Its something that we certainly support. Instead, Whitney really helped us to buckle down with discipline, understand what's going on, and meet with women of color [in the organization], as we're doing tonight in our executive committee meeting, which we do regularly now. "We're not seeing signs of a recovery in the advertising market," Lansing says in an interview. 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. We established management commitments to the women of color so that we address specifically their concerns. 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. When you first got to NPR, what did you think? "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.". Disclosure: This story was reported by NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik under guidance from NPR chief business editor Pallavi Gogoi. Everybody at NPR knows exactly what you mean when you say, 'What's our North Star?' Lansing: Back in May and June, it was an alarming decline in radio ratings. It puts a filter on that helps us explain even unpopular decisions, how they link to our mission. We established the top priority [a.k.a. (Former long time member). 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. Unlike some predecessors, Lansing doesn't face a particularly fraught political landscape. Lansing: I guess my head turns first to the journalism of our member stations. 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. Here's what to do in a worst case scenario. NPR's John Lansing Discusses the Importance of Integrity in Journalism NPR has also been the nation's leading producer of podcasts since Podtrac started measuring audiences. Today, those individual situations are happening in the background when everybody's working, whether it's kids that are school age, or kids that are toddlers, or elder care, or spouses working in the same room or in the same apartment. Tech companies that also rely heavily on advertising are undergoing layoffs too. 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. Were consulting with digital media, were consulting with the division heads, and were doing it as an all-hands project so that we get it right. 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. 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. "He is a listener and a collaborative leader with a passion for our public service journalistic mission who will help us continue to expand the audience for our storytelling. Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world. Now, he says, it must drum up more creative income sources, like the licensing of the popular show How I Built This to Amazon's streaming services, which he says generates $8 million annually. Faces of NPR: John Lansing : NPR Extra : NPR - NPR.org But here, Lansing basically jumps over those disclaimers using the lame attribution of private citizen.. NPR 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. There was one the year before I was here, then this was the follow-up. Lansing: SAG-AFTRA came out with their letter around our September board meeting in 2020. Anyone can read what you share. He joined NPR after serving as CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. So I brought in Michael Smith as our new chief marketing officer almost a year ago. 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. Theres no question about it. But thats our commitment. I would enjoy being on a podcast talking about politics. Under standard procedures for reporting on NPR matters, NPR's corporate and news executives were not allowed to review the report until it was posted. NPR, the public radio and podcasting giant, has a new leader after years of growth and internal turmoil. But also, what are the larger things that are happening? Lansing served for ten years as a visiting faculty member at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. 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. So I think that it has caused me to be more tuned in to hearing and understanding our employees. Lansing will start in his new position in mid-October. It was a reckoning for all of us together collectively at NPR. Were working with member stations on topic teams for, say, political reporting or criminal justice reporting across the system. And were pleased to work with them. The title of your piece, "Now Is A Time For Truth Telling, For Listening, And For Action," takes a bold stand in defending the urgent work of journalists during this . Mike Morgan/Mike Morgan I think you have to be in front of your teams. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly. He soon made DEI the top priority at NPR. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. CEO John Lansing cited the erosion. It was about a $3 million cost to NPR for the fiscal year. Lansing is a media executive with a deep understanding of journalism, having spent two decades as an award-winning journalist, successful newsroom leader and major market local media executive before becoming a global chief executive officer. 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. Let's say, I was walking out of high school into college, I had no idea what I was going to do. 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.". Considering the demise of local newspapers around the country and the growth of our member stations newsrooms around the country, were really working hard to support their local journalism, because its so important to us. 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. NPR will cut 10% of its workforce, CEO John Lansing said Wednesday. At a young age, my biggest goal at the time was to someday be a news director for a local TV station. John Lansing is a former Obama appointee who was named president and CEO of NPR on Thursday. 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. A review by the House Foreign Affairs Committee faulted the agency for insufficient oversight but noted that an internal task force was already having an impact. In an interview, Mr. Lansing called the ads a rogue incident and said it had been corrected. So if you have leaders talking about DEI as a priority, well, then, show me. Within a few weeks, Lansing became convinced that projection would be unreachable. It didnt begin in the summer it accelerated in the summer. It has become enshrined in our three-year strategic plan as the centerpiece of all of our work. Who is the NPR CEO? John Lansing Profile - Public Media Now He will now lead the nation's top audio producer and broadcaster. 