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. Oh wait. 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. Lansing: I guess my head turns first to the journalism of our member stations. As I said, its hiring, its emphasis on diversity in leadership, diversity in sources, diversity in voices, diversity in the stories we tell, training around our organization. John Lansing is a former Obama appointee who was named president and CEO of NPR on Thursday. 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. What steps does NPR still need to take in this area? Lansing: Thats a great question. During 2021, we worked on that with Keith and with Diversity and Inclusion Manager Whitney Maddox. I, and the management team, all of us, we determined that was going to be a priority for the year 2021. We discovered in our most recent climate survey that that was an area that we needed to put more effort into. Follow Bloomberg reporters as they uncover some of the biggest financial crimes of the modern era. 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. 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. If you had to create a podcast, what would it be about? 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 Selected by the NPR board of directors, Lansing will start in October, succeeding outgoing head Jarl Mohn, Lansing describes himself as a citizen watching from the outside A private citizen? "Management is about committing to strategy, making tough decisions.". NPR undertook a strategic reorganization last fall, reinstating the position of a chief content officer overseeing both the newsroom and the programming division. "I want to hear the ideas that are bubbling underneath right now and what people are excited about, what they're looking forward to developing," Lansing said Thursday. How do you think that the North Star, the strategic initiative, is going? We established the top priority [a.k.a. 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. "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. The first pillar is to expand the power of the national-local partnership into the on-demand future. I'm just passionate about how good leadership can lead to good outcomes, and that led me here. Lansing, who is . He soon made DEI the top priority at NPR. 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 . But we felt like it was an important investment to make in our member stations to support them during the pandemic. 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. And our number one goal is to improve our audience diversity. NPR has a new CEO. "The combination of his health issues plus the situation with Mike Oreskes did derail his plans.". "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. Lansing: They were for general. 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. Lansing served for ten years as a visiting faculty member at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. Current: Is there a timeline for that process? 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. To be a part of creating the future of such an important institution is humbling, exciting, and a distinct honor.". 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. Weve also seen very positive upticks in development. 2016 John Lansing leading a moderated a discussion with the members of the International Media Coordinating Council (ICC) about a unified strategy for the future. The Washington Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, eliminated its Sunday magazine and a handful of other jobs. 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. 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. Arcbazar.com. Current: You came to NPR after serving as CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. 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. In setting NPR's earlier rounds of budget cuts a couple months ago, Lansing consulted ahead of time with leaders of the unions representing workers at NPR with an eye to avoiding any layoffs. I'm from Minneapolis, and my parents are buried about six blocks from where George Floyd was killed. NPR Cuts Executive Pay as Corporate Sponsors' Payments Fall John Lansing, CEO, photographed for NPR, 22 January 2020, in Washington DC. Lansing blamed a slowdown in advertising dollars. "Bloomberg Opinion" columnists offer their opinions on issues in the news. Mike Morgan/Mike Morgan If it's not being solved from the top down, it shouldn't be a burden for people just trying to build their career. But now we're seeing authoritarian regimes expanding around the globe, with media repression in places like Turkey and Venezuela, Cambodia and Vietnam.". I can't speak for other people, CEOs. NPR will cut 10% of its workforce, CEO John Lansing said Wednesday. 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. So we were pleased to see SAG-AFTRA join our efforts. Scripps Networks September 5, 2019; Washington, D.C. - The NPR Board of Directors announced today that it. Lansing: We arent in a position to answer that until we know for sure when the pandemic is going to subside. 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. NPR Start Date: Mid October, 2020 The other is the fight for donors. Last year, the network booked $134 million in such corporate underwriting, a record built on strong growth in podcasting revenue in recent years. LANSING, John, Jr. | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives 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. "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. And be a good listener. Four years ago, Lansing was named by President Barack Obama to be the first chief executive of the broadcasting outfit that was renamed the U.S. Agency for Global Media. He made his mark in his current job with stirring defenses of journalism, free from government interference. Doing that just requires that were putting more emphasis on the diversity of our decision makers, our leadership, our story selection, our source selection. Others have waded into the podcast fray with a vengeance. NPR has a new CEO. Current (https://current.org/2021/02/ceo-john-lansing-discusses-nprs-diversity-efforts-budget-deficit-and-growing-podcast-competition/). Lansing has earned an advanced degree in political agility. 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. Ever since you started, you've been very vocal about it. 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. 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. It is our work. What would you go back and tell your younger self? "Nothing is nailed down yet except the principles and what we know we have to reach.". John Lansing will begin his term as President and CEO of NPR in October, 2019. It is intended to align the strategy of its often fractious member stations with one another and NPR itself and to allow NPR, for the first time, to raise money digitally from its audience in concert with those stations. Board Memberships & Affiliations. 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. 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. I think as a white man, I know and have experienced that feeling of trepidation on discussions on issues of race, because there's an inherent fear that somebody is going to have a negative point of view about you. It was hard for everyone. An open letter to NPR President John Lansing: Racial justice - Current And how's that being measured and accounted for? It is our work our North Star and our work are the same thing. Were consulting with digital media, were consulting with the division heads, and were doing it as an all-hands project so that we get it right. 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. It goes on to say that Mr. Lansing, 62, is currently the chief executive of the government agency, The U.S. Agency for Global Media, that oversees Voice of America, Radio and Television Marti, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, among others. 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. NPR's total workforce has grown by about 50 percent since before that crisis. It was a reckoning for all of us together collectively at NPR. But we made a firm commitment, as you know, to freeze station dues and fees. 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. They lost their objectivity and are now just pushing leftist ideology. NPR's New CEO Is Veteran Media Executive John Lansing : NPR - NPR.org NPR has tapped longtime media executive John Lansing to become its next president and CEO. And for those stations that were scheduled to have a reduction, we allowed those reductions to go forward with a floor of 3% so that nobodys dues went up. And as the year unfolded, we began to develop our three-year strategic plan. Learn more at npr.org/about or by following NPR Extra on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. America needs public radio more than ever. 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. Current: NPR and a group of stations started a pilot project around collaborative fundraising in 2019. Courtesy of Allison Shelley for NPR. Last summer, we definitely had a racial reckoning. Scripps Company, Held senior management positions at Scripps-owned affiliates, including WEWS TV in Cleveland, Ohio and WXYZ TV in Detroit, Michigan, Early in his career Award-winning Photojournalist and Field Producer, Assignment Manager, Managing Editor, and News Director at several television stations. 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. I am still morning the loss of an objective NPR. That survey happened in the fall of 2020. Then I moved on to manage TV stations and cable networks. Harvard Kennedy School. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Current is an editorially independent, nonprofit service of the American University School of Communication. I think you have to be in front of your teams. I'm sure that's true even today. He is passionate about NPR's public service mission and the role of a free and independent media in a strong democracy. 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. Current: Do you have any examples of how digital operations would be integrated into divisions throughout the organization? What was it like for you to watch that happen? And its where our focus needs to be right now. Mr. Lansing will start in October, replacing Jarl Mohn, who has run NPR since 2014. It puts a filter on that helps us explain even unpopular decisions, how they link to our mission. NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C. Lansing says even that proved overly optimistic. 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.