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NBCNews.com

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NBCNews.com
Thehome pagefor NBCNews.com, as of February 13, 2015.
Type of site
News website
Available inEnglish
OwnerNBCUniversal
(Comcast)
URLwww.NBCNews.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationNone
Launched1996;28 years ago(1996)(as msnbc.com)

NBCNews.com,formerly known asmsnbc.com,is anews websiteowned and operated byNBCUniversalas the online arm ofNBC News.Along with original and wire reporting, it features content from NBC shows such asToday,NBC Nightly News,Meet The Press,andDateline NBC,theMSNBCcable channel, and partners such asThe New York Times.

The site was founded in 1996 as a 50-50 venture between NBCUniversal andMicrosoftat the same time as the two companies formed a separate joint venture for the cable news networkMSNBC.Although they shared the same name, msnbc.com and MSNBC maintained separate corporate structures and news operations, with msnbc.com headquartered on the West Coast on the Microsoft campus inRedmond, Washington,and MSNBC in the NBC headquarters in New York. Microsoft divested its stake in the MSNBC channel in 2005, and divested its stake in msnbc.com in July 2012.

History

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A flat screen monitor on a wall in30 Rock,showing msnbc.com

The site was established asmsnbc.comin 1996 at the same time as theMSNBCcable news channel. Both were initially joint ventures with the software companyMicrosoft,with boards of directors composed of senior executives from Microsoft and NBC Universal. The MSNBC TV channel was based inNew Jersey,and msnbc.com was based at Microsoft's headquarters inRedmond, Washington.While NBC bought Microsoft's stake in MSNBC in 2005, msnbc.com remained a partnership between the two companies, with MSNBC and msnbc.com remaining separate entities.[1]Msnbc.com also acquired several other news websites, including community-driven news siteNewsvinein October 2007, and thehyperlocalnews siteEveryBlock[2]in August 2009. It also launched an internal start-up, BreakingNews.com.[3]

Despite sharing its name with the MSNBC channel, the content of the two outlets had become increasingly distinct. While msnbc.com remained a traditional,nonpartisannews service with its own staff of journalists, the MSNBC channel had diverged towards aliberalslant in its content. NBC's staff were concerned about the differences, as some readers may have believed that the msnbc.com site was also a liberal-oriented news outlet like the channel. Plans were drafted to re-brand its conventional news site under a different name, such as NBCNews.com, and to re-purpose msnbc.com as a website for the MSNBC channel itself.[1]

On July 14, 2012, NBCUniversal officially announced that Microsoft had sold back its half share of msnbc.com for $300 million. On the same day, NBC also announced the immediate renaming of msnbc.com toNBCNews.com,and the planned launch of a new website for MSNBC in 2013 that would focus on its programming and personalities. Despite the separation of msnbc.com from Microsoft, the site would still be a part of and receive traffic from Microsoft'sMSN.comportal. NBC shut down the three msnbc.com start-ups: Newsvine, Everyblock, and BreakingNews.[4][5][6]

Gregory Gittrich, the former editor-in-chief of NBC Local Integrated Media and, before that, the assistant managing editor of theNew York Daily News,was named vice president and executive editor of msnbc.com in October 2012, and began to sharply reduce the news staff, pulling back from doing original journalism online.[7] He reported toVivian Schiller,former chief executive officer ofNational Public Radio.By 2014, with the msnbc.com staff greatly reduced, Gittrich was atVocativ,with Schiller soon to join him as a consultant there.

2014 redesign

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On February 5, 2014, a major redesign of NBCNews.com was introduced; NBC News presidentDeborah Turnessexplained that the new design is intended to "[tear] down the walls that traditionally have divided TV and digital", by emphasizing multimedia content, original features, and more original reporting from NBC News personalities. The new site uses aresponsive designwith an infinite scrolling grid of stories, along with new original features such as "Know It All", "The Debunker", and "Show Me".[8][9]

Reception to the new design was mixed, with criticism directed towards its image-oriented layout rather than a clearer, headline-oriented design; however, the redesign did result in a significant increase in traffic for the site, especially on mobile devices—which saw a 186% increase in traffic. Executive editor Gregory Gittrich admitted that the site's staff members "weren’t surprised by the initial feedback because the change was so significant, but that’s why the data and metrics were obviously important." Changes were made to the design to address these shortcomings, including the addition of dedicated areas with a listing of recent headlines, followed by an overhaul of the home page to use a more traditional layout, but still incorporating large images for major headlines.[10][11]

Ranking

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As of May 2009, NBCNews.com had ranked first in U.S. unique users among global news sites for 12 months in a row. In May it had 37.2 million unique users in the U.S. for the month, according toNielsen/NetRatings.[12]In second place wasYahoo! Newswith 35.8 million, thenCNNwith 34.4. At last count, NBCNews.com also served the most online video of any new site, with more than 125 million video streams in May 2008.[13]

September 2014 rankings show NBCNews.com at number 7 among most popular news websites at 63 million unique visitors a month. Less than half of Yahoo! News (175M) andGoogle News(150M).[14]

Content

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NBCNews.com's main newsroom in Redmond, Washington

NBCNews.com covers national and international news of general interest, using original and wire service reporting, as well as videos from the network's television division, and partners includingThe New York Times.

