NBC hangs onto its war mentality

The war in Iraq is over (isn’t it?), and now NBC News is turning its attention to the battle for the White House in 2004.

Taking its cue from a successful strategy it used to cover the Iraq war, NBC News named a new team of producers who will coordinate political programming and election coverage for all NBC News outlets, including NBC, Telemundo, MSNBC, CNBC’s prime-time shows, radio and MSNBC.com.

Mark Lukasiewicz, who was the lead producer for NBC’s war coverage, was named executive producer of NBC News Specials and Special Projects, overseeing the political coverage as well as other special events. The new coordinated approach for the war, he said, “created a system that allowed everyone to pull in the same direction in approach, assignments, and logistics,” with benefits in terms of “speed, look and accuracy.” The network hopes its coverage of the 2004 election, which is already gearing up due to earlier-than-usual viewer interest, will similarly benefit.