Kevin Keeshan, longtime vice president and news director at KGO San Francisco, has been named ombudsman for NBC News, assigned to the NBC Owned Television Stations.
Keeshan will report to David McCormick, NBC News' VP of standards and practices. He's tasked with "ensuring that the high standards for news gathering and reporting set by NBC News are applied consistently across all 10 NBC-owned stations."
It's a new position for the owned stations, and was part of a commitment Comcast made to the FCC during the approval process for its merger with NBC Universal.
Former KGO GM Valari Staab oversees the NBC owned stations.
"I am delighted that Kevin will bring his decades of experience to NBC News to help our owned stations maintain the high standards their viewers have come to expect," said McCormick. "He will serve as an invaluable extra set of eyes and ears for the news directors at our local stations and help develop young journalists as they progress in their careers."
Local TV ombudsman are exceedingly rare. Media General's WJAR Providence had one for years in Paul Giacobbe, but discontinued the ombudsman role last year.
Prior to running the KGO newsroom, Keeshan worked as news director at KFSN Fresno for three years. Earlier in his career, Keeshan was a reporter and assignment editor at KERO Bakersfield and KXTV Sacramento.
