What makes you so open and vocal about the need for diversity? 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. Lansing will start in his new position in mid-October. The newsroom currently stands at just shy of 490 people, while programming has shot up to 230. "I have been an avid fan of NPR for many years. NPR Facebook Post with Comments. NPR has also been the nation's leading producer of podcasts since Podtrac started measuring audiences. It's interesting. Its not a sidebar. 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. Today, we feature John Lansing, CEO of NPR. When that happened, it energized us to really double down on understanding where our weak spots were, what we needed to work on. If it's not being solved from the top down, it shouldn't be a burden for people just trying to build their career. That said, Mohn set higher annual expectations for the network in fundraising and agreed to be co-chairman of its 50th-anniversary capital campaign. We're funded by your subscriptions, your donations, advertising, and a generous grant from the Wyncote Foundation. We can share resources and story ideas, and we can help organize and support those efforts. 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. The ratings have tanked because all they talk about is race. I am still morning the loss of an objective NPR. CEO John Lansing discusses NPRs diversity efforts, budget deficit and growing podcast competition. He soon made DEI the top priority at NPR. "And we finally got to the point where there was nothing really that we could cut big enough to fill a hole like that.". He made his mark in his current job with stirring defenses of journalism, free from government interference. 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 took over a troubled organization beset by infighting and bureaucratic inefficiency. Current: How else might NPR assist stations in the coming year? So sad to lose an American institution to propaganda. John Lansing is a former Obama appointee who was named president and CEO of NPR on Thursday. Learn more at npr.org/about or by following NPR Extra on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. So its a constant commitment to communication, to training, to accountability. Current: What are some of the highlights of that strategic plan? Or 'How are we doing on the North Star?' 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 just think we have a special and unique thing as a company. 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. hide caption. We discovered in our most recent climate survey that that was an area that we needed to put more effort into. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. 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. And I still think we have a long way to go. The network's fight for listeners' time has become more feverish. First, we're a nonprofit. But here, Lansing basically jumps over those disclaimers using the lame attribution of private citizen.. Within a few weeks, Lansing became convinced that projection would be unreachable. For several years, it eliminated salary increases and suspended retirement contributions. 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. 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. In a memo to. Weve also seen very positive upticks in development. "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. Lansing, who is . Were working with them to do joint investigative reporting. 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. Lansing: That was conducted back in September. Born and raised in Albany, New York, Lansing was trained as a lawyer, and was long involved in politics and government.During the American Revolution he was military secretary to General Philip Schuyler. This documentary-style series follows investigative journalists as they uncover the truth. Lansing blamed a slowdown in advertising dollars. hide caption. hide caption. 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. 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. Mr. Lansing rejected that accusation, saying that the agency was independent by law. NPR Start Date: Mid October, 2020 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. The varied broadcasters also offered jazz and other music to appeal to people under communist regimes using a soft form of diplomacy. Mohn will continue on as President Emeritus & Co-Chair of the 50th Anniversary Campaign. Pat O'Donnell, the executive director of the union's Mid-Atlantic unit, could not be reached for comment for this story. Current (https://current.org/2021/02/ceo-john-lansing-discusses-nprs-diversity-efforts-budget-deficit-and-growing-podcast-competition/). 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. Were they targeted to specific spending areas or just for general costs? John Lansing will begin his term as President and CEO of NPR in October, 2019. It began to improve a little bit as we moved into August and September, as corporate sponsorships began to recover a little bit. I'm just passionate about how good leadership can lead to good outcomes, and that led me here. 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. It is our work our North Star and our work are the same thing. Discovery, CNN cut hundreds of jobs and killed off its brand-new streaming service, CNN+. 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. Disclosure: This story was reported by NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik under guidance from NPR chief business editor Pallavi Gogoi. What advice would you give to young journalists of color when navigating these white spaces, but attempting to make a change? 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. Family Status: Married with 4 Children (Jean Rausch Lansing) And be a good listener. "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. U.S. Agency for Global Media John Lansing, CEO, photographed for NPR, 22 January 2020, in Washington DC. Lansing: You have to imagine a picture, if you will. And Im holding myself accountable with my board and Ive been and am holding my direct reports accountable to me. Lansing's tenure at the agency has not been without controversy. Fearing a tepid economy, Lansing and his corporate team projected that revenue would stay flat for the fiscal year that began October 1. And so in late 2019 we began working on a set of priorities for the calendar year 2020 that included promoting Keith Woods to chief diversity officer; putting more energy behind our effort to have 100% sourcing and notating the diversity of our sources; and hiring, leadership, unconscious bias training, et cetera. 