"In terms of mission, understanding of media, the depth of experience, his strategic leadership, his commitment to people and culture, I would say those were really the key things that we were looking for," said Goli Sheikholeslami, vice chairwoman of the NPR board of directors and CEO of Chicago Public Media. NPR Start Date: Mid October, 2020 NPR was seen to align itself with federal workers at VOA who essentially conducted an internal uprising on government time, while NPR made quite clear in its coverage where it stood. I just think that somebody's truth is the truth. So mentally, how do you manage that? Fear drives their path. And my top goal is to support, in particular, the women of color at NPR so that they feel like they have more upward mobility. John Lansing, a veteran government broadcast and cable television executive, has been selected by NPR's corporate board to succeed its current chief, Jarl Mohn. I think you have to be in front of your teams. In an email to the staff on Friday, John Lansing, who joined the nonprofit as chief executive in September, projected that NPR would fall $12 million to $15 million short of the amount it had . Learn more at npr.org/about or by following NPR Extra on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. ", He continued: "Citizens in countries from Russia to China, from Iran to North Korea, have been victimized for decades. Certainly in the aftermath of the George Floyd murder on Memorial Day weekend, our efforts accelerated and we doubled down on communication, training and listening. For several years, it eliminated salary increases and suspended retirement contributions. Others have waded into the podcast fray with a vengeance. Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft have announced more than 50,000 job cuts combined in just the past few months. August 20, 2022 August 20th is National Radio Day. It didnt begin in the summer it accelerated in the summer. As we got to April of last spring, we saw a massive deficit develop for NPR on the order of about $25 million. I can't speak for other people, CEOs. And I would do a board-level review for the donor or donors as to where the business was, the value of the work we were doing, the things we were adding in terms of covering the pandemic. Lansing Last year brought a host of challenges to NPR: a multimillion-dollar deficit, calls for changes in its workplace culture and a hit to broadcast listening. NPR's Michel Martin asks NPR's CEO, John Lansing, to respond to an All Things Considered interview with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. NPR's search for a new CEO is finally over! From 2015 to 2019, Lansing served as the CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the independent federal agency whose programming reaches an average weekly audience of 345 million people in 62 languages. Current: How else might NPR assist stations in the coming year? NPR has a new CEO. We have many miles to go. Inquiry Exonerates USAGM Executives Suspended By Trump Appointee - NPR I hear that all the time. Lansing, who is 62, is. 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We're funded by your subscriptions, your donations, advertising, and a generous grant from the Wyncote Foundation. John Lansing - Quick Profile. Age: 62, Born on July 31, 1957, in Minneapolis According to Nielsen data supplied by NPR, its programs and newscasts had an overall audience of 27.4 million in spring 2019. John Lansing testifying before a House Appropriations subcommittee in July. And theyre all expected to articulate a DEI goal thats measurable, actionable, and that they can be held accountable for and will be. "Your mobility becomes extremely important to be involved and connected to audiences that are mobile and that tend to be, frankly, younger and, as we think of it at USAGM, future leaders, who can influence the rise of free and open societies.". Pompeo Interview Dispute With NPR Sends Conflicting Message on - VOA And the pandemic hit six months later in March of '20. Mike Morgan/Mike Morgan When you first got to NPR, what did you think? Every time I hear it, I think that's a success by itself because we all have that as our guiding light. At Colorado Public Radio, I think there was a $300,000 donation that came out of that. And so I had a very visceral reaction to that happening in my hometown, and that it was so egregious the murder of an innocent person captured on video, on a phone. And were pleased to work with them. And so that was the way I looked at the future for me. In 2017, Michael Oreskes, NPRs senior vice president for news, left after two women accused him of unwanted physical advances in the 1990s, when he was the Washington bureau chief of The New York Times. And probably the most important accountability is that, first of all, I hold myself accountable with my goals that I report to the board. What would you go back and tell your younger self? John Lansing is a former Obama appointee who was named president and CEO of NPR on Thursday. The network has won acclaim for its coverage of wars and disasters, yet suffered its own crisis and tragedy in 2016 when its David Gilkey and Zabihullah Tamanna were killed while on assignment in southern Afghanistan. So I think that it has caused me to be more tuned in to hearing and understanding our employees. Lansing says he remains committed to podcasting "1,000 percent," as well as the network's hallmark news magazines, such as Morning Edition and All Things Considered. In Mr. Mohns first full year on the job, NPR operated in the black after having run a deficit for five of the six preceding years. hide caption. The ratings for our weekend magazine shows are actually slightly greater than they were a year ago pre-pandemic, so thats a bright spot.. National Public Radio will reduce its workforce by 10 percent as it grapples with what CEO John Lansing says is a "sharp . I think there are interesting trends to follow and try to understand. Or 'How are we doing on the North Star?' I have a negative reaction to what is fundamentally unfair in life, whether it be pay equity, promotions and advancement, training and hiring, or making sure leadership represents people of color and our staff. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Just be tuned into our folks. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images And now in our budgeting were shifting some revenue for Michael to use that to promote and support our podcasts as they compete, as you note, with other large commercial businesses. And be a good listener. Lansing blamed a slowdown in advertising dollars. "The combination of his health issues plus the situation with Mike Oreskes did derail his plans.". Lansing says the agency referred Haroon Ullah's expenditures to auditors and investigators after travel assistants flagged them; according to the Justice Department statement, Ullah admitted submitting fraudulent receipts for hotel room reimbursements and fake medical claims to get government payments of upgrades in airline seat assignments, among other offenses. Four years ago, Lansing was named by President Barack Obama to be the first chief executive of the broadcasting outfit that was renamed the U.S. Agency for Global Media. 2017-2022. Our third pillar is to optimize content and meet audiences where they are. What we now call the North Star of our strategic plan is our DEI efforts as it filters through everything that we do with all of our work. Mohn fired head of news Michael Oreskes on Halloween 2017. We've made some good forward progress around hiring, with requiring that our hiring panels be diverse, requiring that our finalists have diverse representation at a minimum, but of course there's no maximum, in terms of a list of finalists. Lansing is a veteran executive and journalist who has spent decades leading complex media companies in growing their relevance and reach, while strengthening their business operations. An open letter to NPR President John Lansing: Racial justice - Current promoting Keith Woods to chief diversity officer, regional newsrooms in Texas and California and the Midwest and in the Gulf, I brought in Michael Smith as our new chief marketing officer, looking to sell the Pocket Casts podcast app, Suspension of NPRs Kroc fellowships disrupts talent development, career plans of student journalists. On an annual budget of roughly $300 million, Lansing says, revenues are likely to fall short by close to $30 million, although that gap could reach $32 million. Your email address will not be published. He is. We saw a lot of companies react to the [murder of] George Floyd and we did too. He was promoted to news photographer after two years, then moved on to managing editor, news director, and leadership of commercial television affiliates around the country. It all goes back to our mission: serving the American public, recognizing the American public is a diverse mosaic that makes America great and strong, and making sure that we're building systems and content that resonates with all Americans. And it gives the lie to NPRs claim, through disclaimers, that it is simply reporting on its own the implication of the disclaimer being that there is no editorial control or direction from the CEO. So sad to me. We need help now. So we began an intensive set of Zoom meetings that I attended, each one with a member station and a qualified potential donor. John Lansing will begin his term as President and CEO of NPR in October, 2019. . So those are the four pillars that rotate around the centerpiece, we call it the North Star, of our commitment to DEI. It's not an extracurricular activity; it's fundamental to our business. Fearing a tepid economy, Lansing and his corporate team projected that revenue would stay flat for the fiscal year that began October 1. Lansing previously held positions overseeing the Scripps Co.'s local television stations and then its national cable channels, which include the Food Network and HGTV, among others. "North Star"] for NPR on my arrival as supporting the diversity, equity, and inclusion of our staff so that we could become more relevant to our audiences and grow the diversity of our audiences. The agency has an annual budget of $808 million. Scripps Company, Held senior management positions at Scripps-owned affiliates, including WEWS TV in Cleveland, Ohio and WXYZ TV in Detroit, Michigan, Early in his career Award-winning Photojournalist and Field Producer, Assignment Manager, Managing Editor, and News Director at several television stations. A member of the Republican Party, Gibbs was a software engineer and missionary before entering politics. Current: Last year, the SAG-AFTRA union called out NPRs previous failures on issues of diversity, equity and inclusion and asked management to commit to accountability measures. NPR's John Lansing Discusses the Importance of Integrity in Journalism "We are delighted to welcome John, whose deep experience as a media industry executive and practicing journalist make him ideally suited to lead NPR into its next chapter," said Paul Haaga, Chair of the NPR board. I have read and agree to the terms & conditions, Senior Vice President for Television in the broadcasting division of the E.W. But mostly its targeted at marketing investments on social media platforms that are specifically reaching out to younger and more diverse audiences to see if we can drive sampling. Why did you undertake this? Leading the organization through it all is CEO John Lansing, a longtime media executive who has been on the job since October 2019. Disclosure: This story was reported by NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik under guidance from NPR chief business editor Pallavi Gogoi. Lansing also spoke to Current about the challenges of implementing his DEI plans, the organizations financial outlook and his thoughts about the recent controversies at USAGM. It is our work. We can share resources and story ideas, and we can help organize and support those efforts. At the center of a graphic is our commitment to DEI, and all of our work in that circle is surrounded by four pillars. "I want to hear the ideas that are bubbling underneath right now and what people are excited about, what they're looking forward to developing," Lansing said Thursday. You have stated that DEI is your top priority at NPR. Weve had a couple of significant anonymous gifts that have helped shore up our forecast for the coming fiscal year. September 5, 2019; Washington, D.C. The NPR Board of Directors announced today that it selected John Lansing to become its next President and Chief Executive Officer. People, given the opportunity, will do the right thing in a way that hopefully makes them want to be here for a long time. With a nationwide network of award-winning journalists and 17 international bureaus, NPR and its Member stations are never far from where a story is unfolding. He joined NPR after serving as CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. In an interview, Lansing said he wants to build on NPR's successes in broadcast news and entertainment to become even more dominant in podcasting and more prevalent in streaming. He served for four years as the SVP, Television for the E.W. Weve seen significant growth in Code Switch, in Louder Than a Riot, in Sam Sanders podcast [Its Been a Minute], in part because for the first time in a while, were really investing in marketing support for those podcasts. Lansing: We hope to have that completed within about eight to 10 weeks. Lansing also elevated to chief strategy officer a former U.S. State Department staffer who recently pleaded guilty to having defrauded the U.S. Agency for Global Media out of more than $40,000 in government money in 2018, according to federal prosecutors. But thats our commitment. Their editorial independence is enshrined in federal law, though it sometimes came under attack. Current: What challenges have you faced in implementing your DEI plans? I had no idea what was out there. Built with the Largo WordPress Theme from the Institute for Nonprofit News. Current: Is there a timeline for that process? NPR announces layoffs, cutting jobs by 10% as ad revenue drops : NPR An NPR spokeswoman said final decisions on which jobs will be eliminated should occur by the week of March 20. How does the economy react to all of that? We did a climate survey of our employees, and we learned about a particular weak spot for us with women of color at NPR who didn't feel it was a place to grow their career, a place to be their whole selves, a place where they are seen and respected. NPR has a new CEO. Harvard Kennedy School. NPR's Incoming Chief Dumped $10M In Stock Amid SEC Probe While At Prior Lansing: When we look at our strategic plan and our commitment to growing our audience of the future, its clear to us that every corner of NPR has a digital on-demand initiative thats critical to our success and that it makes more sense to have the digital assets closer to the work thats influencing our audiences and growing our audiences.