#versant

[justinspoliticalcorner]

NBC News Reportedly Lays Off Black, Latino, Asian American, And LGBTQ+ Diversity Teams

NBC News has reportedly laid off 150 people on the Black, Latino, Asian American, and LGBTQ+ diversity teams.

Demicia Inman at Vibe:

NBC News has reportedly fired multiple journalists responsible for verticals dedicated to diverse communities. According to The Wrap, 150 staffers were laid off on Wednesday (Oct. 15), impacting NBC BLK, NBC Asian America, NBC Latino, and NBC OUT, which covers LGBTQ+ news. The newsroom will still publish stories that relate to the specific groups; however, it will no longer employ specific teams. The outlet reported that five staffers will allegedly remain to contribute coverage on the verticals to the newsroom. As noted by The Wrap, the downsizing accounted for about 7% of NBC News’ newsroom of about 2,000 staffers and 2% of the wider NBCU News Group. A source claimed the layoffs “did not target specific teams and were driven by the network’s budget and the desire to streamline its editorial efforts.” The alleged layoffs come as NBC News parent company NBCUniversal prepares to spin off MSNBC and CNBC into the new company Versant amid shifts.

NBC News shutters the NBC BLK, NBC Out, NBC Latino, and NBC Asian America verticals and teams associated with the verticals, both due to the split of NBC News’s operations from MSNBC and CNBC and the Trump Regime’s war on DEI initiatives.

See Also:

The Advocate: Breaking: NBC fires teams of journalists focused on marginalized communities, axing NBC Out & NBC BLK staff

LGBTQ Nation: NBC News layoffs end its reporting team for LGBTQ+ focused news vertical NBC Out

The Wrap: NBC News’ 150 Layoffs Gut Black, Latino, Asian American and LGBTQ+ Diversity Teams

[bergsmotiv]

Versant Nord du Mt-Ventox - Le Mt Serein (alt, 1400 m) La Combe dee Orties et le Chalet vue sur Les Alpes

[calitraditionalism]

Families: Versant

Regular disclaimer that this information may change over time. 

Original Clan: One half of SlopeClan.

Location: In the southern, more gently sloping part of the pine forest commonly called the Rootlands. 

Appearance: There are tabbies of all kind, usually grey, brown or a mix of the two, but they can stretch into more vibrant colors. Torbies are very common here. Hair is slightly long and bodies are more squarely built, and the cats are a little taller than average. There are occasionally white markings on the underside or feet, but they’re generally pretty small and easily missed. Not really considered the handsomest of families. 

Culture: Versant is rather frank in all aspects of their life. They speak honestly and literally (though with a few phrases that come only from them), their preferred prefixes are usually blunt and plain (colors, patterns, and so on), and they hold no secrets from anyone, hating to muddle the truth. This is in stark contrast to the Brae, their rival family, who they have a hard time even comprehending thanks to their secretive and pretentious nature. Versant cats care very little for appearances - it’s regularly joked that they’re always covered in dust and mud because they don’t bother to clean themselves up to impress. Their blood is also pretty fresh, as visiting cats stay for a while, breed, then travel off again, leaving the remaining members with the promise that their children will be healthy and less likely to treat outsiders with distrust. 

Vernacular: Versant cats do not have much of a notable accent, perhaps owing to their nature of keeping things plain and simple. The occasional tinge of something from other places can be heard in certain words, depending on whoever’s been staying there for however long. Some older cats do put a little more emphasis on their consonants for whatever reason. 

Relationships: The Versant do not hate anyone, but if they did, it would be the Brae. They’re not an aggressive group, so no fights have broken out in a long time, but the Brae are not spoken of too kindly. Everyone else, however, seems to have a positive relationship with this group, even if they don’t travel too much to visit their neighbors.

[the-lexicographer]

Word of the Day

Versant, adj. /vər-sənt/ - Concerned about, occupied or engaged in or with, something. Intimately acquainted with a subject or person.

      Source: The Oxford Universal Dictionary, 1933

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Judge dismisses Truth Social CEO’s defamation suit against Rachel Maddow

Devin Nunes sued the award-winning MSNBC host in 2021, when he was still a member of Congress.

Christopher Wiggins at The Advocate:

A federal judge has dismissed former Republican California U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes’s defamation lawsuit against MSNBC host Rachel Maddow and NBCUniversal, ruling the network did not act with “actual malice” in reporting that Nunes refused to turn over a package from a sanctioned Russian agent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In a 24-page opinion issued Friday, U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel granted summary judgment to NBCUniversal, writing that “no reasonable jury could find that NBCU made the statement with constitutionally-defined actual malice.” Nunes, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump and chief executive officer of his social media company, filed the lawsuit in 2021 after an episode of The Rachel Maddow Show aired a segment about a package addressed to Nunes from Ukrainian legislator Andrii Derkach. Derkach was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2020 for acting as a Russian agent and attempting to interfere in the 2020 presidential election.

