NBC News Reorg: “Less Bureaucracy and More Journalism”

NBC News president Steve Capus is preparing his news division for the global digital world ahead. Today Capus announced a “realignment of the bureau management structure” affecting several of the network’s newsgathering hubs.

“We, as an organization, were set up decades ago, only meet the needs of the broadcast properties of NBC,” Capus tells TVNewser. “What this does is further the reorganization of NBC News to meet the new demands on the division and to increase dramatically our newsgathering capabilities.”

The new management structure divides the U.S. into regions: Northern, based in New York, will take over management of the Chicago bureau; Southern, based in Atlanta (at the new state-of-the art WXIA/WATL complex) will manage the current Dallas bureau and extend into the Caribbean and Latin America; and Western, headquartered in Burbank. NBC’s Washington, D.C. bureau is unaffected.

Currently, both domestic and foreign newsgathering is headquartered at 30 Rock. In the new world, which takes effect in April, foreign newsgathering will be based at NBC’s London bureau. “Less bureaucracy and more journalism,” says Capus.

Capus admits the reorganization may lead to to layoffs. “The job cuts that may go along with this are very small,” he says, adding NBC “may hire in some areas.”

It’s a shift from NBC’s zoned approach to newsgathering with the goal of covering more news, for more platforms. “Technology has changed to the point that it is much easier to have the newsgathering tools in the hands of more people than ever before,” says Capus.

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