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. NPR To Layoff About 10% Of Current Staff - Deadline So mentally, how do you manage that? Lansing, who is 62, is currently the chief executive of the government agency that oversees Voice of America, Radio and Television Mart and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, among others. He is. So its an ongoing effort. And the work goes on. Well, I'm fortunate that we have a terrific executive committee and leadership team, so we all share the daily ins and outs of managing a big organization. I can't speak for other people, CEOs. He began his career in media at age 17 when he was hired as a studio technician and cameraman for WPSD TV in Kentucky. Others have waded into the podcast fray with a vengeance. And our number one goal is to improve our audience diversity. Mohn placed an emphasis on fostering a more collaborative dynamic with the public radio stations that NPR serves and was given credit for making progress on that score. Required fields are marked *. There were three of them, each for $1 million. And I still think we have a long way to go. John F. Lansing (he/him) oversees one of the country's most iconic news organizations, whose rigorous reporting and unsurpassed storytelling connects with millions of Americans every day on the air, online, and in person. Bellarmine alumnus and former trustee John Lansing, a veteran cable television and government broadcast executive, is the new CEO of NPR. And its tied to the same variables you would know yourselves, which is, how fast can the vaccines be deployed? And theyre all expected to articulate a DEI goal thats measurable, actionable, and that they can be held accountable for and will be. How are you working to shore up NPRs place in the podcasting landscape and compete with deep-pocketed tech companies? Last fall, when announcing the earlier cuts, Lansing said the network would have to make tough choices - and to "do less with less." Now Lansing says he wants to draw on the intellectual and creative impulses of his new staffers as he leads a domestic journalistic powerhouse with an international reputation and reach. Current: When was the climate survey conducted? NPR's New CEO Is Veteran Media Executive John Lansing : NPR - NPR.org Reliable Sources: NPR names new chief executive | CNN Business That content executive position has not yet been filled; its creation led to the departure of then-NPR chief news executive Nancy Barnes. Prior to that, Lansing was VP and GM of Scripps ABC affiliates. 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. NPR CEO Defends Journalist After Pompeo Lashes Out Over Ukraine There are over 1000 NPR Member Station signals broadcasting across the United States But an example of that one that weve already created is the Consider This podcast, which is just a terrific example of taking the national-local partnership into the on-demand future. The various challenges everybody's having from working at home, for example, you realize that everybody's situation is different when you're working. No. 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. Scripps Networks September 5, 2019; Washington, D.C. - The NPR Board of Directors announced today that it. John Lansing Jr. - Wikipedia Your email address will not be published. Fear drives their path. "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. You have shows like All Things Considered and Morning Edition, which will continue to be broadcasting tent poles, Mr. Lansing said. John Gibbs is an American far-right political commentator and politician. Then I moved on to manage TV stations and cable networks. While member stations on average receive about 10% of their funding from the federal government, fees from the stations make up a significant part of the NPR budget. This is essentially the DEI work writ large, but also our culture of respect, safety, upward mobility, training and making NPR a world-class organization for which to work. What is the outlook for the rest of the fiscal year? NPR plans to lay off about 10% of its current staff due to the soft ad market and a drop in revenue from corporate sponsors, as well as uncertainties in the global economy overall. I'm sure that's true even today. This is simply disingenuous. How cool is it to be at. Last year, however, the U.S. Agency for Global Media came under fire when it emerged that it had bought Facebook ads targeting American citizens, in violation of laws meant to protect Americans from domestic propaganda. We still remain one of the top, if not the top, podcasters in America. The first pillar is to expand the power of the national-local partnership into the on-demand future. Copyright 2023. 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. 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. You can't escape that. "What we've shown with podcasting is that we can take some of our core journalistic assets and we can create new formats and new programs around them and actually reach new audiences. 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. NPR's president of operations, Loren Mayor, was the leading internal candidate for the chief executive position. Current: With broadcast listening declining during the pandemic, what is NPR doing to address and adjust to those trends? I'm just passionate about how good leadership can lead to good outcomes, and that led me here. So its a constant commitment to communication, to training, to accountability. NPR announces layoffs, cutting jobs by 10% as ad revenue drops : NPR 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. I, and the management team, all of us, we determined that was going to be a priority for the year 2021. Current: Why are NPR and its partners looking to sell the Pocket Casts podcast app? 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. Vox Media cut jobs by 7%; Gannett and Spotify by 6%. An open letter to NPR President John Lansing: Racial justice - Current And the pandemic hit six months later in March of '20. For two years, he served as the president and CEO of a cable trade group called the Cable and Telecommunications Association for Marketing. Selected by the NPR board of directors, Lansing will start in October, succeeding outgoing head Jarl Mohn, 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. NPR stands stronger than it did at the outset of Mohn's five-year term in 2014. Mr. Lansing will start in October, replacing Jarl Mohn, who has run NPR since 2014. Current: Do you have any examples of how digital operations would be integrated into divisions throughout the organization? Were they targeted to specific spending areas or just for general costs? During the pandemic, NPR sidestepped layoffs through temporary cuts to pay and retirement contributions, distributed with an eye to shielding less well-paid employees, so they were most sharply felt by the most highly compensated staffers and executives. 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. Did you plan for this or did it kind of just happen? Did you know that one day you would become a CEO? 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. 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. And its something that I think will strengthen the ability for news programming, marketing and member services to be more responsive and to offer greater service to audiences in a more agile way. hide caption. If it's not being solved from the top down, it shouldn't be a burden for people just trying to build their career. Current. Its not something weve baked and were just going to hand it down. Lansing blamed a slowdown in advertising dollars. 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. 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. At the same time, we have to think creatively. The ratings for our weekend magazine shows are actually slightly greater than they were a year ago pre-pandemic, so thats a bright spot.. 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 has also put significant stock into what he calls the NPR Network, which calls for greater unity of coverage and digital initiatives, such as newsletters, streaming, podcasts and more. NPR Names Veteran Media Executive John Lansing As Its New CEO We are not just putting out regulations or policies and paperwork. Mike Morgan/Mike Morgan When you first got to NPR, what did you think? Mr. Lansings colleagues attribute the growth to his embrace of digital formats and the understanding of audiences that he gleaned from the private sector. "And we finally got to the point where there was nothing really that we could cut big enough to fill a hole like that.". Vegas PBS General Manager, Tom Axtell, announces his retirement. Arcbazar.com. Lansing, who is . Were working with them to do joint investigative reporting. 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. Video Snippet Were finishing up in the next two to three weeks the specific lists of actions and activities under these pillars. Lansing: Thats a great question. I had no idea what was out there. 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. And what a breath of fresh air Whitney brings into the organization. Both Lansing and Sheikholeslami say he is adamant about pressing forward with reforms to the workplace culture at NPR that Mayor has already started to put in place. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Current is an editorially independent, nonprofit service of the American University School of Communication. Board Member. According to Nielsen data supplied by NPR, its programs and newscasts had an overall audience of 27.4 million in spring 2019. But were going to continue to follow up on that going into this year. 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. 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, CEO, photographed for NPR, 22 January 2020, in Washington DC. We're funded by your subscriptions, your donations, advertising, and a generous grant from the Wyncote Foundation. Lansing also spent almost 20 years working at Scripps, including eight years as President of Scripps Networks. He is passionate about NPR's public service mission and the role of a free and independent media in a strong democracy. NPR's total workforce has grown by about 50 percent since before that crisis. I will say in the last three or four weeks weve seen a little bit of an uptick in a positive way on corporate sponsorship. 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 . When that happened, it energized us to really double down on understanding where our weak spots were, what we needed to work on. John Lansing, the chief executive officer and director of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, will become NPR's CEO in mid-October. America needs public radio more than ever. "When I think of NPR and I think of the member stations collectively, I think really of journalism as a public service, not tied to a profit motive," Lansing told NPR News. If we don't get this right, then our audience of the next 50 years will lack the diversity that would give it the ability to grow and thrive and prosper and even survive. Lansing says even that proved overly optimistic. The streaming platform Spotify paid nearly a quarter-billion dollars to buy the podcast producer Gimlet, founded by former staffers of NPR and other public radio outlets. NPR hosts' departures fuel questions over race. The full story is September 6, 2019. He made his mark in his current job with stirring defenses of journalism, free from government interference. Mr. Mohn was pressed about his leadership in a tense NPR interview and later apologized to employees for not taking action sooner. I think there are interesting trends to follow and try to understand. US Media Propaganda. Drawing "Liberals" and "Leftists" into the CIA's I think leaders are accountable for walking the walk, for doing what they say they're going to do. Just be tuned into our folks. John Lansing will begin his term as President and CEO of NPR in October, 2019. Current: How have your priorities for NPR changed since you became CEO? Lansing, who is 62, is. 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. hide caption. 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 am still morning the loss of an objective NPR. We discovered in our most recent climate survey that that was an area that we needed to put more effort into. Lansing: I guess I would comment just as a citizen watching from outside. The union represents 570 people at NPR. 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. If you had to create a podcast, what would it be about? Were certainly not over, were not at a finish line. John Gibbs (government official) - Wikipedia Every time I hear it, I think that's a success by itself because we all have that as our guiding light. In a private meeting on Thursday President Biden informed Senate Democrats that he will not use his veto power to block a GOP-led effort to repeal D.C.'s new crime law. What advice would you give to young journalists of color when navigating these white spaces, but attempting to make a change? NPR Start Date: Mid October, 2020 Lansing, who is 62, is. Current: NPRs budget also took a hit because of the pandemic. NPR's rigorous reporting and unsurpassed storytelling connect with millions of Americans everydayon the air, online, and in person. Learn more at npr.org/about or by following NPR Extra on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Coming into public media, which I love, I noticed something that would be unusual in commercial media, in that there really wasnt a great investment in marketing podcasting to outside audiences off of our platforms.

Storkie Birth Verse, Subsistence Ps4 Release Date, What Does Alt Points Mean Fanduel, Herbs That Release Endorphins, Articles J