The home page for msnbc.com from June 27, 2010 |
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| URL | msnbc.msn.com |
|---|---|
| Commercial? | Yes |
| Type of site | News website |
| Registration | None |
| Available language(s) | English |
| Owner | NBCUniversal / Microsoft |
| Created by | NBCUniversal / Microsoft |
| Launched | 1996 |
| Alexa rank | 12 U.S. (msnbc.com is part of msn.com) |
msnbc.com is a news website owned and operated as a joint venture by NBCUniversal and Microsoft.
In addition to original content from its news staff, msnbc.com is the news website for the NBC News family, with content from the cable television news channel MSNBC, NBC shows such as Today, NBC Nightly News and Dateline NBC, and partners such as The New York Times and The Washington Post.
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, 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 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, with additional newsrooms in New York City and London.[1]
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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.[2] In second place was Yahoo! News with 35.8 million, then CNN 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.[3]
Msnbc.com covers national and international news of general interest, using original and wire service reporting, as well as videos from the network's television division, and partners including The New York Times, Newsweek and The Washington Post.
A major focus is online content for the NBC News family of programming, including Today, NBC Nightly News, Dateline, Meet the Press, 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's Willie Geist.
Video is distributed via the MSN Video service. Additionally, the website provides stock quotes through MSN Money, weather 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 section titled “First Person”. The section allows viewers to upload video, photos and stories in response to suggested topics.
The site has won several journalism and online publishing awards, including the Society of Professional Journalists award for online investigative reporting,[4] Online News Association’s Online Journalism Award for General Excellence[5] and Best Use of Multiple Media;[5] National Press Club’s Best Journalism Site;[6] for its coverage of Hurricane Katrina, “Rising from Ruin”, and the Best in Business Award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers[7] and Best Use of Multiple Media.[5]
Msnbc.com boasts an array of former employees who went on to other leading positions in new media and journalism. Merrill Brown, the site's first editor-in-chief, was a senior vice president of Real Networks before starting his own consultancy, MMB Media. Jonathan Dube, 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. Steve Johnson, a former deputy news editor, ran the Associated Press 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 website from 2005 to 2009 before joining Nouriel Roubini's RGE Monitor in mid-2009. Jeannette Walls, who wrote the site's "Scoop" entertainment column for eight years, wrote the book The Glass Castle. Joan Connell, former Opinions editor, runs the website of The Nation magazine. Frank Barbieri, a former interactive producer and business development specialist, now runs the mobile media company Transpera.[8] 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. John Callan, the site's first World News Editor, founded and runs the Space Industry recruiting website SpaceHelpWanted.com.
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",[9] 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.”[10] The site is considering changing its name to prevent confusion with the cable channel, MSNBC. With many media properties having "NBC" in their names, the problem could be bigger than the MSNBC/MSNBC.com issue.[11]
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