Latest news with #DealingtheDead
Yahoo
29-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘NBC Nightly News' EP Meghan Rafferty Exits to Join Versant
NBC Nightly News executive producer Meghan Rafferty will exit the evening newscast to join Versant, the forthcoming Comcast spinoff that will include most of the company's cable TV brands. Rafferty will become vp of news standards for Versant, a job tasked with setting and maintaining the company's journalistic standards at both MSNBC and CNBC, and guiding both newsrooms. Rafferty's hire was announced internally by Brian Carovillano, who leads standards and editorial partnerships for the company. More from The Hollywood Reporter MSNBC Brings Back Live Fan Event In Bid to Build New Revenue Lines Comcast's Versant Names Prospective Board Members CNBC Hires An Editor-In-Chief As It Unifies TV and Digital News Teams 'She will help lead our News Standards Team and guide newsrooms at MSNBC and CNBC to ensure the work is fair, accurate and transparent,' he wrote in a memo. 'She'll collaborate with colleagues across our news platforms, as well as legal and other departments, and she will report to me.' Rafferty has led Nightly News since 2021, working with both Lester Holt and Tom Llamas. The broadcast is expected to name a new ep in the coming weeks, with Rafferty moving to Versant in September. Before joining NBC News Rafferty spent a decade at CNN, producing interviews and stories for journalists like Wolf Blitzer and Christiane Amanpour. Versant has been staffing up ahead of the looming split, which will see MSNBC and CNBC severed from NBC News. In connection with the change, MSNBC has had to build an entire news organization from scratch (with a heavy emphasis on political news), and hiring executives that will be tasked with developing the company's digital strategy. You can read Carovillano's memo, below. Team, I'm thrilled to share some exciting news as we continue to build out our leadership team supporting the growing newsrooms across both MSNBC and CNBC. Meghan Rafferty is joining VERSANT as Vice President of News Standards, beginning in early September. In this role, Meghan will be a key voice within both networks' news leadership, helping to set and maintain the highest standards for our journalism. She will help lead our News Standards Team and guide newsrooms at MSNBC and CNBC to ensure the work is fair, accurate and transparent. She'll collaborate with colleagues across our news platforms, as well as legal and other departments, and she will report to me. No stranger to many of us here, Meghan joins us from NBC News, where she has been the executive producer of NBC Nightly News, anchored by Tom Llamas and Lester Holt, a position she has held since September 2021. Under her leadership, NBC Nightly News was recognized with a News and Documentary Emmy for Holt's exclusive interview with President Biden, just days before he ended his reelection bid. Driving Nightly's in-depth investigative and foreign reports, Meghan was among those honored with a 2025 George Polk award for the investigative series 'Dealing the Dead' and a Murrow Award for Best Newscast in 2022. She joined NBC Nightly News as a senior producer in 2017. Prior to joining NBC News, Meghan was with CNN for 10 years where she produced Wolf Blitzer's newsmaking interviews with presidents and world leaders. In 2009, she launched Christiane Amanpour's program, working as the lead editorial producer, and she was later nominated for an Emmy for producing Amanpour's interview with Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe. Meghan received a News and Documentary Emmy award for her role in CNN's 2012 election coverage and a Peabody for her work in the field during the 2011 Gulf Oil Spill. Please join me in welcoming Meghan to VERSANT and the news standards team. Brian Carovillano SVP of Standards & Editorial Partnerships for News Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise
Yahoo
29-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Versant Taps ‘NBC Nightly News' EP Meghan Rafferty As Its Vice President Of News Standards
Meghan Rafferty, who has been executive producer of NBC Nightly News for the past four years, is joining Versant as VP of news standards. Rafferty will help set and maintain journalism standards for MSNBC and CNBC, as the cable networks prepare to be spun off from Comcast as part of the new company Versant. She will start in the role in September and will report to Brian Carovillano, SVP of standards & editorial partnerships for news. More from Deadline Tom Rogers Joins Versant As Senior Adviser Comcast's Versant Sets Board With Mark Lazarus, Former Disney Executive Rebecca Campbell Broadcast TV Lobby Praises FCC Chairman For Deregulatory Push, Even As He Also Investigates Some Of Their Members 'In this role, Meghan will be a key voice within both networks' news leadership, helping to set and maintain the highest standards for our journalism,' Carovillano wrote in a memo to staffers. 