L.A. manager named NBC diversity chief

Paula Madison, general manager of KNBC-TV Channel 4 in Los Angeles, Thursday was named chief diversity officer for NBC Universal.

Madison previously had served in that role but only part time because her primary job was to manage Channel 4 and its two L.A. Spanish-language stations, KVEA-TV Channel 52 and KWHY-TV Channel 22.

But NBC’s acquisition in 2004 of Universal Studios nearly doubled the size of the company, increasing the diversity duties.

“This is really a full-time job,” Madison, 54, said in an interview. It will be the first time NBC has had a full-time diversity officer. Madison will continue to be based in Los Angeles.

She said she initially resisted an offer by NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker to take the job.

“I still wanted to be right here with my team at KNBC, KVEA and KWHY,” Madison said, adding that she eventually decided that after seven years of running the stations it was time to take a new role where she could “make a real difference in the company.”

Madison will work with all the media company’s divisions. In addition to making sure that the executive ranks and workforce of the General Electric Co.’s unit are representative of the population, she will strive to get more minorities in front of the camera, in Universal movies and NBC television shows, she said.

Madison said NBC News had made progress with the appointment this week of Lester Holt, who is African American, as weekend news anchor. Two ranking NBC News executives, Mark Whitaker and Lyne Pitts, are African American, she said.

The company recently reconstituted its NBC Universal Diversity Council, which is led by Universal Studios head Ron Meyer. That group had its kickoff meeting the day after MSNBC pulled the plug on its simulcast of “Imus in the Morning” in response to protests over his sexist and racist comment about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team.

“We are a company that is wholly committed to diversity, and to a company culture that stands for respect, tolerance, and inclusiveness,” Zucker wrote in a recent e-mail to employees.

NBC said a new station general manager in L.A. would be named shortly.

meg.james@latimes.com