TVNewser has learned NBC News senior ep of specials Jeff Kepnes is joining the Morning Joe team as its managing editor.
A cable news veteran, Kepnes has shepherded coverage of breaking news, live events, and taped specials across NBC linear and streaming news platforms for the past five years. He will now oversee Morning Joe special programming, including a November midterms live audience show and special Morning Joe hours for primetime and Peacock that the show will produce in the coming months.
Additionally, Kepnes will oversee a newly created Morning Joe afternoon and evening newsroom. Because Morning Joe now airs for four full hours, the network feels there’s a need for a new afternoon/evening shift, where editorial producers will write scripts and segments—and produce content for the following morning’s show.
Kepnes rejoined NBC News in 2017 after five years as ep of special events at CNN. He had been with CNN as a producer since 2003. Before that he worked briefly at Fox News. Kepnes spent seven years, from 1996-2003, at MSNBC as a senior producer— and he is married to FBN anchor Liz Claman.