'In this role, Meghan will be a key voice within both networks' news leadership, helping to set and maintain the highest standards for our journalism.' Rafferty has been executive producer of Nightly News since 2021, and her departure comes following the broadcast's transition from Lester Holt to Tom Llamas as anchor. During her tenure, the newscast won a News and Documentary Emmy for Holt's interview with President Joe Biden, days before he ended his reelection bid, and also a George Polk award for the investigative series 'Dealing the Dead' and a Murrow award for best newscast in 2022. She joined Nightly News as senior producer in 2017. Before Nightly News, Rafferty was with CNN for 10 years, producing Wolf Blitzer's interviews with world leaders. She also launched Christiane Amanpour's CNN program, working as the lead editorial producer. She also has helped produce presidential debates for CNN and NBC News in the 2012, 2016 and 2024 cycles. With the loss of NBC News as a sister network, MSNBC has been building a news operation, hiring Scott Matthews as SVP of news gathering. MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler said in a memo to employees this week that the network has added more than a dozen journalists with more to be announced. The network is recruiting for nearly 50 positions in newsgathering, digital, audio and specials. Best of Deadline 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Emmys, Oscars, Grammys & More 2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Horrified Texas lawmakers demand crackdown on body broker industry
This article is part of 'Dealing the Dead,' a series investigating the use of unclaimed bodies for medical research. Appalled Texas lawmakers called for a crackdown on the corpse trade Wednesday after they heard stories of unclaimed bodies' being cut up and used for profit by medical schools, private brokers and health care companies. The angry demands came during a state Senate Health and Human Services Committee hearing in response to an NBC News investigation that exposed how a Texas university took unclaimed bodies from local morgues and leased them to training facilities and medical device companies — without telling the dead people's families. Sen. Tan Parker, a Republican, presented a pair of bills that would prohibit the activity and impose wider industry regulations, with jail terms for serious violations. He described the legislation as an attempt to heal wounds suffered by Texas families. 'You placed your trust in a system that should have treated your loved ones with care and respect, and that trust was broken badly,' Parker said. 'This bill is more than policy. It is a promise, a promise that Texas will do better.' Using unclaimed bodies for research is legal in Texas, as it is in most of the country. But many body donation programs have stopped the practice to reflect advances in medical ethics that call for anatomists to treat human remains with the same dignity shown to living patients. Parker's bills would make Texas one of a handful of states, including Hawaii, Minnesota and Vermont, that prohibit research or training on unclaimed bodies without consent. That restriction did not draw opposition at the hearing, but some body brokers raised concerns that Parker's other proposed regulations could stifle crucial training for doctors and potentially lifesaving medical research. The committee heard from two people featured in the NBC News investigation: Kimberly Patman, whose ex-husband, Victor Honey, a homeless Army veteran, was cut up and leased out to medical companies and the Army; and Tim Leggett, whose older brother, Dale's, body was shipped to Kentucky to train anesthesiologists. Both learned from reporters what had happened to their loved ones. 'Victor deserved better. His children deserved better. His country owed him better,' Patman said. 'We're asking for accountability and, more importantly, change, so that no other family has to experience this kind of violation and grief.' Leggett, who learned of his brother's death through a list of names of unclaimed bodies NBC News published, said he thought every day about how Dale's body was treated. 'When does a human being stop being a human deserving of simple kindness and respect?' he said. The committee's chairperson, Lois Kolkhorst, a Republican, appeared aghast. 'These are horrifying stories, and I don't know where we get to this point in society,' said Kolkhorst, who is a co-author of one of the bills. 'It is a darkness here. Your descriptions. Unthinkable.' Parker added: 'It is a darkness, and it's absolutely horrific. It's like a horror film.' The NBC News investigation, published last year, detailed how the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth obtained unclaimed bodies from Dallas and Tarrant counties, then dissected and leased them out. The bodies included those of military veterans, the homeless, people with mental illness and a murder victim. Reporters identified at least 26 people whose bodies were sent to the Health Science Center without their relatives' knowledge. Twelve of those people's families learned details of what happened to their loved ones from NBC News, including from a list of names it published. The investigation prompted the Health Science Center to suspend its body donation program, fire the officials who led it and stop taking unclaimed bodies. Medical technology companies that had received unclaimed bodies from the center said they would change their policies or reconsider their work with the center. Local, state and federal officials expressed alarm and vowed to push for policy changes. The Texas Funeral Service Commission, which regulates body donation, launched an investigation. Parker responded with two bills: One would ban using unclaimed bodies without proper consent, and another would set up a more stringent set of regulations for the body broker industry, including licensing requirements, inspections, body tracking and criminal penalties for violators. Wednesday's hearing was the bills' first appearance before a legislative committee. The hearing quickly rolled beyond the scope of the bills and explored other abuses in the body trade. Officials from the Texas Funeral Service Commission provided examples: a Las Vegas company that left a body sitting in cardboard on a Texas loading dock, another company that admitted violating a moratorium on out-of-state body shipments, a hotel housekeeper who found frozen heads thawing in a bathtub, complaints of body parts discarded in bushes or a pond. That prompted some committee members to say it was not enough to tighten regulations. Instead, they said, body brokers — also known as nontransplant anatomical donation organizations — should not be allowed to operate in Texas. 'The only thing we can do is put an end to it,' said Sen. Bob Hall, a Republican. A Parker aide said after the hearing that he would consider adding such a ban to the proposal before it returns to the committee for a vote next week. The hearing also included testimony from body broker companies who said they did not work with unclaimed bodies. They asked the state to enforce existing regulations — including making sure that all body brokers are registered with the funeral commission — before it added more. Some warned that new regulations could lead to a drop in body donations, which are crucial for teaching the next generation of doctors and helping current physicians maintain their skills. Stephen Bathje, vice president of tissue management at Science Care, a body donation program, urged lawmakers to address those concerns, which he said would allow essential training for doctors to continue while also ensuring "that donors are treated with dignity and respect." This article was originally published on
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Texas probes medical school's use of bodies without consent following NBC News investigation
This article is part of 'Dealing the Dead,' a series investigating the use of unclaimed bodies for medical research. Texas state regulators are investigating a medical school's failure to notify surviving family members before cutting up and leasing out the bodies of their loved ones. The Texas Funeral Service Commission notified the University of North Texas Health Science Center on Oct. 18 that it was opening an investigation into the center's body donation program, according to a letter obtained by reporters this week through a public records request. The notice of complaint was issued one month after NBC News published an investigation revealing that the Fort Worth-based center had dissected, studied and leased out hundreds of unclaimed bodies without prior consent from the dead or any survivors. The center's failure to obtain permission from next of kin before using corpses for medical research — and its refusal to immediately release remains to survivors who came forward later — may have violated state law, Funeral Service Commission investigator Rudy Villarreal wrote in the letter addressed to the Health Science Center's president, Sylvia Trent-Adams, who has since resigned. Villarreal also alleged that the center failed to get permission from regulators before shipping bodies and body parts across state lines. The Funeral Service Commission, which regulates body donation in the state, has the power to issue fines against programs for violations. In a statement Wednesday, the agency confirmed the investigation is ongoing. Health Science Center spokesperson Andy North said the center has been 'working diligently to ensure a complete and accurate production' of documents requested as part of the probe. The Funeral Service Commission investigation is part of a cascade of changes and official actions triggered by NBC News' reporting. The news organization discovered dozens of families who said they would have claimed their loved ones' bodies and given them proper funerals if they had been told about their deaths. Some were still searching for their relatives, unaware that they had died. The dead included military veterans, people who struggled with drug addiction and homelessness, and a young murder victim. The Health Science Center shipped many of the bodies and body parts to out-of-state medical schools, device makers and health care education companies — charging $649 for a head, $900 for a torso, $703 for a pair of legs. In response to the reporters' findings, the Health Science Center announced in September that it was suspending its body donation program, firing the officials who led it and hiring a consultant to review the program's operations. North issued a statement last fall apologizing to the affected families. Dallas and Tarrant counties — which had provided the Health Science Center with more than 2,300 unclaimed bodies under contracts dating back to 2019 — ended their agreements with the center. Device makers, research companies and other groups that had relied on the center for bodies — including Boston Scientific and the U.S. Army — canceled or re-evaluated their business relationships with the program. And last week, a Texas state senator