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. Podcasting in particular allows NPR to reach audiences that are not necessarily tied to a radio., Paul Haaga, the chairman of NPRs board, said in a statement that Mr. Lansing was 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.. Mohn led NPR through five consecutive years of audience growth and budget surplus. They lost their objectivity and are now just pushing leftist ideology. Since then,. NPR stands stronger than it did at the outset of Mohn's five-year term in 2014. We went from about 900 people a day at headquarters down to about 80 and were virtually broadcasting from peoples homes and offices, in terms of the hosts, almost exclusively beginning in April. Under his leadership NPR has been reaching new audiences as the country's top podcast publisher and through platforms like smart-speakers and connected cars. Lansing also spent almost 20 years working at Scripps, including eight years as President of Scripps Networks. We had begun a lot of work under [Chief Diversity Officer] Keith Woods' leadership to really move us forward. "Governments around the world are increasingly cracking down on the free flow of information; silencing dialogue and dissent; and distorting reality," Lansing said in a speech he delivered in May to the Media for Democracy Forum. NPR's chief executive announced the network would lay off roughly 10% of its . He held off a push by House Republicans to spin off Voice of America into a nongovernmental broadcaster. Pozen Fellow At the Shorenstein Center. And I had a lot of interest in how my former team was being treated, but more importantly, just as an American citizen, how the work of USAGM through VOA [Voice of America] and RFE/RL [Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty] was threatening to undermine the interests of the United States government by politicizing journalism that was meant by law to be free of political interference. What do you think are some characteristics of good leadership? NPR has tapped longtime media executive John Lansing to become its next president and CEO. 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%. National Public Radio will reduce its workforce by 10 percent as it grapples with what CEO John Lansing says is a "sharp . 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. And theyre all expected to articulate a DEI goal thats measurable, actionable, and that they can be held accountable for and will be. Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnlansing. 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. America needs public radio more than ever. 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. And as a CEO, and also as a white man, I want to know, how did you handle it when all eyes were on you? 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. 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 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. administration regarding the now former managers of his former place of employment (USAGM) but claims the mantle of private citizen to do so. "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.". That survey happened in the fall of 2020. How do you think that the North Star, the strategic initiative, is going? It shouldn't be on any journalists of color, or anybody of color, to have to go and 'solve this problem' in somebody's company. 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. 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. 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. I, and the management team, all of us, we determined that was going to be a priority for the year 2021. 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. 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 . So if you have leaders talking about DEI as a priority, well, then, show me. Everybody at NPR knows exactly what you mean when you say, 'What's our North Star?' Prior to joining USAGM, he served for two years as the President and CEO of the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM), an organization that facilitates collaborative marketing initiatives for its members. Not exactly. What is the outlook for the rest of the fiscal year? Yet the tech and media industries' prospects stand at odds with a tight labor market and low unemployment more broadly. Lansing: Everybodys at a different place with DEI depending on where they stand, whether thats a person who is white and doesnt understand how white privilege has improved their standing in their career in a way that persons of color may have not experienced. 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. Doing that just requires that were putting more emphasis on the diversity of our decision makers, our leadership, our story selection, our source selection. I'm kind of a politics junkie. 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. "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. Their editorial independence is enshrined in federal law, though it sometimes came under attack. ", "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. Obviously, this job that you have as a CEO of NPR is a really huge responsibility. Mohn fired head of news Michael Oreskes on Halloween 2017. NPR faces financial pressures from two fronts. He will be the 11th permanent president or chief executive in the radio network's nearly 50-year history. . "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. If you had to create a podcast, what would it be about? So we took that very, very seriously. Its pretty clear to me that the ratings decline in radio is driven by commuting patterns. 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. Well, I like NPR Politics a lot. 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. And were pleased to work with them. How cool is it to be at NPR? NPR will cut 10% of its workforce, CEO John Lansing said Wednesday. But we felt like it was an important investment to make in our member stations to support them during the pandemic. My top goal is to support the women of color at NPR so that they feel like they have more upward mobility.. 