A major focus is online content for the NBC News family of programming, includingToday,NBC Nightly News,Dateline,Meet the Press,andprogramming on MSNBC television.This content includesbehind the scenesblogs such as "The Daily Nightly", a narrative of the broadcast day and a window into the editorial process at NBC Nightly News; "First Read", analysis of the day's political news from the NBC News Political Unit; "allDAY", allowing viewers to see behind the scenes of Today; and Zeitgeist, a satirical video blog hosted byMSNBC'sWillie Geist.Original content from international correspondents and producers is posted on World News on NBCNews.com.[15]

Video is distributed via theMSN Videoservice. Additionally, the website providesstock quotesthroughMSN Money,weatherforecasts throughWeather.com,RSS feeds,podcasts,andnetcastsof the network's broadcasts. Following the introduction ofCNN's iReportconcept, NBCNews.com also introduced acitizen journalismsection titled "First Person".[16]The section allows viewers to upload video, photos and stories in response to suggested topics.

In 2017, NBCNews.com introduced new verticals such as "Mach", which covers science and technology, and "Better", with health and life tips,[17][18][19]along with a digital opinion section called "THINK".[20]

Recognition

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As the former msnbc.com, the site won several journalism and online publishing awards, including the Society of Professional Journalists award for online investigative reporting,[21]Online News Association's Online Journalism Award for General Excellence[22]and Best Use of Multiple Media;[22]National Press Club's Best Journalism Site;[23]for its coverage ofHurricane Katrina,"Rising from Ruin",[24]and the Best in Business Award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers[25]and Best Use of Multiple Media.[22]

References

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  1. ^abStelter, Brian (October 6, 2010)."MSNBC on the Web May Change Its Name".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on February 26, 2017.RetrievedFebruary 25,2017.
  2. ^"EveryBlock".Archivedfrom the original on August 12, 2013.RetrievedAugust 13,2013.
  3. ^"Msnbc.com acquires 'Breakingnews.com'".NBC News.January 5, 2010. Archived fromthe originalon April 17, 2021.RetrievedJanuary 30,2024.
  4. ^Kurtz, Howard (July 11, 2012)."NBC, Microsoft Getting Online Divorce".The Daily Beast.Archivedfrom the original on July 12, 2012.RetrievedJuly 13,2012.
  5. ^olegar (July 27, 2017)."Newsvine.com shutting down October 1, 2017".Daily Kos.RetrievedJanuary 30,2024.
  6. ^Kelly, Heather (February 7, 2013)."NBC News shuts down hyperlocal site EveryBlock".CNN Business.RetrievedJanuary 30,2024.
  7. ^"Gregory Gittrich of Mountainside named a new executive editor at NBC News Digital".NJ.com. October 3, 2012.Archivedfrom the original on November 14, 2013.RetrievedAugust 13,2013.
  8. ^"5 Things to Know About The New NBCNews.com".TVNewser.Archivedfrom the original on February 24, 2014.RetrievedFebruary 5,2014.
  9. ^"NBC Relaunches NBCNews.com".NetNewsCheck.Archived fromthe originalon October 24, 2015.RetrievedFebruary 25,2014.
  10. ^"NBC News redesigns homepage again to reinstate scannable headlines and greater density".Poynter.Archived fromthe originalon September 15, 2014.RetrievedSeptember 8,2014.
  11. ^"NBC News engagement up since site relaunch despite reader complaints".Poynter.Archived fromthe originalon September 14, 2014.RetrievedSeptember 8,2014.
  12. ^"Top 30 global news sites for May".Editor & Publisher. Archived fromthe originalon June 22, 2009.RetrievedMay 11,2011.
  13. ^"msnbc.com press release".GlobeNewswire.Archivedfrom the original on November 6, 2015.RetrievedMay 11,2011.
  14. ^"Top 15 Most Popular News Websites - March 2016".Archivedfrom the original on September 20, 2014.RetrievedSeptember 17,2014.
  15. ^"World".NBC News.Archived fromthe originalon October 8, 2012.RetrievedAugust 13,2013.
  16. ^"FirstPerson- NBC News".NBC News.Archived fromthe originalon September 9, 2013.RetrievedAugust 13,2013.
  17. ^Grinapol, Corinne (May 31, 2017)."NBC News Digital Begins a Redesign With Two New Verticals".www.adweek.com.Archivedfrom the original on October 22, 2019.RetrievedOctober 22,2019.
  18. ^"MACH: The best and latest in Tech & Innovation".NBC News.Archivedfrom the original on October 21, 2019.RetrievedOctober 22,2019.
  19. ^"Happier, Healthier, Smarter, BETTER: Life tips".NBC News.Archivedfrom the original on October 21, 2019.RetrievedOctober 22,2019.
  20. ^Fischer, Sara (October 10, 2017)."NBC News launches digital opinion section called" THINK "".Axios.Archivedfrom the original on November 28, 2021.RetrievedNovember 28,2021.
  21. ^"Dedman wins investigative reporting".MSNBC. April 14, 2008.Archivedfrom the original on November 6, 2015.RetrievedMay 11,2011.
  22. ^abc"ONA 2006 Conference".October 7, 2006. Archived fromthe originalon February 6, 2007.RetrievedMay 3,2007.
  23. ^"National Press Club Online"(PDF).2006. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on June 16, 2007.RetrievedMay 31,2007.
  24. ^"Rising from Ruin - MSNBC.com".Archived fromthe originalon July 15, 2007.RetrievedJune 5,2007.
  25. ^"2006 Best in Business Winners Announced: Winner for Column REAL TIME News Organizations: Martin Wolk".Society of American Business Editors and Writers. Archived fromthe originalon September 27, 2007.
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