introduced a bill to ban the use of unclaimed bodies without consent. In its October letter, the Funeral Service Commission asked the Health Science Center to turn over documents related to the operation of its body donation program and set a 15-day deadline to comply. North said the Health Science Center was later granted a 45-day extension and has been providing records on a monthly rolling basis. So far, the center has turned over more than 1,800 documents, a Funeral Service Commission official said. Separately, the commission sent the Health Science Center a cease-and-desist letter in November ordering it to end its practice of disposing of corpses by liquefying them through a process commonly referred to as water cremation, which the commission said is illegal in Texas. In its official response to the commission, sent Dec. 4, the Health Science Center defended its use of water cremations, which are formally known as alkaline hydrolysis, but said it had already halted the practice in September. This article was originally published on
NBC News
26-02-2025
- Health
- NBC News
Texas probes medical school's use of bodies without consent following NBC News investigation
This article is part of 'Dealing the Dead,' a series investigating the use of unclaimed bodies for medical research. Texas state regulators are investigating a medical school's failure to notify surviving family members before cutting up and leasing out the bodies of their loved ones. The Texas Funeral Service Commission notified the University of North Texas Health Science Center on Oct. 18 that it was opening an investigation into the center's body donation program, according to a letter obtained by reporters this week through a public records request. The notice of complaint was issued one month after NBC News published an investigation revealing that the Fort Worth-based center had dissected, studied and leased out hundreds of unclaimed bodies without prior consent from the dead or any survivors. The center's failure to obtain permission from next of kin before using corpses for medical research — and its refusal to immediately release remains to survivors who came forward later — may have violated state law, Funeral Service Commission investigator Rudy Villarreal wrote in the letter addressed to the Health Science Center's president, Sylvia Trent-Adams, who has since resigned. Villarreal also alleged that the center failed to get permission from regulators before shipping bodies and body parts across state lines. The Funeral Service Commission, which regulates body donation in the state, has the power to issue fines against programs for violations. In a statement Wednesday, the agency confirmed the investigation is ongoing. Health Science Center spokesperson Andy North said the center has been 'working diligently to ensure a complete and accurate production' of documents requested as part of the probe. The Funeral Service Commission investigation is part of a cascade of changes and official actions triggered by NBC News' reporting. The news organization discovered dozens of families who said they would have claimed their loved ones' bodies and given them proper funerals if they had been told about their deaths. Some were still searching for their relatives, unaware that they had died. The dead included military veterans, people who struggled with drug addiction and homelessness, and a young murder victim. The Health Science Center shipped many of the bodies and body parts to out-of-state medical schools, device makers and health care education companies — charging $649 for a head, $900 for a torso, $703 for a pair of legs. In response to the reporters' findings, the Health Science Center announced in September that it was suspending its body donation program, firing the officials who led it and hiring a consultant to review the program's operations. North issued a statement last fall apologizing to the affected families. Dallas and Tarrant counties — which had provided the Health Science Center with more than 2,300 unclaimed bodies under contracts dating back to 2019 — ended their agreements with the center. Device makers, research companies and other groups that had relied on the center for bodies — including Boston Scientific and the U.S. Army — canceled or re-evaluated their business relationships with the program. And last week, a Texas state senator introduced a bill to ban the use of unclaimed bodies without consent. In its October letter, the Funeral Service Commission asked the Health Science Center to turn over documents related to the operation of its body donation program and set a 15-day deadline to comply. North said the Health Science Center was later granted a 45-day extension and has been providing records on a monthly rolling basis. So far, the center has turned over more than 1,800 documents, a Funeral Service Commission official said. Separately, the commission sent the Health Science Center a cease-and-desist letter in November ordering it to end its practice of disposing of corpses by liquefying them through a process commonly referred to as water cremation, which the commission said is illegal in Texas. In its official response to the commission, sent Dec. 4, the Health Science Center defended its use of water cremations, which are formally known as alkaline hydrolysis, but said it had already halted the practice in September.
