NBC News wants its headlines to remind news lovers who the news is intended to serve.
The NBCUniversal-backed news division is launching a new promotional campaign that emphasizes its public service mission and emphasizes its focus on calm, face-based reporting. The campaign, which includes television commercials airing during football games and billboards in Times Square and other metropolitan areas, begins in earnest on Monday.
“Over the past few months, we have listened carefully to the voices of the American people, and what we have heard is clear: People are not indifferent to the news. Instead, they are hungry for public debate and reliable reporting that gives them the power to make their own decisions, which is exactly what NBC News represents,” NBCU News Group Chairman Cesar Conde said in a memo.
Based on more than 60 interviews with Americans across the country, NBC News found that a strong desire for unbiased reporting is rooted in facts. Advertising agency DNA & Stone created the initiative in collaboration with NBC News.
NBC News is just the latest in a string of mainstream news outlets that have used advertising to remind consumers of their mission, as President Donald Trump and White House officials increasingly criticize traditional news organizations and criticize their efforts, even when their reporting is accurate. For years, both CNN and the New York Times have emphasized immediate missions in their ad campaigns that play to the core mission of journalism.
NBC News has been engaged in this promotional effort for several months, but not because of its current and continued separation from MSNBC and CNBC. Both cable networks will be spun off into a new independent publicly traded company called Versant. The breakup frees NBC News, which emphasizes its traditional roots, from MSNBC’s unabashedly progressive leanings. E
In addition to television commercials and billboards, NBC News will also run ads in streaming venues such as Disney+, Netflix, Samsung and Yahoo, and print and digital ads in outlets such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, Apple News and Vanity Fair. Advertisements are also expected to be placed on radio and social media.
