Outside roles by NBC’s Conde, others reveal an ethics issue

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 NBCowned 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 effect

There’s no evidence that Conde has been involved with any NBC stories involving the two corporations. NBC pointed to a 2021 Wall Street Journal article where the network said he would recuse himself from any reporting on the companies.

Generally, journalists work hard to avoid any situation where a conflict could be alleged, even if the conflict itself does not come to pass: Did reporters, for example, write positive stories on a corporation that a boss is involved with, or ignore bad news because it might anger a superior?

Perception can be as important as an actual conflict; some journalists go so far as to not even vote in an election that their outlet is covering.

This holds true within NBC as well. Among other rules: The business network CNBC that Conde oversees forbids its journalists — and their spouses — from owning stock for these reasons.

Recusal is a good step, Wheatley says, but it doesn’t cure the conflict.