As part of NBCUniversal’s preparations to spin off MSNBC from the rest of the company, executives purged about 150 journalists, primarily from their niche woke journalism projects and NBC News. According to a report from the left-wing The Wrap, the “diversity teams” of “NBC BLK, NBC Asian America, NBC Latino and NBC OUT” were completely eliminated and made up “about 7% of NBC News’ newsroom of about 2,000 staffers.”

“The cuts mean that the verticals NBC BLK, NBC Asian America, NBC Latino and NBC OUT will no longer have dedicated teams bolstering their coverage,” The Wrap’s Corbin Bolies reported. “The verticals will continue to publish stories related to the specific groups, according to one source, but the work will be distributed across the broader newsroom.”

The report seemed to try to blunt possible accusations that those teams were marked for layoffs because of the topics they covered, but rather because of how tremulous the current media land scape was finically:

The cuts did not target specific teams and were driven by the network’s budget and the desire to streamline its editorial efforts, according to one source.

(…)

It also reflects the challenging nature of operating a large-scale newsroom amid a media environment facing declining ratings and a fragmented audience, with layoffs occurring across news outlets, including the Washington Post, Rolling Stone, CNN and PBS.

Although, the report also noted that, “The layoffs also reflect the media industry’s larger retreat from efforts focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.” Pointing fingers at Disney (the parent company of ABC News) and newspaper giant Gannett.

Over the years, NewsBusters had called out several stories from those axed divisions.

In July 2015, Executive Editor Tim Graham reported on an NBC BLK pundit who wanted the FCC to be used as a weapon against people who “misgendered” transgendered people:

DANIELLE MOODIE-MILLS: You know, I think the first issue is that  We need to stop misgendering people in the media and there needs to be some type of fine that's put into place for outlets, for media outlets, whether they be print, online, radio or what have you that decide that they're just not going to call people be their name -- right? – and that they're going to misgender them just because they can.

And that’s what we saw with K.C.  Haggard, we saw in the press, we saw, we’ve seen all over the place, and it’s ridiculous. There are guidelines that have been put in place by GLAAD -- right? -- that have been put out to all press outlets. And if you don't follow them you should be fined by the FCC. It should be that serious.

Despite the network having those divisions for years, in 2020, NBC wanted to pledge $100,000 to “advance social justice and equity,” as written by NewsBusters Associate Editor Joseph Vazquez.

In January 2022, NBC OUT celebrated a Catholic school capitulating to the woke and hiring a lesbian lacrosse coach. NBC OUT had also touted “LGBT Books for Your Summer Reading List” in July of 2017.

Back in 2025, clearly, NBCUniversal executives didn’t find any value in keeping that kind of reporting going.