Will NBC's ouster of NBC News chairman Andy Lack lead to controversial NBC News president Noah Oppenheim's exit?

The Daily Beast

NBC News insiders were reportedly stunned to learn that NBC News chairman Andy Lack was exiting and that his "anointed" successor Oppenheim was being passed over in favor of Telemundo executive Cesar Conde. "NBC News and MSNBC Chairman Andy Lack’s long-predicted retirement, just days short of his 73rd birthday, was confirmed Monday with a press release from newly installed NBC Universal CEO Jeff Shell, who named Telemundo head honcho Cesar Conde as the new executive in charge of Comcast-owned NBC News, MSNBC, and CNBC," reports The Daily Beast. "The move—which brings the CNBC financial network under control of the news division, having been outside Lack’s purview and reporting to NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke—effectively reverses a core personnel decision by Shell’s predecessor, who publicly tapped Lack’s deputy Noah Oppenheim for the top news job even amid a storm of criticism both inside and outside NBC News. NBC News staffers had been critical of Oppenheim—occasionally to his face at staff meetings—over his handling of Ronan Farrow’s reporting on disgraced and now-imprisoned movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. Oppenheim’s boss, Lack, was also widely blamed for perceived journalistic failures at the news division. People familiar with the situation told The Daily Beast that Lack was blindsided by Shell’s announcement. An NBC News spokesperson declined to comment." Lack, who returned to NBC News in 2015 in wake of the Brian Williams scandal, oversaw a number of controversies during his tenure, from sitting on the Donald Trump Access Hollywood tape to the disastrous hiring of Megyn Kelly to the Matt Lauer sexual misconduct scandal to disallowing Ronan Farrow from breaking the Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct story. ALSO: Rachel Maddow's public criticism may have led to Lack's ouster and the passing over Oppenheim.