Outside roles by NBC's Conde, others reveal a journalism ethics issue: being paid to sit on boards

As NBC News Group chairman, Cesar Conde, is already busy overseeing the network's broadcast and digital news operations, along with CNBC, MSNBC, Telemundo and NBC-owned local affiliates.

Yet the executive also has a second paid job. And a third — as a member of Walmart and PepsiCo's corporate boards. The arrangement has raised some ethical concerns, and reveals a potential blind spot for a news business usually very serious about conflicts — real or perceived.

CNN's new chief executive, Mark Thompson, chairs Ancestry.com's board. And although Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, owner of The Washington Post, is not a journalist, the newspaper reminds readers who he is when writing about Amazon. Former President Donald Trump has eagerly pointed out Bezos' dual roles.

A former NBC News executive, Bill Wheatley, recently questioned the propriety of Conde's outside corporate roles at a time when the news division's leadership is already under fire for the hiring and quick dismissal — following a staff revolt — of former Republican National Committee head Ronna McDaniel as a contributor.

“It seemed to me that this was an additional instance of NBC management not understanding the rules by which news leaders are supposed to play,” said Wheatley, who retired in 2005 as NBC News' executive vice president and has done work as a news consultant since.

Conde was on the Walmart and PepsiCo boards before he took over as NBC News Group chairman in 2020. The NBC News chief earned $275,018 from Walmart in 2022 and $320,000 from PepsiCo, in a combination of cash and stock, according to Salary.com.

NBC wouldn't comment to The Associated Press on the matter.

NO EVIDENCE OF ANY EFFECT ON THE NEWS

There's no evidence that Conde has been involved