Her departure comes a few weeks after The Times announced that Clifford Levy, another deputy managing editor, would move to the company’s business side later this year as deputy publisher of The Athletic and Wirecutter.
At NBC, Mr. Oppenheim leaves his role after a six-year tenure that coincided with huge changes in the business model of TV news and the frenetic pace of the Trump presidency and a worldwide pandemic.
An NBC veteran who began as a producer for the Chris Matthews show “Hardball,” Mr. Oppenheim took on major roles at CNBC and “Today” before ascending to lead NBC News. He led an expansion of the network’s digital operations, including the debut of a popular ad-supported streaming service, NBC News Now.
His tenure was also marked by controversy. Ronan Farrow, a former journalist and anchor at MSNBC, accused leadership at NBCUniversal, including Mr. Oppenheim, of trying to conceal a blockbuster investigation into allegations of sexual assault against the film producer Harvey Weinstein. Mr. Oppenheim said that Mr. Farrow’s story, as reported for the network, did not meet its standards for publication. Tensions related to the episode spilled into public, including an extraordinary on-air moment when Rachel Maddow said she had deep concerns about the organization’s handling of the story.
With his restructuring of NBC News, Mr. Conde, the former head of Telemundo, will more closely oversee major NBC assets. “Today” will be led by Libby Leist, a long-serving steward of the morning franchise, who will report to Mr. Conde. “NBC Nightly News” will continue to be led by Janelle Rodriguez, another NBC veteran who will also continue to oversee NBC News Now.
Along with his ongoing role at NBCUniversal, Mr. Oppenheim is developing a limited series at Netflix starring Robert DeNiro. Tentatively titled “Zero Day,” the series is described as a political thriller in which Mr. DeNiro portrays an ex-president who returns to run the country in the wake of a major catastrophe. Mr. Oppenheim’s collaborators on the series include Eric Newman, the showrunner of the drug trafficking drama “Narcos,” and Michael S. Schmidt, a reporter at The Times.
Mr. Oppenheim is not the first media executive to daydream about jumping to the creative side, but he is rare among his peers in having found some success in that endeavor: He wrote the screenplay for the 2016 biopic “Jackie” starring Natalie Portman as Jacqueline Kennedy, the former first lady.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nytimes.com
