Insiders tell TVNewser another series of layoffs is expected to hit NBC News and MSNBC beginning as early as today. A source close to the news division has confirmed the total number is expected to be around 20 staffers. Half are expected to come from NBC News the other half from MSNBC.
The latest cuts, first reported by the blogs ICN and Jossip, are an extension of the larger NBC 2.0 strategy announced in October of last year. The goal then was to slash $750 million in expenses and about 700 jobs.
Meanwhile, the NYPost‘s Peter Lauria names names writing, “Among those set to have their jobs eliminated at MSNBC are two holdovers from previous regimes — head of prime time programming Bill Wolf (which is actually spelled Wolff) and Editorial Director Davidson Goldin…More telling than the departures themselves, however, is the fact that NBC has no plans to replace any of these positions.”
The source tells me the network is doing all it can to keep Wolff, who is well-liked inside NBC. If Goldin is let go it is partially a product of the recent hire of Shannon High-Bassalik as head of live news programming. Insiders tell me High-Bassalik has focused on trying to allay morale problems within the somewhat shattered MSNBC ranks.
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