Merrill Brown
Encyclopedia
Merrill Brown, a veteran journalist, media executive and consultant, has worked for print, broadcast and Internet outlets. He also was a pioneer in the delivery of online news, having been the first editor-in-chief of MSNBC.com
, the largest news site in the U.S. In addition to reporting on Wall Street
as a correspondent for the Washington Post, he was the editor of Channels, a magazine about television, during the 1980s
. He was later hired to help create Court TV
, where he was a founder and served as senior vice president. Following consulting work with Time
, NBC
, US West
, and others, he was named MSNBC.com’s first editor-in-chief, stepping into that role in August 1996 after serving as acting manager for the July launch of the service. Brown was also a founder of News21, an educational effort involving journalism grad students from five major universities— Columbia
, Berkeley
, USC Annenberg, Northwestern
, and Harvard
— a program that was guided by a support team of faculty and professional journalists. Brown served as National Editorial Director of the project from June 2005 until January 2008. He was brought on board at NowPublic
, the citizen journalism
news network with contributors from around the globe, in the spring of 2006 and his relationship with the organization grew until he was part of the board and eventually elected chairman.
Building MSNBC
's Reputation:
As the Web site’s first editor-in-chief, he was responsible “forging connections” between Microsoft’s “technology wizards” and NBC’s “news hounds,” between MSNBC on the Internet based in Redmond, Washington, and MSNBC Cable, based in New Jersey. The New York Times also remarked that his responsibilities, which included “raising the bar for people working on the online side so that their skills and experience and journalistic sensibilities match those on the NBC side” had made “New York-to-Seattle into a shuttle flight.” He went on to become Senior Vice President in August 2000 and during his tenure, the fledgling company grew to become one of the most visited news offerings on the Internet, maintaining a position as the No. 1 online news provider since 1999.
Journalism Background:
Brown was associated with The Washington Post
from 1979 to 1985, serving as a financial reporter (1979–1982), New York
financial correspondent (1982–1984) and director of business development, Washington Post Company (1984–1985). Prior to that, Brown was a financial reporter at the Washington Star
(1978–1979), Washington correspondent for Media General Newspapers (1975–1978), a reporter at the Winston-Salem Sentinel (1974–1975) and reporter and freelance critic at the St. Louis Post Dispatch (1973–1974).
As a founder of the cable network Court TV, Brown worked on all facets of the network's operation leading up to its July 1991 launch. As senior vice president, corporate & program development, he oversaw program planning, advertising, promotion, marketing, public relations and development of day-to-day management of the cable network (1990–1994).
While at Time, he served as consulting senior editor of Money magazine
, developing online and Internet services for the publication. He also served as acting editor for Time Magazine Daily (the periodical's daily online news operation) and as a consulting editor for Time magazine. During that time, Brown also served as a launch consultant for NBC
Desktop Video, designing the network program plan and creating the network's on-air look for NBC's business news service delivered to personal computers.
In Spring 2005, he prepared a report for the Carnegie Corporation of New York which was published in the organization's Carnegie Reporter and examined young peoples' changing media consumption habits. The report was widely read and referenced in a speech later that year by News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch in a speech to the American Society of Magazine Editors in addition to other domestic and international outlets.
Current Activities:
Brown is the founder and principal of MMB Media LLC, which provides clients with management and strategy consulting, corporate, editorial and program development, business analysis and marketing services and is also a partner in Propeller LLC, a New York consultancy. Since the founding of the MMB Media, clients have ranged from companies in the news, information and wireless businesses to a large foundation.
Brown also serves on the Board of Directors of Smashing Ideas, Inc. and the board of the International Women's Media Foundation
. He is an adviser to the Center for Citizen Media, New West Publishing, iFocus, the Institute for the Connected Society, Project Agape, and the City University of New York
Graduate School of Journalism. Brown is a member of the advisory boards of two advertising firms, Media 6 Degrees and TRA Global, where he recently became Advisory Board Chairman. Brown is also an advisor to Evri.com, a content discovery company funded by Vulcan Capital.
Brown is a Board Member at the IWMF (International Women's Media Foundation).
References:
Msnbc.com
msnbc.com is a news website owned and operated as a joint venture by NBCUniversal and Microsoft.In addition to original content from its news staff, msnbc.com is the news website for the NBC News family, with content from the cable television news channel MSNBC, NBC shows such as Today, NBC Nightly...
, the largest news site in the U.S. In addition to reporting on Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
as a correspondent for the Washington Post, he was the editor of Channels, a magazine about television, during the 1980s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
. He was later hired to help create Court TV
Court TV
truTV is an American cable television network owned by Turner Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Time Warner. The network launched as Court TV in 1991, changing to truTV in 2008...
