David Rohde, who left The New Yorker to join NBC News in 2023, has now moved to MSNBC.
Mr. Rohde, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, will join MSNBC, part of Versant, a new company expected to be separated from NBCUniversal in the coming weeks as parent company Comcast seeks to separate its declining cable business from its broadcast and streaming assets. Mr. Rohde was one of the first major hires at NBC News after Rebecca Blumenstein was named editorial director, and is the latest in a string of NBC News journalism executives to leave NBC News’ journalism department prior to its separation from MSNBC and CNBC.
He will become MSNBC’s senior national security reporter.
Meanwhile, NBC News has named Carol Lee, a Washington veteran and investigative reporter, as its new editor-in-chief for national security coverage, and Colleen Long as editor-in-chief for national security coverage.
Mr. Rohde won the Pulitzer Prize in 1996 for his reporting for the Christian Science Monitor, which helped shed light on the Srebrenica massacre during the Bosnian war, and in 2009 for his New York Times reporting on Afghanistan and Pakistan. At NBC News, he served as senior editor and was tasked with overseeing a team of journalists covering national security.
NBC News last week announced plans to lay off about 100 to 150 staffers in response to the media industry’s economic downturn and an impending spinoff, according to people familiar with the matter. Overall, the affected positions are expected to range from 7% to 8% of NBC News’ employee base and approximately 2% of overall positions across the company’s broader news operations.
Meanwhile, MSNBC is trying to add staff in an effort to create a reporting force that can no longer rely on its corporate cousins. MSNBC has hired NBC News reporters in recent weeks, including Ken Dilanian, Brandi Zadrozny, David Noriega and Vaughn Hillyard. And Versant has hired NBCU News executives, including Brian Calovillano, Tom Clendenin, Meghan Rafferty and Jessica Kurdari.
MSNBC continues to recruit for 100 roles across the organization.