Maddow told viewers that Nunes “has refused to hand [the package] over to the FBI, which is what you should do if you get something from somebody who is sanctioned by the U.S. as a Russian agent,” relying on a news story by Politico. According to court documents, Nunes and members of his staff testified that the package was turned over to the FBI on the same day it was received. Nunes also sent a letter to then-Attorney General William Barr advising him of the package’s arrival. [...] Castel rejected Nunes’s arguments that Maddow and MSNBC distorted the Politico reporting and ignored other news stories that stated the package had been appropriately handled. According to the ruling, Maddow and Gnazzo said they were not aware of a follow-up article quoting a fellow Republican lawmaker saying the package had been turned over to the FBI. Nunes also argued that Maddow’s long history of criticizing him, identifying 36 episodes in which she discussed him by name, proved personal bias. But Castel wrote that “bare assertions of bias are insufficient” and found no evidence that the statement at issue was published with a “high degree of awareness of ... probable falsity.” “In context, Maddow’s reference to Nunes as an ‘easier hit’ refers to Maloney’s information that there was a package receipt for the delivery to Nunes from Derkach, which provided ready support for part of the claim,” Castel wrote, referencing Rep. Sean Maloney’s comments during a prior MSNBC interview.

Judge Kevin Castel dismisses Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes’s frivolous lawsuit against MSNBC host Rachel Maddow and NBCUniversal. MSNBC is currently owned by NBCU, but is set to be part of the Versant spinoff.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

MSNBC to change name to MS NOW amid spinoff from NBCUniversal

The cable news channel will also lose the peacock logo as it separates from NBC News.

Daniel Arkin at NBC News:

MSNBC will change its name to MS Now, for My Source News Opinion World, and unveil a new logo this year as part of the cable news channel’s spinoff from the Comcast-owned media company NBCUniversal. Comcast announced last year that it would spin off most of its cable television networks into a separate publicly traded company called Versant. The new company will include MSNBC and the financial news channel CNBC as well as the USA Network, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and the Golf Channel. The branding changes represent Versant’s emphasis on “building our individual identity and vision for the future while laying a foundation for the continued growth and success of our businesses,” Versant CEO Mark Lazarus said in a memo to staff Monday morning. [...] MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler said the network will not change editorial direction as it builds out its own newsgathering operation entirely separate from NBC News. (MSNBC launched in 1996 as a joint venture between NBC News and Microsoft.) “While our name will be changing, who we are and what we do will not,” Kutler said in an internal memo. “Our commitment to our work and our audiences will not waiver from what the brand promise has been for three decades.” [...] CNBC, for its part, will keep the acronym “Consumer News and Business Channel” but will debut a new logo without the peacock.

After over 29 years, MSNBC will get a new name: My Source News Opinion World, or MS Now in short. CNBC, however, will keep its name, but lose the peacock with it.

This is because of the NBCU/Versant split, where the peacock logo stays with NBCU properties, and this will cause Golf Channel and CNBC to change their logos.

See Also:

AP, via HuffPost: MSNBC Will Change Its Name Later This Year As Part Of Corporate Divorce From NBC

MSNBC: A message to our community: MSNBC to become MS Now

THR: MSNBC to Change Name to MS NOW Under Versant

[justinspoliticalcorner]

MSNBC Makes The Shift To MS NOW As Part Of Split From Comcast

The news channel is making the split from Comcast.

Ted Johnson at Deadline:

MSNBC transformed into the newly named MS NOW on Saturday morning, as the network splits from parent company Comcast. “Don’t adjust your settings,” Jonathan Capehart, co-host of The Weekend, told viewers shortly after 7 a.m. ET, from studios in Washington. “We are formerly MSNBC. As of this moment, we have a new name, MS NOW, which stands for My Source for News Opinion and the World. But other than that, and these snazzy new graphics, not much is changing. Bottom line: Same mission, new name.” Moments earlier, viewers saw Morning Joe Weekend host Willie Geist sign off for the final time under the MSNBC name, with a shot of the NBC Peacock logo.

MS NOW has been preparing for this moment since last year, when Comcast announced that it would be spinning off MSNBC along with other cable networks into a new company, later named Versant. MS NOW has built up its own newsroom, as NBC News no longer is a sister network. MS NOW will not stream episodes of its shows after they air on Peacock, the Comcast service, although past MSNBC shows like Morning Joe and Deadline White House with Nicolle Wallace were still available as of Saturday morning.

After 29 years and 4 months, the name MSNBC is officially dead, as MS NOW is the new name for the channel as a result for the Versant split off from Comcast..

[calitraditionalism]

Name: Darkpelt

Gender: Female

Age: 2 ½ years old

Group/Family: Versant

Rank: Warrior

Relations: N/A

A slightly short, skinny, almost black molly with tabby markings and blind yellow eyes.

Darkpelt has been blind her entire life, and she takes full advantage of this. Those who would treat her with any sort of pity or special care quickly learn exactly how independent she is - and to avoid her as much as possible, because it is impossible to keep a secret around her. She delights in making other cats uncomfortable or angry, knowing that they’ll hesitate to say or do anything to her. Her skill at picking up the tiniest details through scent or hearing actually makes her pretty helpful to deputies when it comes to advice and keeping track of the movements of her Clanmates. As such, she has a lot more respect from higher-ups than most normal cats do. That never fails to frustrate those she happily lords her position over.