NBC News announced today that it is expanding its Investigative Unit…

NBC News President Steve Capus announced today that NBC News will significantly expand its Investigative Reporting Unit, doubling the number of producers working on hard-news investigative stories. Reporting will appear on “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams,” “Today,” “Dateline NBC,” on NBC News’ cable stations MSNBC and CNBC, and online at MSNBC.com. The expansion is effective today.

In making the announcement, Capus said, “Expanding NBC News’ Investigative Unit clearly demonstrates the News division’s commitment to investigative journalism, and NBC’s willingness to invest in stories that will have a major impact.” Capus continued, “For the past four years, the Investigative Unit has led the way with exclusive stories on terrorism, the government’s failings in Hurricane Katrina, and political corruption. This expansion will allow us to continue to break a wide variety of important stories on all our NBC News programs, and to further distinguish ourselves from our competitors.”

The NBC News Investigative Unit began in 2002, and is led by NBC News’ Lisa Myers and Senior Producer Jim Popkin. Several of the Unit’s most memorable stories include an expose on a secret Pentagon database which collected data on American peace activists, investigations on wasteful government spending during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, an exclusive interview with a former Al Qaeda terrorist trainee and a secret CIA videotape which showed Osama Bin Laden walking at his compound in Afghanistan before 9-11.

Said Myers, “This expansion is a strong statement about the journalistic values and priorities of NBC News and we are grateful to Steve Capus for the opportunity and the challenge.”

Since its inception, the NBC News Investigative Unit has received many prestigious awards including an Edward R. Murrow Award and a Business Emmy Award for Outstanding Investigative Reporting.

Popkin said, “There are so many important stories percolating right now that demand an investigative approach. From the NSA program to monitor Americans’ phone calls to the spike in political corruption cases in Washington, there’s never been a better time to be an investigative reporter. I welcome the opportunity to work with Lisa Myers and with this expanded group of investigative producers, who are truly the best in the business.”