NBCUNIVERSAL’S CESAR CONDE PLEDGES FOR DIVERSE WORKFORCE

Cesar Conde, the new Chairman of NBCUniversal News Group, outlined his goal for the workforce, telling employees that he will implement a 50% diversity plan. “The NBCUniversal News Group is not going to wait for change to happen and just react to it," he said in a video to employees on Tuesday. "We’re going to lead. As a news organization, we have a unique responsibility to look like and reflect all of the people of the country we serve.”

Conde stated that 50% of the news organization employees are to be women and 50% of their total workforce be people of color, with plans to boost recruitment and education programs and to invest in more documentaries and investigative content focusing on communities of color. The 50% goal is long term, with no exact date set to reach it, but he said that progress would be reported publicly every year. He assured that the workforce of the entities he oversees NBC News, MSNBC, and CNBC is 26.5% diverse.“That’s better than most in our industry, but it is not good enough,” he said. "The workforce currently is 8% Black, 8% Hispanic, 8% Asian, 2% multi-racial, and less than 1% Native American. When it comes to gender, he said that their workforce is nearly 50% women.

He said that the goal will be to increase diversity in front of and behind the camera and to “earn the trust of every community in America that relies on us for exceptional journalism.” he said. “I don’t want us to just be good enough at this moment. I want us to be the best, and to have others look to our practices, our creativity, and our ingenuity and say, ‘That’s the model we want to replicate. They are the best and we want to be like them."

Over the next 100 days, Conde said the network’s News Group leadership will prioritize feedback regarding its “action plan. Afterward, the group will review the progress, make necessary add-ons, and seek key metrics to continue tracking the progress.

The action plan consists of focusing on investment, education, content, partnerships, and measurement. The idea also includes of increasing openings such as news associates, and hiring 50 staff roles and decreasing the reliance on freelancers and tripling the number of regional reporters. "We will put an emphasis on the senior producer level as well as entry-level to ensure we are building a strong pipeline of future leaders and highly qualified individuals,” he said. “And we recognize that to create economic diversity within our ranks, we will need to be creative in compensating Interns, News Associates and, entry-level employees.”