I just started in May. The other is the fight for donors. According to Nielsen data supplied by NPR, its programs and newscasts had an overall audience of 27.4 million in spring 2019. Last summer, we definitely had a racial reckoning. What steps does NPR still need to take in this area? So were now into the new fiscal year. If you had to create a podcast, what would it be about? "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. And how's that being measured and accounted for? 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. Current: How have your priorities for NPR changed since you became CEO? John Lansing is taking over for outgoing CEO Jarl Mohn, who has led the organization for . Lansing, who is 62, is. Pat O'Donnell, the executive director of the union's Mid-Atlantic unit, could not be reached for comment for this story. In what ways do you think NPR has forced you to grow, and in what areas are you growing that you weren't before NPR? 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 . Chief Executive Officer and Director of the, Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing, Florangela Davila to Become KNKX News Director, NPR Hires Noelle LaCharite As VP Digital Technology. 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. administration regarding the now former managers of his former place of employment (USAGM) but claims the mantle of private citizen to do so. Family Status: Married with 4 Children (Jean Rausch Lansing) 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. But also, what are the larger things that are happening? 5 takeaways from the massive layoffs hitting Big Tech right now, the network announced $20 million in cuts, NPR to impose near-freeze on hiring but avoids layoffs as budget cuts loom, NPR chief news executive Nancy Barnes to depart as network reshapes top ranks, January is often a big month for layoffs. 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. I think the work Keith has been doing long before I got here on diversity in tracking sources and the storytelling that we're doing around the company has really been effective in the area of DEI on radio, podcasting, and digital. Why did you undertake this? Copyright 2023. advanced degree - political agility. Faces of NPR: John Lansing : NPR Extra : NPR - NPR.org 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 continued: "Citizens in countries from Russia to China, from Iran to North Korea, have been victimized for decades. 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.". And I still think we have a long way to go. 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. But it was not from a standing start. And its where our focus needs to be right now. Its a real business with real market dynamics.. It might come from my journalistic roots, and I think other journalists would say the same thing, I deal [with] and honor the truth. 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. But we felt like it was an important investment to make in our member stations to support them during the pandemic. 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 I dont know if youve been on the highway recently, but theres a lot more traffic on the highway today than there would have been last May and June. Or 'How are we doing on the North Star?' You hear me say fairly often it's not a thing that's going to end; it's really a new way of operating with an awareness of this weakness that we need to address and build upon and ensure that it lives on and continues to improve. 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. So at the end of the day, its a commitment, but this also has to be accountability. Current: What challenges have you faced in implementing your DEI plans? NPR To Layoff About 10% Of Current Staff - Deadline Notify me of follow-up comments by email. How is it a priority? Current: NPR and a group of stations started a pilot project around collaborative fundraising in 2019. I think you have to be willing to take hard questions. Harvard Kennedy School. CEO John Lansing discusses NPRs diversity efforts, budget deficit and growing podcast competition. 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's search for a new CEO is finally over! John Lansing is a former Obama appointee who was named president and CEO of NPR on Thursday. So sad to me. 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. 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. NPR chief news executive Nancy Barnes to depart as network reshapes top How has that effort been progressing? 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. US Media Propaganda. Drawing "Liberals" and "Leftists" into the CIA's Current: NPR has helped stations during the pandemic by delaying planned changes to the dues they pay. 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. hide caption. Lansing: We hope to have that completed within about eight to 10 weeks. Current: Can you be more specific about what that looks like in terms of how you reach people who may not already know about NPRs podcasts? This time, Lansing says he is not confident the money will return anytime soon, so the network and its board have to plan more strategically. And as the year unfolded, we began to develop our three-year strategic plan. Lansing describes himself as a citizen watching from the outside A private citizen? David Folkenflik on Twitter: "News: NPR to lay off about 10 percent of hide caption. I'm kind of a politics junkie. He was responsible for strategic and operational oversight and P&L of the $2.5 billion division of Scripps Networks Interactive, including the company's portfolio of six cable networks Food Network, HGTV, Travel Channel, DIY, Cooking Channel and Great American Country and the $100 million Scripps Networks Digital division. Board Memberships & Affiliations. The network's fight for listeners' time has become more feverish. 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. 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. Since then,. I subscribe to the notion of leadership as a servant leader, that the role of leaders is to support the team to do their best work. "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. Weve also seen very positive upticks in development. It was a reckoning for all of us together collectively at NPR. Will there be another stimulus? 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 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. 