Cesar Conde

“So we have three fundamental priorities that we've laid out for our company, for our NBC Universal News Group, and it's content, it's connection, and culture… The 50% Challenge Initiative is at the core of the third one of culture…One is we've elevated someone to focus on this, to report directly to me,… 100% of her time. She's an excellent executive with both editorial and DEI experience. But second, and I think this is the most important thing, is we have tried to make this be part of the DNA, be part of the core culture of what we're changing at the news group… And so if we can crack that code and have it occur organically without us driving it, then really what we're focused on is implementing the five pillars, but the fifth one is the most important, which is measurement. One thing that we have done… [is] we've implemented specific measurement and more specifically, accountability KPI’s for our leadership team around DEI…And so we, starting in 2021, our senior leadership team will have DEI KPIs similar to the way we track ratings or financial metrics in our industry. And so we hope that that will help align and signal the priority and the values we have on this front.”

“Look, first, as a news organization, we believe that we have a unique responsibility to look like all of the communities that we're serving here in the States and around the world, both in front and behind the camera. And so, with that context in mind, we wanted to make sure that we put that priority, that value, first and foremost. And so we announced last summer an initiative that we dubbed the 50% Challenge Initiative and the aspiration is very simple. We aspire that our newsrooms be 50% people of color and 50% women.”