On the same day that Comcast is taking control of NBCU, CNN
announced that NBC News senior VP and Washington Bureau Chief Mark Whitaker is
joining the cable net as executive vice president and managing editor.
He will report to CNN Worldwide President Jim Walton and be
responsible for "overseeing and integrating news and editorial content
across all of CNN's domestic and international networks and digital
platforms."
Whitaker, former editor of Newsweek, had been with NBC since
2007.
He starts his new job Feb. 14. It is a newly created position.
The new managing editor position was announced last fall
when Walton named the new heads of CNN U.S. and HLN following the departure of
Jon Klein as CNN U.S. president. Ken Jautz was named EVP of CNN U.S., replacing
Klein, and Scot Safon was named EVP of HLN.
The point of the new position is to have someone focused on
the big picture across all the growing digital, international and domestic
platforms, with all EVPs reporting to Walton.
