The latest sign that General Electric brass isn't pleased with the MSNBC situation? You know, besides their attempt at correcting all the in-fighting?
They're ousting HR head Jim Mills and bringing in a GE heavy to take over.
Mills — who isn't fired, but is instead moving to head HR operations for 30 Rock's "boring" units, like ad sales and corporate communications — was instrumental in the merging of NBC News and MSNBC, when the cable network physically moved from New Jersey to Midtown Manhattan. Even before the dust was settling, many senior staffers considered Mills to have done a mostly terrible job.
We're told a memo just went out to all NBC News and MSNBC staffers with the news (send over a hard copy please?), also naming Mills replacement: Kevin Lord, the SVP of GE's enormous HR department, who's been dipping his feet in 30 Rock for the past year. This was what we refer to as a very clear sign GE's executive suite is getting deeply involved in MSNBC's day-to-day. Nice to see you?
"There are going to be firings very soon — everybody is terrified."
That's the promise being made to us by a former NBC News network insider who maintains close ties with Mama Peacock's news division. The axings, to be sure, will be part of a larger cost cutting move; "tens of millions is the figure being thrown around."
"There's even one rumor that the Nightly News could be shot on one 'flash cam'. Which i can't imagine." Heh. Us either.