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. And The New York Times has won praise and new fans through its weekday podcast The Daily, with in-depth interviews of reporters and newsmakers. John F Lansing, National Public Radio Inc: Profile and Biography - Bloomberg Markets Live Now Bloomberg TV+ Bloomberg Daybreak Middle East Bloomberg Daybreak Middle East. Faces Of NPR showcases the people behind NPR--from the voices you hear every day on the radio to the ones who work outside of the recording studio. John Lansing '09, former Scripps executive, is new CEO of NPR Yet Mr. Mohns tenure was also marked by a sexual harassment scandal involving a senior news executive whom he had hired and a labor clash with hundreds of union workers. To be a part of creating the future of such an important institution is humbling, exciting, and a distinct honor.". Current: NPRs budget also took a hit because of the pandemic. 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. NPR Layoffs: Radio and Podcaster Will Cut 10% of Workforce - The Learn more at npr.org/about or by following NPR Extra on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. But thats our commitment. We established the top priority [a.k.a. Because when you're all at work, you're all at work, and you go home to your individual situations. In a large part, the digital teams and the divisions will work together to reach a final model. "I have been an avid fan of NPR for many years. I think leaders are accountable for walking the walk, for doing what they say they're going to do. 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. "The challenges he will face at NPR are not dissimilar to challenges across the media landscape as a whole," said Sheikholeslami, who will soon take up the CEO job at New York Public Radio. If it's not being solved from the top down, it shouldn't be a burden for people just trying to build their career. 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. 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. NPR CEO Defends Journalist After Pompeo Lashes Out Over Ukraine Lansing has earned an advanced degree in political agility. Current: When was the climate survey conducted? John Ten Eyck Lansing Jr. (January 30, 1754 - vanished December 12, 1829), a Founding Father of the United States, was an attorney, jurist, and politician. So I wouldn't create a politics podcast because there are too many, and we have the best one of many already. Current: How else might NPR assist stations in the coming year? We saw a lot of companies react to the [murder of] George Floyd and we did too. Government support for the public radio system isn't in any immediate jeopardy. Mr. Lansing will start in October, replacing Jarl Mohn, who has run NPR since 2014. 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. As President, he held strategic and operational oversight of Scripps Networks Digital division and Scripps Networks Interactive, which includes six cable networks: Food Network, HGTV, Travel Channel, DIY, Cooking Channel and Great American Country. Just be tuned into our folks. Media Exec John Lansing to Become New CEO of NPR - Variety 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's tenure at the agency has not been without controversy. There were about 20, 25 different meetings in the course of about 45 days. 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. Did you plan for this or did it kind of just happen? He also vowed to make sure job cuts do not fall disproportionately on employees of color. 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 I'm from Minneapolis, and my parents are buried about six blocks from where George Floyd was killed. NPR, the public radio and podcasting giant, has a new leader after years of growth and internal turmoil. NPR will cut 10% of its workforce, CEO John Lansing said Wednesday. I think you have to be in front of your teams. 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. Pompeo Interview Dispute With NPR Sends Conflicting Message on - VOA He made his mark in his current job with stirring defenses of journalism, free from government interference. NPR - Wikipedia NPR's total workforce has grown by about 50 percent since before that crisis. Share Your Design Ideas, New JerseysMurphy Defends $10 Billion Rainy Day Fund as States Economy Slows, What Led to Europes Deadliest Train Crash in a Decade, This Week in Crypto: Ukraine War, Marathon Digital, FTX. It didnt begin in the summer it accelerated in the summer. At the center of a graphic is our commitment to DEI, and all of our work in that circle is surrounded by four pillars. NPR's programming division, which produces its industry-leading podcasts, has more than doubled since 2019. 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. But we made a firm commitment, as you know, to freeze station dues and fees. 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. Weve seen a gradual comeback. Current: Is there a timeline for that process? Way back when, I was a news cameraman. 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. Lansing: I guess I would comment just as a citizen watching from outside. National Public Radio will reduce its workforce by 10 percent as it grapples with what CEO John Lansing says is a "sharp . Michael A. McCoy for NPR A federal inspector general's investigation has exonerated six government executives who were suspended last year after raising red flags about actions taken by. Unlike some predecessors, Lansing doesn't face a particularly fraught political landscape. And the work goes on. I hear that all the time. Its something that we certainly support. He was previously head of cable TV company Scripps Networks, where he sold $10 million in stock after the company became the target of an SEC probe that was not known to the public. I can't speak for other people, CEOs. At Colorado Public Radio, I think there was a $300,000 donation that came out of that. The agency has an annual budget of $808 million. Here's what to do in a worst case scenario. Or persons of color who are in our organization that are hearing [about] a lot of activity but arent experiencing what they believe they should be experiencing in terms of a workplace where they feel like they can grow and improve their work and improve their careers. What would you go back and tell your younger self? 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. 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. Current: With broadcast listening declining during the pandemic, what is NPR doing to address and adjust to those trends? Mike Morgan/Mike Morgan John F Lansing, National Public Radio Inc: Profile and Biography Current: How much were those anonymous gifts? 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. So I brought in Michael Smith as our new chief marketing officer almost a year ago. 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. First, we're a nonprofit. At the U.S. Agency for Global Media known until last year as the Broadcasting Board of Governors he presided over 53 percent growth in the weekly audience for the agencys networks over the last three years, to 345 million. 