Msnbc.com
Encyclopedia
Online newspaper
An online newspaper, also known as a web newspaper, is a newspaper that exists on the World Wide Web or Internet, either separately or as an online version of a printed periodical....
owned and operated as a joint venture
Joint venture
A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...
by NBCUniversal and Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
.
In addition to original content from its news staff, msnbc.com is the news website for the NBC News
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
family, with content from the cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
news channel MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
, NBC shows such as Today, NBC Nightly News
NBC Nightly News
NBC Nightly News is the flagship daily evening television news program for NBC News and broadcasts. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is located in the center...
and Dateline NBC
Dateline NBC
Dateline NBC, or Dateline, is a U.S. weekly television newsmagazine broadcast by NBC. It previously was NBC's flagship news magazine, but now focuses on true crime stories. It airs Friday at 9 p.m. EST and after football season on Sunday at 7 p.m. EST.-History:Dateline is historically notable for...
, and partners such as The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
.
Although the website msnbc.com and the cable channel MSNBC were launched together in 1996, they have always maintained separate corporate structures and news operations. NBC and Microsoft remain 50-50 partners in msnbc.com, but Microsoft has divested its stake in the television network. Msnbc.com is also editorially and financially separate from MSN, the portal site and online service operated by Microsoft, although msnbc.com acts as MSN's primary news provider.
On October 7, 2007, msnbc.com made its first acquisition, buying Newsvine
Newsvine
Newsvine is a community-powered, collaborative journalism news website, owned by msnbc.com, which draws content from its users and syndicated content from mainstream sources such as The Associated Press...
, a website with community-driven news stories and opinions. On August 10, 2009, msnbc.com made its second acquisition, buying micro-local website company Everyblock.com
Adrian Holovaty
Adrian Holovaty is an American Web developer, journalist and entrepreneur living in Chicago, Illinois. He is co-creator of the Django Web framework and an advocate of "journalism via computer programming."...
of Chicago. IL.
Msnbc.com is led by Charles W. Tillinghast, its president and publisher since 2004.
The main newsroom is on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington
Redmond, Washington
Redmond is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located east of Seattle. The population was 54,144 at the 2010 census,up from 45,256 in 2000....
, with additional newsrooms in New York City and London.
Ranking
As of May 2009, msnbc.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 to Nielsen/NetRatings. In second place was Yahoo! NewsYahoo! News
Yahoo! News is an Internet-based news aggregator provided by Yahoo!. It features Top Stories, U.S. National, World, Business, Entertainment, Science, Health, Weather, Most Popular, News Photos, Op/Ed, and Local news....
with 35.8 million, then CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
with 34.4. At last count, msnbc.com also served the most online video of any new site, with more than 125 million video streams in May 2008.
Content
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
and The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
.
A major focus is online content for the NBC News family of programming, including Today, NBC Nightly News
NBC Nightly News
NBC Nightly News is the flagship daily evening television news program for NBC News and broadcasts. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is located in the center...
, Dateline
Dateline NBC
Dateline NBC, or Dateline, is a U.S. weekly television newsmagazine broadcast by NBC. It previously was NBC's flagship news magazine, but now focuses on true crime stories. It airs Friday at 9 p.m. EST and after football season on Sunday at 7 p.m. EST.-History:Dateline is historically notable for...
, Meet the Press
Meet the Press
Meet the Press is a weekly American television news/interview program produced by NBC. It is the longest-running television series in American broadcasting history, despite bearing little resemblance to the original format of the program seen in its television debut on November 6, 1947. It has been...
, and programming on MSNBC television. This content includes behind the scenes blogs such as "The Daily Nightly", a narrative of the broadcast day and a window into the editorial process at NBC Nightly News; "World Blog," where correspondents and producers based overseas share their insight on news events; "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 by MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
's Willie Geist
Willie Geist
William "Willie" Geist is host of MSNBC's Way Too Early with Willie Geist, a co-host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe and contributor to several NBC News programs. Geist also hosts a satirical video blog on MSNBC.com called Zeitgeist...
.
Video is distributed via the MSN Video
MSN Video
MSN Video is an Australian video streaming service from ninemsn as well as a United Kingdom internet television service from MSN. It was rebranded on March 11, 2010....
service. Additionally, the website provides stock quotes through MSN Money
MSN Money
MSN Money, a service of MSN, is a website about business news, that is edited in association with CNBC. It provides stock exchange prices and financial information on companies. Information on stock and share options is also provided. Stock prices are also supplied through msnbc.com.The site also...
