That was revised as a result. Then I moved on to manage TV stations and cable networks. Fear drives their path. 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. John Lansing is a former Obama appointee who was named president and CEO of NPR on Thursday. So we were pleased to see SAG-AFTRA join our efforts. Well, what we're doing right now, I think communication. "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. 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 headquarters in Washington, D.C. I joined in October of '19. 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. He won praise for doing so and says he informed leaders of SAG-AFTRA on Tuesday about the impending job cuts. 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. 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. We saw a lot of companies react to the [murder of] George Floyd and we did too. Scripps Networks Current: When was the climate survey conducted? Your email address will not be published. John Lansing will begin his term as President and CEO of NPR in October, 2019. He is a member of the Quinnipiac University School of Communications Advisory Board and the National Board of Advisors of George Washington University's School of Media & Public Affairs. Way back when, I was a news cameraman. CEO John Lansing says ad revenue for podcasting shriveled even as general economy seems on mend. NPR maintains 17 national bureaus and 17 bureaus abroad. Or 'How are we doing on the North Star?' "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. There were about 20, 25 different meetings in the course of about 45 days. 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: 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? 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. If it's not being solved from the top down, it shouldn't be a burden for people just trying to build their career. 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. We can share resources and story ideas, and we can help organize and support those efforts. NPRs search for a new CEO is finally over! So I think that it has caused me to be more tuned in to hearing and understanding our employees. 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. Prior to that, Lansing was VP and GM of Scripps ABC affiliates. 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. John Lansing, CEO, photographed for NPR, 22 January 2020, in Washington DC. 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. So I wouldn't create a politics podcast because there are too many, and we have the best one of many already. And some stations who had a schedule to go down actually were allowed to go down. We're funded by your subscriptions, your donations, advertising, and a generous grant from the Wyncote Foundation. 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. I think we're moving forward. Mohn fired head of news Michael Oreskes on Halloween 2017. 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. I have read and agree to the terms & conditions, Senior Vice President for Television in the broadcasting division of the E.W. 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: 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. 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. I think you have to be willing to take hard questions. "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. Discovery, CNN cut hundreds of jobs and killed off its brand-new streaming service, CNN+. Current: NPR has helped stations during the pandemic by delaying planned changes to the dues they pay. Mr. Lansings colleagues attribute the growth to his embrace of digital formats and the understanding of audiences that he gleaned from the private sector. 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. David Westin speaks with top names in finance about the week's biggest issues on Wall Street. During that financial crisis, NPR shut down shows and laid off scores of people. I established DEI as our top priority on Jan. 5 of 2020. NPR faces financial pressures from two fronts. He is. Lansing describes himself as a citizen watching from the outside A private citizen? 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. Unlike some predecessors, Lansing doesn't face a particularly fraught political landscape. It's not just what happened this week on the Hill, although that's important. Fearing a tepid economy, Lansing and his corporate team projected that revenue would stay flat for the fiscal year that began October 1. Your email address will not be published. (Former long time member). In an email to the staff on Friday, John Lansing, who joined the nonprofit as chief executive in September, projected that NPR would fall $12 million to $15 million short of the amount it had . 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. Mayor is said to be staying on at the network as a top executive and deputy to Lansing, retaining the enhanced portfolio she took on after Mohn's health crises. And its tied to the same variables you would know yourselves, which is, how fast can the vaccines be deployed? Every time I hear it, I think that's a success by itself because we all have that as our guiding light. It might come from my journalistic roots, and I think other journalists would say the same thing, I deal [with] and honor the truth. Lansing: SAG-AFTRA came out with their letter around our September board meeting in 2020. Current: How else might NPR assist stations in the coming year? After becoming part of Warner Bros. 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. 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. Scripps Co., says whenever an economic slowdown appears imminent, marketing budgets get slashed. Lansing says he remains committed to podcasting "1,000 percent," as well as the network's hallmark news magazines, such as Morning Edition and All Things Considered. In late November, the network announced $20 million in cuts, including a near-freeze on hiring, elimination of most travel, and suspension of internships. 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. 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. 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. 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. He began his career in media at age 17 when he was hired as a studio technician and cameraman for WPSD TV in Kentucky. 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. The newsroom currently stands at just shy of 490 people, while programming has shot up to 230. 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. At the same time, we have to think creatively. 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. But were going to continue to follow up on that going into this 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 . Its not a sidebar. And our work began then. 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. administration regarding the now former managers of his former place of employment (USAGM) but claims the mantle of private citizen to do so. He will be the 11th permanent president or chief executive in the radio network's nearly 50-year history. I just started in May. Weve seen a gradual comeback. I think there are interesting trends to follow and try to understand. NPR Facebook Post with Comments. 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. 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. He took over a troubled organization beset by infighting and bureaucratic inefficiency. Not exactly. Copyright 2023. 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. 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. I'm just passionate about how good leadership can lead to good outcomes, and that led me here. And Im holding myself accountable with my board and Ive been and am holding my direct reports accountable to me. "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. hide caption. 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. So I would tell my younger self to be confident, calm down, it's all gonna work out. Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by Acting Chief Business Editor Emily Kopp. "However, when you think how we look out longer term, right, not just for 20 years, but several years out, it's really about building a sustainable financial future for NPR.".