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. Well, what we're doing right now, I think communication. I was very pleased to see Code Switch named as Apples top podcast of the year. We're funded by your subscriptions, your donations, advertising, and a generous grant from the Wyncote Foundation. When that happened, it energized us to really double down on understanding where our weak spots were, what we needed to work on. "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. There was one the year before I was here, then this was the follow-up. 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. 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. CEO John Lansing discusses NPR's diversity efforts, budget - Current 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. So we were pleased to see SAG-AFTRA join our efforts. 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. ", "It's always difficult in these situations, and I don't want to minimize the impact that it will have on our colleagues and in some cases, you know, our ability to do what we do," Lee says. It's interesting. At a young age, my biggest goal at the time was to someday be a news director for a local TV station. The roots of the VOA involved providing truthful reports to people under Nazi and Axis power rule during World War II. It's not just what happened this week on the Hill, although that's important. A number of executives will report directly to Lansing, including Nancy Barnes, senior vice president for news and editorial director, who joined NPR last November and oversees the network's newsroom. But second, we're mission-driven, and I think everybody in the organization lives and breathes that mission. Applicants to this years fellowship see its cancellation as a setback for journalists of color who want to work in public radio. We established management commitments to the women of color so that we address specifically their concerns. 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. And I was very proud of the progress we were making. So its an ongoing effort. The union represents 570 people at NPR. It was hard for everyone. We can share resources and story ideas, and we can help organize and support those efforts. Current: Did anything else stand out to you in that survey that you believe needed attention and needs attention? I got this part time job at a TV station to make a little money while I was going to college. So mentally, how do you manage that? NPR has also been the nation's leading producer of podcasts since Podtrac started measuring audiences. So Im pleased to see that that short era is over. As we moved through the summer, that deficit remained at about $25 million. Diversity is the North Star of a newly implemented strategic plan, Lansing said, because it filters through everything that we do with all of our work.. "I don't anticipate that it would be like a haircut across every division, because that's just not management," Lansing says. But were going to continue to follow up on that going into this year. NPR Start Date: Mid October, 2020 That content executive position has not yet been filled; its creation led to the departure of then-NPR chief news executive Nancy Barnes. And the pandemic hit six months later in March of '20. Lansing blamed a slowdown in advertising dollars. NPR's president of operations, Loren Mayor, was the leading internal candidate for the chief executive position. In late November, the network announced $20 million in cuts, including a near-freeze on hiring, elimination of most travel, and suspension of internships. And be a good listener. But here, Lansing basically jumps over those disclaimers using the lame attribution of private citizen.. NPR announces layoffs, cutting jobs by 10% as ad revenue drops : NPR Trump has notably praised authoritarian figures, including the leaders of North Korea, the Philippines, Russia and Turkey and has waged his own fight against journalists. Being a changemaker is awesome, but can have its own challenges as you're just trying to improve your career. Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnlansing. 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. 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. He is. But now we're seeing authoritarian regimes expanding around the globe, with media repression in places like Turkey and Venezuela, Cambodia and Vietnam.". New podcasts Up First, Consider This and State of Ukraine sit on both sides. A new chief content officer will oversee NPR's news and programming divisions, which have frequently collaborated and almost as frequently clashed over resources and . Weve had a couple of significant anonymous gifts that have helped shore up our forecast for the coming fiscal year. 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. Its pretty clear to me that the ratings decline in radio is driven by commuting patterns. "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.". The network had run deficits in six of the seven previous years; under Mohn, it has achieved a slight surplus for each year during his tenure, even as the annual budget grew by more than 40%. Mohn will continue on as President Emeritus & Co-Chair of the 50th Anniversary Campaign. 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. Its my expectation that that will expand throughout the organization, so that everybody understands its everybodys job, and the accountability is going to be something that we measure and transparently report back out. Not exactly. And were happy to see SAG-AFTRA agree with us and to join up. Built with the Largo WordPress Theme from the Institute for Nonprofit News. So its a constant commitment to communication, to training, to accountability. Lansing blamed a slowdown in advertising dollars. We still remain one of the top, if not the top, podcasters in America. Essentially, the success of the company falls in your hands. 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. Talk about a force of nature. . It really stretched me to understand that flexibility is a good thing. "And we finally got to the point where there was nothing really that we could cut big enough to fill a hole like that.". NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C. "We were doing everything we could against the tide and couldn't keep clipping our costs as the revenue kept slipping," Lansing says. Selected by the NPR board of directors, Lansing will start in October, succeeding outgoing head Jarl Mohn, Its not something weve baked and were just going to hand it down. I thought, wow. NPR Names John Lansing President And CEO : NPR - NPR.org And weve seen some significant success with that.
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