, where he was a founder and served as senior vice president. Following consulting work with Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, US West
US West
U S WEST, Inc. was one of seven Regional Bell Operating Companies , created in 1983 under the Modification of Final Judgement , a case related to the antitrust breakup of AT&T...
, and others, he was named MSNBC.com’s first editor-in-chief, stepping into that role in August 1996 after serving as acting manager for the July launch of the service. Brown was also a founder of News21, an educational effort involving journalism grad students from five major universities— Columbia
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, USC Annenberg, Northwestern
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
, and Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
— a program that was guided by a support team of faculty and professional journalists. Brown served as National Editorial Director of the project from June 2005 until January 2008. He was brought on board at NowPublic
NowPublic
NowPublic is a user-generated social news website. The company is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and was founded by Michael Tippett, Leonard Brody and Michael E. Meyers in 2005. On Sept. 2, 2009 the company was acquired by Clarity Digital Group, LLC, wholly owned by The Anschutz...
, the citizen journalism
Citizen journalism
Citizen journalism is the concept of members of the public "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information," according to the seminal 2003 report We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information...
news network with contributors from around the globe, in the spring of 2006 and his relationship with the organization grew until he was part of the board and eventually elected chairman.
Building MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
's Reputation:
As the Web site’s first editor-in-chief, he was responsible “forging connections” between Microsoft’s “technology wizards” and NBC’s “news hounds,” between MSNBC on the Internet based in Redmond, Washington, and MSNBC Cable, based in New Jersey. The New York Times also remarked that his responsibilities, which included “raising the bar for people working on the online side so that their skills and experience and journalistic sensibilities match those on the NBC side” had made “New York-to-Seattle into a shuttle flight.” He went on to become Senior Vice President in August 2000 and during his tenure, the fledgling company grew to become one of the most visited news offerings on the Internet, maintaining a position as the No. 1 online news provider since 1999.
Journalism Background:
Brown was associated with The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
from 1979 to 1985, serving as a financial reporter (1979–1982), New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
financial correspondent (1982–1984) and director of business development, Washington Post Company (1984–1985). Prior to that, Brown was a financial reporter at the Washington Star
Washington Star
The Washington Star, previously known as the Washington Star-News and the Washington Evening Star, was a daily afternoon newspaper published in Washington, D.C. between 1852 and 1981. For most of that time, it was the city's newspaper of record, and the longtime home to columnist Mary McGrory and...
(1978–1979), Washington correspondent for Media General Newspapers (1975–1978), a reporter at the Winston-Salem Sentinel (1974–1975) and reporter and freelance critic at the St. Louis Post Dispatch (1973–1974).
As a founder of the cable network Court TV, Brown worked on all facets of the network's operation leading up to its July 1991 launch. As senior vice president, corporate & program development, he oversaw program planning, advertising, promotion, marketing, public relations and development of day-to-day management of the cable network (1990–1994).
While at Time, he served as consulting senior editor of Money magazine
Money (magazine)
Money is published by Time Inc. Its first issue was published in October 1972. Its articles cover the gamut of personal finance topics ranging from investing, saving, retirement and taxes to family finance issues like paying for college, credit, career and home improvement...
, developing online and Internet services for the publication. He also served as acting editor for Time Magazine Daily (the periodical's daily online news operation) and as a consulting editor for Time magazine. During that time, Brown also served as a launch consultant for NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
Desktop Video, designing the network program plan and creating the network's on-air look for NBC's business news service delivered to personal computers.
In Spring 2005, he prepared a report for the Carnegie Corporation of New York which was published in the organization's Carnegie Reporter and examined young peoples' changing media consumption habits. The report was widely read and referenced in a speech later that year by News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch in a speech to the American Society of Magazine Editors in addition to other domestic and international outlets.
Current Activities:
Brown is the founder and principal of MMB Media LLC, which provides clients with management and strategy consulting, corporate, editorial and program development, business analysis and marketing services and is also a partner in Propeller LLC, a New York consultancy. Since the founding of the MMB Media, clients have ranged from companies in the news, information and wireless businesses to a large foundation.
Brown also serves on the Board of Directors of Smashing Ideas, Inc. and the board of the International Women's Media Foundation
International Women's Media Foundation
The International Women’s Media Foundation , located in Washington, DC, is a network of thousands of left-wing women journalists working internationally to elevate the status of women in the media. The IWMF has created groundbreaking programs to help women in the media develop practical solutions...
. He is an adviser to the Center for Citizen Media, New West Publishing, iFocus, the Institute for the Connected Society, Project Agape, and the City University of New York
City University of New York
The City University of New York is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...
Graduate School of Journalism. Brown is a member of the advisory boards of two advertising firms, Media 6 Degrees and TRA Global, where he recently became Advisory Board Chairman. Brown is also an advisor to Evri.com, a content discovery company funded by Vulcan Capital.
Brown is a Board Member at the IWMF (International Women's Media Foundation).
References: