Current. Here's what to do in a worst case scenario. Its something that we certainly support. In an interview on Friday, Mr. Lansing, 62, praised NPR as a home of high-quality journalism and audio production, and said that in addition to supporting traditional radio broadcasting he wanted to help NPR further its expansion into areas like podcasts, where the radio network has already been a leader. Again, I think it's about getting it intertwined into everything we do. Harvard Kennedy School. At the same time, we have to think creatively. You have stated that DEI is your top priority at NPR. NPR, the public radio giant that employs hundreds of journalists, is about to get a new chief executive. The work theyve done during the pandemic has been nothing short of miraculous in many cases, particularly given the summer of racial reckoning, the most unusual presidential election in memory and everything thats gone on since. 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. NPR draws more than 28 million listeners each week and 40 million unique monthly visitors to its website both represent a rise of several million over those five years. Our goal of developing our audience as a younger and more diverse audience requires that we invest in marketing, we invest in content, and we partner with platforms where those audiences can be found rather than expecting younger and more diverse audiences to come to our platforms, necessarily. 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. This is simply disingenuous. We are different from other federal agencies, said Grant K. Turner, the agencys chief financial officer. Last year, the network booked $134 million in such corporate underwriting, a record built on strong growth in podcasting revenue in recent years. Lansing said he took pride in maintaining conventional broadcasts while appealing to new audiences, reaching about 25% more people each week. He won praise for doing so and says he informed leaders of SAG-AFTRA on Tuesday about the impending job cuts. Pat O'Donnell, the executive director of the union's Mid-Atlantic unit, could not be reached for comment for this story. He is passionate about NPR's public service mission and the role of a free and independent media in a strong democracy. I'd say if there's anything that I focused on, and still am focused on during the pandemic, it is to make sure that whatever the situation is, we are supporting staff to do their best work, supporting them when they're having other challenges and making sure that we're attentive and tuned in to employees that need help, that need a break, that need to be heard, whatever that may be. Our DEI efforts at the beginning of 2020 were not a project or an extracurricular activity; it really became our work. She really has helped us, and she's brought discipline to a process that in the past might have been people talking past each other a little bit and waiting for things to blow over. Scripps Networks 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. Mohn led NPR through five consecutive years of audience growth and budget surplus. Its new president and chief executive is John Lansing, a former cable executive who for the last five years has run the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the federally funded organization behind. Such distinctions between news and programming are tricky, however, as programming oversees podcasts, including those that perform journalistic functions, such as Code Switch, It's Been A Minute, Planet Money, and Throughline. You'll find out about what they do and what they're inspired by on the daily. Current: Why are NPR and its partners looking to sell the Pocket Casts podcast app? hide caption. That with a combination of expense cuts, including our employees and our management all taking voluntary pay cuts and benefit cuts, helped close that deficit gap. In setting NPR's earlier rounds of budget cuts a couple months ago, Lansing consulted ahead of time with leaders of the unions representing workers at NPR with an eye to avoiding any layoffs. It's interesting. As I said, its hiring, its emphasis on diversity in leadership, diversity in sources, diversity in voices, diversity in the stories we tell, training around our organization. Mr. Lansings colleagues attribute the growth to his embrace of digital formats and the understanding of audiences that he gleaned from the private sector. John Lansing, a media executive with government broadcast and cable television experience, has been named by NPRs board to succeed its current chief, Jarl Mohn who announced the plan to step down after his 5-Year term ended. An NPR spokeswoman said final decisions on which jobs will be eliminated should occur by the week of March 20. Mike Morgan/Mike Morgan When you first got to NPR, what did you think? David Westin speaks with top names in finance about the week's biggest issues on Wall Street. While serving as chief operating officer, she took on a greater role during two of Mohn's medical leaves and in the aftermath of the sexual harassment scandal. Lansing says he does not yet know who within NPR will be affected, but said the job cuts would not fall evenly across the organization. And how's that being measured and accounted for? document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Current is an editorially independent, nonprofit service of the American University School of Communication. I had no idea what was out there. Mr. Mohn was pressed about his leadership in a tense NPR interview and later apologized to employees for not taking action sooner. Lansing: About 11 months ago, in February, a pilot group of 15 stations got together and put together an 18-month plan to begin the process. And weve seen some significant success with that. Lansing describes himself as a citizen watching from the outside A private citizen? It puts a filter on that helps us explain even unpopular decisions, how they link to our mission. "Nothing is nailed down yet except the principles and what we know we have to reach.". Lansing clearly had an ongoing interest in the USAGM story and the notion that that at some point along the line he did not provide his take, at minimum, to NPR reporting staff, on the story beggars belief. U.S. Agency for Global Media 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: They were for general. We are not just putting out regulations or policies and paperwork. And the pandemic hit six months later in March of '20. During the Donald Trump administration, he held roles in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and was acting Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Community Planning and Development. Lansing: Its on social media platforms or YouTube or through media partnerships. He served on the Bellarmine University Board of Trustees from 2010-2016 and was vice-chair 2014-2016. And Im holding myself accountable with my board and Ive been and am holding my direct reports accountable to me. The budget for the new fiscal year is set below last years actual based on our forecasts on continued downward pressure on corporate sponsorship. NPR undertook a strategic reorganization last fall, reinstating the position of a chief content officer overseeing both the newsroom and the programming division. The other is the fight for donors. Lansing: I guess I would comment just as a citizen watching from outside. 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. hide caption. That's something that perceptive journalists should be able to pick up pretty quickly. NPR has a new CEO. NPR will cut 10% of its workforce, CEO John Lansing said Wednesday. Lansing says even that proved overly optimistic. And the work goes on. "Jarl would be the first to say that it is the area where he feels that his work was not complete," Sheikholeslami said. The only route to a successful engagement on this issue is to deal with it, to talk about it, and to take action. Leading the organization through it all is CEO John Lansing, a longtime media executive who has been on the job since October 2019. How are you working to shore up NPRs place in the podcasting landscape and compete with deep-pocketed tech companies? NPR Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly. My top goal is to support the women of color at NPR so that they feel like they have more upward mobility.. How has that effort been progressing? So I would tell my younger self to be confident, calm down, it's all gonna work out. Yet Lansing also takes over an institution riven by a scandal that hit its top reaches, with a chief news executive toppled over #MeToo complaints of inappropriate conduct toward female subordinates and colleagues. Lansing: Thats a great question. We saw a lot of companies react to the [murder of] George Floyd and we did too. 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. During 2021, we worked on that with Keith and with Diversity and Inclusion Manager Whitney Maddox. Live from. Obviously, this job that you have as a CEO of NPR is a really huge responsibility. Were they targeted to specific spending areas or just for general costs? For July, NPRs 60 active shows among them Planet Money, Fresh Air and Wait Wait Dont Tell Me! were downloaded 141 million times and had nearly 21 million listeners in the United States, according to Podtrac. 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. We discovered in our most recent climate survey that that was an area that we needed to put more effort into. Lansing was most recently the CEO of USAGM, a $800 million dollar independent federal agency that operates on multiple platforms reaching an average weekly audience of 345 million in 61 languages. NPR has also been the nation's leading producer of podcasts since Podtrac started measuring audiences. I think there are interesting trends to follow and try to understand. All of those underlying effects generally lead to whatever effects were going to have in corporate sponsorship. First of all, as a white man, my first reaction is that it's important for white people in general to understand the inherent biases that we have, even when we think we don't, unconsciously. Today is a good day to remember the vital role public radio plays in providing the information we all need to fully exercise our rights in our democracy. It is our work. John Lansing is a former Obama appointee who was named president and CEO of NPR on Thursday. Lansing: We hope to have that completed within about eight to 10 weeks. We established the top priority [a.k.a. What steps does NPR still need to take in this area? Lansing also spent almost 20 years working at Scripps, including eight years as President of Scripps Networks. 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. Were still looking at a deficit, but were hopeful that by the time we get into March, well have a pretty clear-eyed view of how the year is going to end up. CEO John Lansing discusses NPRs diversity efforts, budget deficit and growing podcast competition. John Lansing testifying before a House Appropriations subcommittee in July. The first pillar is to expand the power of the national-local partnership into the on-demand future. NPR Start Date: Mid October, 2020 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. NPR Selects Voice of America Boss as Its New Leader, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/06/business/media/npr-john-lansing.html. John Lansing will begin his term as President and CEO of NPR in October, 2019. No. Were working with member stations on topic teams for, say, political reporting or criminal justice reporting across the system. At the U.S. Agency for Global Media, Lansing championed a free press even as leaders of many nations move against it. Lansing: We arent in a position to answer that until we know for sure when the pandemic is going to subside. As we got to April of last spring, we saw a massive deficit develop for NPR on the order of about $25 million. Current: Do you have any examples of how digital operations would be integrated into divisions throughout the organization? Learn more at npr.org/about or by following NPR Extra on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Fear drives their path. He promises NPR will build on its mission and values but adds, ""This will be a major loss." My story: npr.org NPR says it's cutting jobs by 10% as ad revenue drops Now with the magazine shows on weekdays were about 20% behind last year, which is a significant improvement over where we were about eight months ago. There's always going to be things here and there that have to be worked out, because that's just the way a company is, but I've never been in a company before where it was so understood that we're here to serve the American people. 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. administration regarding the now former managers of his former place of employment (USAGM) but claims the mantle of private citizen to do so. We couldnt be more proud of the quality and the depth of the journalism thats coming from the member stations, and it really has strengthened the entire system enormously. And as the year unfolded, we began to develop our three-year strategic plan. Lansing blamed a slowdown in advertising dollars. Sometimes you have to hear other people's truth and accept it for what it is, not translate it into your truth, therefore it's no longer what it is. For the year that ended last September, NPR reported $241 million in expenses. She also has led initiatives to reform hiring practices and to sweep far more temporary positions into permanent slots, often working closely with the network's chief unions to do so. John Lansing, CEO, photographed for NPR, 22 January 2020, in Washington DC. Lansing: When I came in in 2019, my earliest observation was that our biggest issue was the lack of diversity in our audience, and I felt that we needed to double down our efforts in DEI throughout our organization in order to fulfill the promise to reflect the entire American public in terms of what America looks like. Doing that just requires that were putting more emphasis on the diversity of our decision makers, our leadership, our story selection, our source selection. Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnlansing. People, given the opportunity, will do the right thing in a way that hopefully makes them want to be here for a long time. Lansing, 62, who is currently chief executive officer of the government agency that oversees Voice of America, Radio and Television Mart and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 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. 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. What would you go back and tell your younger self? Lansing: That was conducted back in September. 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. NPR's John Lansing Discusses the Importance of Integrity in Journalism By Nicole Jones - October 30, 2020 0 463 NPR National President and CEO John Lansing joined the Belmont community for a conversation about integrity in journalism, highlighting its importance especially during an election year. NPR maintains 17 national bureaus and 17 bureaus abroad. NPR has tapped longtime media executive John Lansing to become its next president and CEO. The emphasis, he says, must be on drawing in "the future audience to make NPR sustainable for the next 50 years. Lansing, who is 62, is. President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speak to reporters as they depart the Senate Democrat policy luncheon at the Capitol on March 2. Every time I hear it, I think that's a success by itself because we all have that as our guiding light. 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. Current: When was the climate survey conducted? Selected by the NPR board of directors, Lansing will start in October, succeeding outgoing head Jarl Mohn, What is the outlook for the rest of the fiscal year? Current: Companies like Spotify and Amazon have been pouring big money into podcasting. Lansing started his news industry career at age 17 as a studio technician and cameraman at WPSD TV, Paducah, KY, where he was promoted to news photographer after two years. And our work began then. Lansing will begin his term at NPR in October and will succeed Jarl Mohn, who has been Chief Executive Officer and President since 2014. I'm from Minneapolis, and my parents are buried about six blocks from where George Floyd was killed. NPR's chief executive announced the network would lay off roughly 10% of its current workforce at least 100 people and eliminate most vacant positions. Listeners consider public radio an enriching and enlightening companion; they trust NPR as a daily source of unbiased independent news, and inspiring insights on life and the arts. John Lansing, president and CEO Chair of the NPR Foundation John McGinn Public members of the board Carlos Alvarez, CEO, The Gambrinus Company Fred Dust, designer, speaker, and consultant Paul G. Haaga Jr., retired, Capital Research and Management Company - Chairman of the NPR Board of Directors This is just dishonest, especially since NPR became what amounted to a voice of the opposition in its coverage of this dysfunctional federal agency. The various challenges everybody's having from working at home, for example, you realize that everybody's situation is different when you're working. Lansing said in an interview with Current Thursday that one of his first observations upon joining NPR was that we needed to double down our efforts in diversity, equity and inclusion. After becoming part of Warner Bros. Unlike some predecessors, Lansing doesn't face a particularly fraught political landscape. Video Snippet Current: How much were those anonymous gifts? "Bloomberg Opinion" columnists offer their opinions on issues in the news. Copyright 2023. So it's kind of inseparable, that coming in as CEO of NPR, and then six months in having the coronavirus, followed by a major economic downturn in the country and for NPR, and then the reckoning that summer. As we moved through the summer, that deficit remained at about $25 million. Well, I like NPR Politics a lot. That's a big thing too: having a common understanding of what management's committed to, what the Board supports, the work that's in front of us to live up to it, and ultimately diversifying our audience which leads to the business purpose. I thought, wow. He has previously announced he would be staying on as president emeritus to help the network raise major gifts, and along with his wife, Pamela Mohn, he personally committed $10 million to the network. And its where our focus needs to be right now. John Lansing, a media executive with government broadcast and cable television experience, has been named by NPR's board to succeed its current chief, Jarl Mohn who announced the plan to step down after his 5-Year term ended. We have many miles to go. He is credited with restoring morale, in part by naming a noted journalist as head of the Voice of America: Amanda Bennett is a former top news executive at the Philadelphia Inquirer who previously held senior newsroom jobs at Bloomberg News and The Wall Street Journal. Lansing: I guess my head turns first to the journalism of our member stations. I established DEI as our top priority on Jan. 5 of 2020. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Public Media Now was created to be a centralized source of information and resources to help professional within Public Media be more successful. In late November, the network announced $20 million in cuts, including a near-freeze on hiring, elimination of most travel, and suspension of internships. So I brought in Michael Smith as our new chief marketing officer almost a year ago. When will that freeze be lifted? Michael was a senior marketing executive at Scripps for Food Network and HGTV and really brings a lot of media marketing expertise. John Lansing, NPR's President and CEO, defended Kelly last weekend during an interview on NPR's All Things Considered program, saying that Kelley "is one of the most respected, truthful . Current: How else might NPR assist stations in the coming year? In May 2020, four NPR female hosts of color Garcia-Navarro, King, All Things Considered host Ailsa Chang and Weekend All Things Considered host Michel Martin sent a letter to Lansing . NPR will cut 10% of its workforce, CEO John Lansing said Wednesday. It's not an extracurricular activity; it's fundamental to our business. What makes you so open and vocal about the need for diversity? Lansing's tenure at the agency has not been without controversy. Current: Is there a timeline for that process? Within a few weeks, Lansing became convinced that projection would be unreachable. That survey happened in the fall of 2020. He soon made DEI the top priority at NPR. Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft have announced more than 50,000 job cuts combined in just the past few months. 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. Others have waded into the podcast fray with a vengeance. I think we're moving forward. Being selective, having mentors both white and people of color mentors that you can have confidential conversations with and gain some thoughts to help you develop your strategy, standing up for yourself which essentially is what happened at NPR through the climate survey and holding leaders accountable for everything. 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. While they do not broadcast within the U.S., the Voice of America and the other media outfits Lansing has overseen typically adhere to traditional concepts of factual, nonideological journalism, with the frequent exception of Radio Mart historically an anti-Castro and anti-Cuban communist outlet. The staffing cut, which will cost at least 100 people their jobs, comes in response to the "erosion" of advertising revenue, particularly for the network's podcasts, NPR reported. After Lansing hopped over to NPR from USAGM in 2019, NPR had to be prompted by outside critics to include disclaimers on its USAGM/VOA stories to note Lansings past USAGM role. Current: You recently made some changes to NPRs digital strategy by moving to integrate digital operations into divisions throughout the organization.This also includes eliminating the role of chief digital officer held by Thomas Hjelm at the end of February. NPR faces financial pressures from two fronts. "The combination of his health issues plus the situation with Mike Oreskes did derail his plans.". Talk about a force of nature. 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. If you had to create a podcast, what would it be about? Scripps Company, where he managed the company's portfolio of ten broadcast television stations across the country. NPR is funded by the CPB/PBS which are funded in part by the U.S. government. And I was very proud of the progress we were making. He defined NPR's mission as "serving the public with information and an excellence and quality about it that makes it 'must see' on a variety of platforms.". He also vowed to make sure job cuts do not fall disproportionately on employees of color. The ratings have tanked because all they talk about is race. John Lansing will begin his term as President and CEO of NPR in October, 2019. NPR's chief news executive, Nancy Barnes, said Friday she would be leaving the network, prompted by NPR CEO John Lansing's decision to create a new executive role above her. Current: You came to NPR after serving as CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. "I don't anticipate that it would be like a haircut across every division, because that's just not management," Lansing says. NPRs search for a new CEO is finally over! Its a real business with real market dynamics.. NPR's chief executive announced the network would lay off roughly 10% of its . He will be the 11th permanent president or chief executive in the radio network's nearly 50-year history.
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