NBC News hires former editor

NBC News has tapped Mark Whitaker, the former editor of Newsweek, to be the news division's second-in-command executive, officials announced Tuesday.

Whitaker, who will have oversight of the network's daily newsgathering operations, ran Newsweek for eight years. Most recently, he was editor in chief of new ventures at Washingtonpost .Newsweek Interactive.

When he joins NBC on May 21, Whitaker will assume many of the duties once held by Alexandra Wallace, the news division's vice president who was appointed executive producer of "NBC Nightly News" in March.

*

Matea Gold