Industry Moves: Jennifer Sizemore Promoted To Managing Editor, MSNBC.com, Executive Producer, NBC Ne

MSNBC.com finally has a new newsroom chief, more than six months after Dean Wright left for Reuters: Jennifer Sizemore, who joined the Microsoft-NBCU joint venture in July as deputy editor for news, is now managing editor of MSNBC.com and executive producer of NBC News. She will oversee MSNBC.com’s newsroom, drive editorial strategy and work closely with NBC News “to maximize the delivery of web content to news consumers.” Each company had a say in the hiring; the announcement was made by Charlie Tillinghast, president, MSNBC.com and Steve Capus, the new president of NBC News. Press release.
Somewhat ironically, Sizemore’s managerial experience until now has been in newspapers. She was the deputy managing editor for news at the Houston Chronicle and an assistant managing editor at two other papers. But she got a trial by fire with major news events, including Hurricane Katrina.
The structure is a new one for MSNBC.com; previous top execs have had the title of editor in chief. Capus: “This announcement, and new structure for this position, speaks directly to our commitment at NBC News to incorporate MSNBC.com into every aspect of our news gathering and reporting efforts.”
Capus has been a proponent of putting more NBC News content online — including the “NBC Nightly News” and “Meet The Press” online while anchor Brian Williams has led by example with his own well-received blog. Traffic continues to grow at the site, which has averaged 24 million monthly unquies this year.

There’s been considerable speculation, largely driven by the lukewarm performance of MSNBC cable, about whether this business marriage is headed for the shoals. Instead, the two companies seem to be working more closely together than ever.

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