectively promoting himself.