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. advanced degree - political agility. Lansing said he took pride in maintaining conventional broadcasts while appealing to new audiences, reaching about 25% more people each week. How does the economy react to all of that? Its a real business with real market dynamics.. Were working with member stations on topic teams for, say, political reporting or criminal justice reporting across the system. When will that freeze be lifted? We still remain one of the top, if not the top, podcasters in America. Its an inclusive process. Lansing, who is 62, is. That was due largely to reductions in corporate sponsorship and also additional expenses we were incurring in supporting our employees with paid time off, as we adjusted to the new working arrangements and the stresses that we were all under and also the additional expense of cleaning the headquarters multiple times a day on certain occasions. 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. 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. NPR is funded by the CPB/PBS which are funded in part by the U.S. government. For the year that ended last September, NPR reported $241 million in expenses. Just be tuned into our folks. Required fields are marked *. "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. NPR's total workforce has grown by about 50 percent since before that crisis. NPRs search for a new CEO is finally over! Let's say, I was walking out of high school into college, I had no idea what I was going to do. There are over 1000 NPR Member Station signals broadcasting across the United States It was a reckoning for all of us together collectively at NPR. 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. hide caption. Last summer, we definitely had a racial reckoning. And as the year unfolded, we began to develop our three-year strategic plan. 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. Vegas PBS General Manager, Tom Axtell, announces his retirement. Networks like Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty are meant to counter disinformation from foreign governments by broadcasting objective reports, although they have always been dogged by an accusation that they are a form of American propaganda. How cool is it to be at. 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. Follow Bloomberg reporters as they uncover some of the biggest financial crimes of the modern era. What would you go back and tell your younger self? 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. Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by Acting Chief Business Editor Emily Kopp. 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.". Lansing served for ten years as a visiting faculty member at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. We collected a lot of data and we have a lot of good follow-up opportunities, and Ill continue to offer myself up as a direct resource in that pilot project. 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. 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. "I don't anticipate that it would be like a haircut across every division, because that's just not management," Lansing says. "And I want to look for areas that I can provide leadership to bring resources together as needed strategically to find the right priorities that make the most sense for growing NPR this year and then into the future.". After becoming part of Warner Bros. Current: With broadcast listening declining during the pandemic, what is NPR doing to address and adjust to those trends? 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 . Lansing: Generally, the numbers that we would like to see in terms of the diversity of our audience were still lagging. 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. Current: Is there a timeline for that process? Mike Morgan/Mike Morgan When you first got to NPR, what did you think? "What you really want to do is be connected to people that are consuming content on something they're holding in their hand, and aren't necessarily tied to a TV set on a wall or a radio in a living room," Lansing said. 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. And the pandemic hit six months later in March of '20. NPR undertook a strategic reorganization last fall, reinstating the position of a chief content officer overseeing both the newsroom and the programming division. I thought, wow. But were going to continue to follow up on that going into this year. I think you have to be willing to take hard questions. 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. 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. Mr. Lansing, who began his career as a teenage cameraman at a television station in Kentucky, spent two decades at Scripps Networks. Board Memberships & Affiliations. NPR According to Nielsen data supplied by NPR, its programs and newscasts had an overall audience of 27.4 million in spring 2019. CEO John Lansing cited the erosion. Prior to that, Lansing was VP and GM of Scripps ABC affiliates. Current: Did anything else stand out to you in that survey that you believe needed attention and needs attention? 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. Leading the organization through it all is CEO John Lansing, a longtime media executive who has been on the job since October 2019. 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. "Bloomberg Opinion" columnists offer their opinions on issues in the news. 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. And I think we have to extend that lead. We'd like to revisit a story that first broke yesterday and . The agency has an annual budget of $808 million. I think we're moving forward. 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. 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. We are not just putting out regulations or policies and paperwork. It might come from my journalistic roots, and I think other journalists would say the same thing, I deal [with] and honor the truth. I'm from Minneapolis, and my parents are buried about six blocks from where George Floyd was killed. 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. Theres no question about it. 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. And what a breath of fresh air Whitney brings into the organization. Board Member. 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.