With its spinoff from NBCUniversal looming (and with it a split from NBC News), MSNBC continues to staff up its nascent news division.
The Hollywood Reporter has learned that MSNBC has brought on four correspondents, including some that will be familiar to NBC News viewers.
Perhaps most notably, MSNBC has staffed up its White House team, one of the most critical correspondent roles for any news organization. Vaughn Hillyard will become MSNBC’s senior White House correspondent, with Laura Barrón-López also being named White House correspondent.
Hillyard has been a White House correspondent for NBC News, and has been a regular on MSNBC programming in recent years. Barrón-López was most recently White House correspondent for the PBS NewsHour, and a political analyst for CNN.
MSNBC has also tapped David Noriega as a Los Angeles-based correspondent, and Marc Santia as an investigative correspondent. Noriega was most recently a national correspondent for NBC News, while Santia was a reporter covering criminal justice, security issues and investigations for NBC 4 New York.
MSNBC is set to be spun out from NBCUniversal later this year and into a new company, Versant, which will also house CNBC, USA, Syfy, Golf Channel and other media brands. The spinoff means that MSNBC will no longer able to leverage NBC News resources and reporters, forcing the cable channel to build out its own news operation.
As a result of the imminent split, MSNBC has made some key hires (including senior vp of newsgathering Scott Matthews and DC chief Sudeep Reddy), while also losing some key talent, like Steve Kornacki, who will remain focused on NBC News. NBC News Group executive Jessica Kurdali is joining Versant to lead its talent strategy.
The new crop of correspondents underscores the degree to which MSNBC will have its own distinct news operation once the spinoff is complete. The staffing up is also a sign of green shoots at an otherwise morose time for media. With most news organizations shedding staff, MSNBC is hiring (even if the hiring spree is forced by a corporate split).
