Media Moves

Savannah Sellers and Gadi Schwartz are co-hosts of “Stay Tuned.”

Guatemalan-born NBC News correspondent Gadi Schwartz has been tapped to co-host “Stay Tuned” – the network’s first daily news show on Snapchat.

The twice-daily news show, which will cover national and international news, politics and pop culture, launched yesterday morning.

NBC picked two millennials to front the Snapchat newscasts. Savannah Sellers, a correspondent for MSNBC, is Schwartz’s co-host.

“Stay Tuned” runs live at 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. ET during the week and at 1 p.m. on weekends and will also include updates throughout the day to cover breaking news.

According to NBC, “Stay Tuned” has a 30-person team led by Executive Producer Andrew Springer.

Dr. John Torres has joined NBC News as medical correspondent.

Torres had been “9Health” medical expert at Denver NBC affiliate KUSA since 2009, while maintaining his clinical practice.

NBC News SVP Janelle Rodriguez announced Torres’ hiring in a note to staff.

Torres was an Air Force pilot before pursuing a second career in medicine. He got his start in TV news, contributing to KOAA while an ER doctor in southern Colorado.

Torres, who had been contributing to NBC News and MSNBC for the last several months, replaces Dr. Nancy Snyderman, who left the network in 2015.

After a 12-year run with Telemundo, David Necochea has left his position as network news videographer in Houston to join NBC network news in New York.

He starts on Monday, April 4 as a videographer and editor for Nightly News, the Today Show, MSNBC and Peacock Productions.

A 13 Emmy-award winning videojournalist, David moved from Miami to Houston in 2014 to work with correspondent Iván Taylor, who left the network earlier this month.

He previously worked from 2006 to 2014 at WSCV Telemundo 51 in Miami. Prior to WSCV, he spent two years at at KXTX 39 Telemundo and KUVN Univision, both in Dallas.

A native of Peru, he worked in Costa Rica for “Teletica” before moving to the U.S.

KNBC News reporter Gadi Schwartz is moving up to the network as an NBC News correspondent, based in the Los Angeles bureau. He starts the new job in March.

Since joining KNBC in 2013, Gadi has been reporting weekdays for the 5, 6 and 11 pm newscasts.

An Emmy award-winning journalist, he was previously a weekend anchor and investigative reporter at KOB-TV’s “4 On Your Side” unit in his hometown of Albuquerque.

Gadi, who was born in Guatemala and raised in New Mexico, is the son of Sergio Schwartz, a former journalist for Univision in Albuquerque.

Janelle Rodríguez, VP of Programming at CNN for the past three years, is leaving the cable news network. She had been with CNN for 15 years.

Starting in January, she’ll be SVP of Editorial at NBC News, reporting to Deborah Turness.

In her new role, Rodríguez will be in charge of coordinating enterprise and original storytelling, as well as guiding breaking news coverage.

She’ll also oversee NBC News’ specialist editorial units, focusing first on investigations and medical, with more planned. Richard Esposito, Sr Executive Producer of the investigative unit will report to her, as well as the bookings unit.

When NBC News unveils an integrated digital and broadcast newsgathering Hub early next year, she’ll play a central role, generating editorial initiatives and driving long-range planning in close collaboration with all platforms.

In a memo sent out to staff on Tuesday, Turness wrote about the hire:

“We began the search for this position on the leadership team approximately six months ago, and in Janelle, we have found the right combination of skills and expertise.”

While at CNN, Rodríguez held a number of producer jobs, increasing in responsibility. Among her many roles: EP of “American Morning” and Sr producer for “Anderson Cooper 360” and “The Situation Room.”

Antoine Sanfuentes, Sr Vice President of News at NBC is leaving the company in the new year.  His last day is January 20, according to an email he sent staff on Monday.

“I grew up at NBC News and have been fortunate to learn every aspect of news reporting and production from the best in the business,” Sanfuentes wrote in the email.  “I am extremely proud to have played a role in NBC News’ successes, and I am excited about working on new challenges,” he wrote.

After Steve Capus resigned as President of NBC News in February of this year, there was some expectation that Antoine, whose entire career has been with NBC, would get promoted again and take over the network news division’s top job.

Although he had taken over Capus’ duties, he was passed over and in May, NBC hired Deborah Turness – a former editor of Britain’s ITV News.

At the time, a New York Times story assessed Turness’ hiring “suggests that NBCUniversal executives were yearning for new thinking.”

Sanfuentes started as a desk assistant in the Washington bureau of NBC News in 1990, right out of college. In 1995, he became a White House producer and later senior White House producer. After 14 years, he was named Deputy Washington bureau chief. He was promoted to Washington Bureau Chief in 2011, and to Senior Vice President a year later.

NBC News correspondent Diana Alvear is no longer with the network.  Her contract was not renewed, according to TVNewser.

Her stay at NBC was brief – just a year.  She joined the network in July of 2012, reporting for all platforms of NBC News, including “Today,” “NBC Nightly News,” MSNBC, NBCLatino.com, and nbcnews.com.

TVNewser today also reported that 4 other people have left the network: correspondent Thanh Truong and 3 senior producers, two from “Nightly News” and one from “Today.”

Before taking the job at NBC, Diana spent 4 years as a correspondent for ABC NewsOne in Los Angeles and also filed reports for the weekend editions of “Good Morning America,” “World News,” and the “World News” webcast.

She was previously an anchor/reporter at WGBA-TV, the NBC affiliate in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

For the past 2 years, Antoine Sanfuentes has been on an executive fast track, getting promoted 2 times, most recently to Sr Vice President of News at NBC.

He also took over Steve Capus’ duties, when he resigned as President of NBC News in February of this year.

But now, NBC has opted not to promote Antoine to the top of its news division.  Instead, the company has hired Deborah Turness – a former editor of Britain’s ITV News.

NBC made the announcement on Monday.  The hire makes her the first woman to run a network news division in the United States.

In an article in the New York Times, Brian Stelter writes “The decision to look outside NBC and the United States for a president suggests that NBCUniversal executives were yearning for new thinking.”

While Turness’ qualifications may be exemplary, it’s hard to believe that NBCU couldn’t find a “new thinker” in the U.S., or that the company itself is not forward thinking enough to give the opportunity to Antoine Sanfuentes and to focus on an ever-growing Hispanic audience.