Eric Deggans signed by NBC News and MSNBC

Eric Deggans, TV critic for NPR, has joined NBC News and MSNBC contributor. He is expected to discuss issues related to media and television across the news units’ various outlets and will also contribute to a new team devoted to media industry news coverage that the NBC Universal unit unveiled in September, reports Variety. A formal name for the initiative has been slated to be announced in several weeks. Deggans is NPR’s first full-time TV critic, and contributes to shows such as “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered’: NPR.org; and several NPR podcasts. He joined NPR in September of 2013, after working for nearly two decades at Florida’s Tampa Bay Times. He is the author of  “Race-Baiter: How the Media Wields Dangerous Words to Divide a Nation,”a look at how prejudice, racism and sexism fuels some elements of modern media.