Mr. Lansings colleagues attribute the growth to his embrace of digital formats and the understanding of audiences that he gleaned from the private sector. Last summer, we definitely had a racial reckoning. NPR, the public radio giant that employs hundreds of journalists, is about to get a new chief executive. Anyone can read what you share. "The result, I believe, is a war on truth. Fear drives their path. 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. Way back when, I was a news cameraman. I would enjoy being on a podcast talking about politics. But after the pandemic hit in mid-March, we got together with our cohort and said, Why wait 18 months? NPR's Michel Martin asks NPR's CEO, John Lansing, to respond to an All Things Considered interview with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. 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. Required fields are marked *. The ratings for our weekend magazine shows are actually slightly greater than they were a year ago pre-pandemic, so thats a bright spot. 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. America needs public radio more than ever. Current: Companies like Spotify and Amazon have been pouring big money into podcasting. Lansing: When I came in in 2019, my earliest observation was that our biggest issue was the lack of diversity in our audience, and I felt that we needed to double down our efforts in DEI throughout our organization in order to fulfill the promise to reflect the entire American public in terms of what America looks like. For several years, it eliminated salary increases and suspended retirement contributions. 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. 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. Lansing: I guess my head turns first to the journalism of our member stations. 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. 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. 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 . Experts say the behavior could have constituted insider trading. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images 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. Mr. Mohn was pressed about his leadership in a tense NPR interview and later apologized to employees for not taking action sooner. hide caption. 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. 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. 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. NPR Start Date: Mid October, 2020 NPR faces financial pressures from two fronts. The roots of the VOA involved providing truthful reports to people under Nazi and Axis power rule during World War II. 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. Mr. Lansing, who began his career as a teenage cameraman at a television station in Kentucky, spent two decades at Scripps Networks. 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. Here's what to do in a worst case scenario. We discovered in our most recent climate survey that that was an area that we needed to put more effort into. 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. Applicants to this years fellowship see its cancellation as a setback for journalists of color who want to work in public radio. NPR has also been the nation's leading producer of podcasts since Podtrac started measuring audiences. Were working with them to do joint investigative reporting. 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. 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. 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. Lansing blamed a slowdown in advertising dollars. So those are the four pillars that rotate around the centerpiece, we call it the North Star, of our commitment to DEI. I was very pleased to see Code Switch named as Apples top podcast of the year. All rights reserved. How cool is it to be at. Essentially, the success of the company falls in your hands. NPR CEO Jarl Mohn To Step Down After 5-Year Term Ends In June, Tensions Build In NPR Newsroom Over Handling Of Sexual Harassment Allegations, NPR Announces Newsroom Job Cuts Amid Restructuring. . The emphasis, he says, must be on drawing in "the future audience to make NPR sustainable for the next 50 years. Current: Do you have any examples of how digital operations would be integrated into divisions throughout the organization? 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. Lansing said he took pride in maintaining conventional broadcasts while appealing to new audiences, reaching about 25% more people each week. That survey happened in the fall of 2020. I think you have to be willing to take hard questions. The first pillar is to expand the power of the national-local partnership into the on-demand future. Lansing: They were for general. But were going to continue to follow up on that going into this year. And I would do a board-level review for the donor or donors as to where the business was, the value of the work we were doing, the things we were adding in terms of covering the pandemic. John Lansing, CEO, photographed for NPR, 22 January 2020, in Washington DC. Current: How much were those anonymous gifts? 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. The various challenges everybody's having from working at home, for example, you realize that everybody's situation is different when you're working. Why did you undertake this? To be a part of creating the future of such an important institution is humbling, exciting, and a distinct honor.". Dear NPR President John Lansing, I want to express my heartfelt appreciation for the powerful letter you wrote to NPR staff and the public about the horrific extrajudicial killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. People, given the opportunity, will do the right thing in a way that hopefully makes them want to be here for a long time. Lansing says he does not yet know who within NPR will be affected, but said the job cuts would not fall evenly across the organization. But we made a firm commitment, as you know, to freeze station dues and fees. Lansing blamed a slowdown in advertising dollars. I just started in May. The budget for the new fiscal year is set below last years actual based on our forecasts on continued downward pressure on corporate sponsorship. That was revised as a result. 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. Weve also seen very positive upticks in development. John Lansing, a media executive with government broadcast and cable television experience, has been named by NPR's board to succeed its current chief, Jarl Mohn who announced the plan to step down after his 5-Year term ended. 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. Apple is reportedly building a podcast subscription service. 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. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. 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. All of that is to say that coming out of the reckoning of Memorial Day 2020 was for us and for me, in particular, a call to action internally at NPR to hear and reckon with our own issues internally. Government support for the public radio system isn't in any immediate jeopardy. hide caption. 