This came as a shocker to his staff. But the national media won’t have NBC Universal communications czar Cory Shields to kick around anymore. (All I can say is, Drats!) I hear there are three logical people to take Shields’ place: Kathy Kelly-Brown, SVP of Communications, Rebecca Marks, who is NBC Entertainment’s PR czarina on the West Coast, and Allison Gollust, SVP of NBC News. Unless, of course, Jeff “Strangelove” Zucker brings in a Four-Star General from the outside to deal with meanies like me. So what does the NBCU boss expect: a miracle worker to improve his and NBC Universal’s image? To some, Cory’s newly created job as EVP of Global Policy Strategies and Alliances sounds like a promotion. To me, it sounds like the kind of cushy gig where your phone rings once a week. Shields has been top flack at NBCU since 2006. Shields now “will play a key role in advancing NBC Universal’s global agenda for strengthening IP protection for the company’s content around the world as well as for continuing to build strong alliances with other IP-intensive industries, labor unions and other organizations focused on protecting jobs and growing the U.S. economy.” He’ll report jointly to Zucker and to NBCU EVP and General Counsel Rick Cotton. I wish him well.

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