A source tells TVNewser that NBC News is offering buyout options for staffers at NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt.
However, we hear these buyout offers are not directly related to the Covid-19 pandemic, nor are they linked to the recent arrival of Cesar Conde, the Telemundo-turned-NBC News Group chairman who assumed the new role in May and this week unveiled a pair of ambitious staffing goals: “That 50% of our news organization employees be women and 50% of our total workforce be people of color.”
The network offers voluntary buyouts to tech and ops teams on an annual basis, and this year, Nightly News was included in the process, according to the source. A number of small broadcast groups across NBC are included in the buyout process.
The tech and operations teams on Nightly News have had to do more than their fair share of heavy lifting over these past few months. Having to get a nightly newscast on the air that’s watched by millions of people, Monday through Friday, is no easy feat, particularly when many are working remotely in the middle of a global pandemic.