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. This is an edited transcript of the conversation among Lansing, Current Reporter Tyler Falk and Digital Editor Mike Janssen. When that happened, it energized us to really double down on understanding where our weak spots were, what we needed to work on. Lansing: I guess I would comment just as a citizen watching from outside. And what a breath of fresh air Whitney brings into the organization. I think you have to be in front of your teams. This is just dishonest, especially since NPR became what amounted to a voice of the opposition in its coverage of this dysfunctional federal agency. I think you have to be transparent and be able to explain what you're doing, even if it's unpopular. There's always going to be things here and there that have to be worked out, because that's just the way a company is, but I've never been in a company before where it was so understood that we're here to serve the American people. 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. Because when you're all at work, you're all at work, and you go home to your individual situations. At the center of a graphic is our commitment to DEI, and all of our work in that circle is surrounded by four pillars. 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. He won praise for doing so and says he informed leaders of SAG-AFTRA on Tuesday about the impending job cuts. 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. Podtrac, which measures the audiences of podcast publishers, has consistently placed NPR at the top of its monthly rankings. 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? Lansing says even that proved overly optimistic. How are you working to shore up NPRs place in the podcasting landscape and compete with deep-pocketed tech companies? 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. Last year, President Trump appointed Michael Pack as USAGMs CEO. And its where our focus needs to be right now. 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. Just be tuned into our folks. Current: Is there a timeline for that process? 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.. 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. 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. Lansing will begin his term at NPR in October and will succeed Jarl Mohn, who has been Chief Executive Officer and President since 2014. It did not drive a lot of immediate donations, but there were some. She also has led initiatives to reform hiring practices and to sweep far more temporary positions into permanent slots, often working closely with the network's chief unions to do so. NPR undertook a strategic reorganization last fall, reinstating the position of a chief content officer overseeing both the newsroom and the programming division. LANSING, John, Jr., (Uncle of Gerrit Yates Lansing), a Delegate from New York; born in Albany, N.Y., January 30, 1754; studied law in Albany and in New York City; was admitted to the bar in 1775; secretary to General Schuyler 1776 and 1777; engaged in the practice of law in Albany in 1778; member of the State assembly 1781-1784, 1786, and 1789, and served as speaker in 1786 and 1789; Member of . 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 broadcasters like Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Current. So I brought in Michael Smith as our new chief marketing officer almost a year ago. Current: What challenges have you faced in implementing your DEI plans? Theres no question about it. Mohn will continue on as President Emeritus & Co-Chair of the 50th Anniversary Campaign. The union represents 570 people at NPR. Its pretty clear to me that the ratings decline in radio is driven by commuting patterns. No. "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. The other is the fight for donors. I can't speak for other people, CEOs. 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. 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. Lansing: We hope to have that completed within about eight to 10 weeks. Lansing said in an interview with Current Thursday that one of his first observations upon joining NPR was that we needed to double down our efforts in diversity, equity and inclusion. And Im holding myself accountable with my board and Ive been and am holding my direct reports accountable to me. Weve seen a gradual comeback. Last year, the network booked $134 million in such corporate underwriting, a record built on strong growth in podcasting revenue in recent years. We'd like to revisit a story that first broke yesterday and . We established the top priority [a.k.a. How does the economy react to all of that? 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. 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. 2017-2022. I think there are interesting trends to follow and try to understand. 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? Leading the organization through it all is CEO John Lansing, a longtime media executive who has been on the job since October 2019. Follow Bloomberg reporters as they uncover some of the biggest financial crimes of the modern era. 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. August 20, 2022 August 20th is National Radio Day. 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. The agency has an annual budget of $808 million. 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. 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. You have stated that DEI is your top priority at NPR. NPR, the public radio and podcasting giant, has a new leader after years of growth and internal turmoil. How has that effort been progressing? NPR stands stronger than it did at the outset of Mohn's five-year term in 2014. Current: How have your priorities for NPR changed since you became CEO? The ratings have tanked because all they talk about is race. So its a constant commitment to communication, to training, to accountability. Mr. Mohn led the push into podcasting and helped stabilize the organization after years of management turnover and budget deficits. NPR's chief executive announced the network would lay off roughly 10% of its . Current (https://current.org/2021/02/ceo-john-lansing-discusses-nprs-diversity-efforts-budget-deficit-and-growing-podcast-competition/). And I think we have to extend that lead. So we were pleased to see SAG-AFTRA join our efforts. We couldnt be more proud of the quality and the depth of the journalism thats coming from the member stations, and it really has strengthened the entire system enormously. 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 "And we finally got to the point where there was nothing really that we could cut big enough to fill a hole like that.". Tech companies that also rely heavily on advertising are undergoing layoffs too. It has become enshrined in our three-year strategic plan as the centerpiece of all of our work. Mohn led NPR through five consecutive years of audience growth and budget surplus. So if you have leaders talking about DEI as a priority, well, then, show me. 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.". 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. And how's that being measured and accounted for? 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. Vox Media cut jobs by 7%; Gannett and Spotify by 6%. 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.