, weather
Weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...
forecasts through Weather.com, RSS feeds, podcasts, and netcasts of the network's broadcasts. Following the introduction of CNN's iReport concept, msnbc.com also introduced a citizen journalism
Citizen journalism
Citizen journalism is the concept of members of the public "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information," according to the seminal 2003 report We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information...
section titled “First Person”. The section allows viewers to upload video, photos and stories in response to suggested topics.
Recognition
The site has won several journalism and online publishing awards, including the Society of Professional Journalists award for online investigative reporting, Online News Association’s Online Journalism Award for General Excellence and Best Use of Multiple Media; National Press Club’s Best Journalism Site; for its coverage of Hurricane Katrina, “Rising from Ruin”, and the Best in Business Award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and Best Use of Multiple Media.Alumni
Msnbc.com boasts an array of former employees who went on to other leading positions in new media and journalism. Merrill BrownMerrill Brown
Merrill Brown, a veteran journalist, media executive and consultant, has worked for print, broadcast and Internet outlets. He also was a pioneer in the delivery of online news, having been the first editor-in-chief of MSNBC.com, the largest news site in the U.S...
, the site's first editor-in-chief, was a senior vice president of Real Networks before starting his own consultancy, MMB Media. Jonathan Dube
Jonathan Dube
Jonathan Dube is a prominent digital media executive and a pioneer and leader in the online journalism world.He currently serves as Senior Vice President and General Manager, AOL News & Information...
, a former producer/reporter, left in 2005 to run the website of Canadian broadcaster CBC and is vice president of ABC News in charge of ABCNews.com. Brian Storm, the site's first multimedia director, left to run editorial operations at Corbis, and then founded a multimedia production house, MediaStorm
MediaStorm
MediaStorm is a New York City-based multimedia production and publishing company. The company produces online news stories using high-quality photography, audio, interactivity, and video, and consults on interactive web projects...
. Steve Johnson, a former deputy news editor, ran the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
web operations before helping founding Patch.com, a hyper-local new site in suburban New Jersey. Michael Moran, former international columnist and senior producer for special reports, led the remake of the Council on Foreign Relations
Council on Foreign Relations
The Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit nonpartisan membership organization, publisher, and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
website from 2005 to 2009 before joining Nouriel Roubini
Nouriel Roubini
Nouriel Roubini is an American economist. He claims to have predicted both the collapse of the United States housing market and the worldwide recession which started in 2008. He teaches at New York University's Stern School of Business and is the chairman of Roubini Global Economics, an economic...
's RGE Monitor
RGE Monitor
Roubini Global Economics or RGE , is a global economic and financial analysis firm based in New York City. The company also has offices in Asia and Europe.-History:...
in mid-2009. Jeannette Walls
Jeannette Walls
Jeannette Walls is a writer and journalist widely known as former gossip columnist for MSNBC.com — and author of The Glass Castle, a memoir of the nomadic family life of her childhood, which stayed on the New York Times Best Seller list for 100 weeks.-Early life and education:Walls was born...
, who wrote the site's "Scoop" entertainment column for eight years, wrote the book The Glass Castle
The Glass Castle
The Glass Castle is a 2005 memoir by Jeannette Walls. The book recounts her and her siblings' unconventional, poverty-stricken upbringing at the hands of their deeply dysfunctional parents....
. Joan Connell, former Opinions editor, runs the website of The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
magazine. Frank Barbieri, a former interactive producer and business development specialist, now runs the mobile media company Transpera. Dean Wright, former editor-in-chief, ran Reuters Digital from 2005 to 2008 and is Reuters' senior vice president for consumer services. Michael Silberman, longtime managing editor/East Coast, is general manager of digital media at New York magazine
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
. John Callan, the site's first World News Editor, founded and runs the Space Industry recruiting website SpaceHelpWanted.com.
Brand name confusion with MSNBC
The Web site has struggled with its association with the cable channel MSNBC. The two entities are separate companies. When MSNBC adopted the tagline "Lean Forward", the problem of differentiating the two entities became public. The New York Times quoted Charlie Tillinghast, president of msnbc.com saying, “Both strategies are fine, but naming them the same thing is brand insanity.” The site is considering changing its name to prevent confusion with the cable channel, MSNBCMSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
. With many media properties having "NBC" in their names, the problem could be bigger than the MSNBC/MSNBC.com issue.