The union represents 570 people at NPR. NPR's search for a new CEO is finally over! 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. Lansing: Back in May and June, it was an alarming decline in radio ratings. 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. Lansing: We arent in a position to answer that until we know for sure when the pandemic is going to subside. Leading the organization through it all is CEO John Lansing, a longtime media executive who has been on the job since October 2019. Lansing, 62, who is currently chief executive officer of the government agency that oversees Voice of America, Radio and Television Mart and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, among others . So hes doubling down on lack of diversity, does that mean he wants his audience to reflect the other half of the country, the conservatives in flyover country? Our DEI efforts at the beginning of 2020 were not a project or an extracurricular activity; it really became our work. Lansing also spent almost 20 years working at Scripps, including eight years as President of Scripps Networks. Yet Lansing also takes over an institution riven by a scandal that hit its top reaches, with a chief news executive toppled over #MeToo complaints of inappropriate conduct toward female subordinates and colleagues. So its a constant commitment to communication, to training, to accountability. Built with the Largo WordPress Theme from the Institute for Nonprofit News. I think leaders are accountable for walking the walk, for doing what they say they're going to do. Its not something weve baked and were just going to hand it down. 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. An NPR spokeswoman said final decisions on which jobs will be eliminated should occur by the week of March 20. August 20, 2022 August 20th is National Radio Day. Lansing: I guess I would comment just as a citizen watching from outside. NPR We can share resources and story ideas, and we can help organize and support those efforts. So it's kind of inseparable, that coming in as CEO of NPR, and then six months in having the coronavirus, followed by a major economic downturn in the country and for NPR, and then the reckoning that summer. NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C. John F Lansing, National Public Radio Inc: Profile and Biography - Bloomberg Markets Live Now Bloomberg TV+ Bloomberg Daybreak Middle East Bloomberg Daybreak Middle East. 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. What is the outlook for the rest of the fiscal year? Mohn will continue on as President Emeritus & Co-Chair of the 50th Anniversary Campaign. 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%. 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. That's the way I think about leadership here. Current: When was the climate survey conducted? According to Nielsen data supplied by NPR, its programs and newscasts had an overall audience of 27.4 million in spring 2019. "We were doing everything we could against the tide and couldn't keep clipping our costs as the revenue kept slipping," Lansing says. But were going to continue to follow up on that going into this year. Lansing: Its on social media platforms or YouTube or through media partnerships. I just think we have a special and unique thing as a company. He served for four years as the SVP, Television for the E.W. Prior to that, Lansing was VP and GM of Scripps ABC affiliates. That said, Mohn set higher annual expectations for the network in fundraising and agreed to be co-chairman of its 50th-anniversary capital campaign. 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. 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. 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. NPR's rigorous reporting and unsurpassed storytelling connect with millions of Americans everydayon the air, online, and in person. "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.". 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. NPR Facebook Post with Comments. I established DEI as our top priority on Jan. 5 of 2020. I think there are interesting trends to follow and try to understand. The emphasis, he says, must be on drawing in "the future audience to make NPR sustainable for the next 50 years. How is it a priority? 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. 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. Its an inclusive process. But also, what are the larger things that are happening? John Lansing, the chief executive officer and director of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, will become NPR's CEO in mid-October. We are different from other federal agencies, said Grant K. Turner, the agencys chief financial officer. But we made a firm commitment, as you know, to freeze station dues and fees. A later report commissioned by the NPR board found that questions had been raised about Oreskes' behavior even before his hiring and that concerns were raised throughout his tenure; the repeated and formal warnings by top executives (including Mohn) to Oreskes to stop the unwanted attention he paid to female colleagues proved ineffective. When will that freeze be lifted? Theres no question about it. Lansing, who is 62, is. It was about a $3 million cost to NPR for the fiscal year. Anyone can read what you share. Mr. Mohn was pressed about his leadership in a tense NPR interview and later apologized to employees for not taking action sooner. So mentally, how do you manage that? He spent two decades at Scripps Networks, starting as a station manager in the Detroit, MI affiliate; eventually becoming President of Scripps cable networks company from 2005 to 2013. 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. 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. Lansing, who is 62, is. Live from. The only route to a successful engagement on this issue is to deal with it, to talk about it, and to take action. Arcbazar.com. When you first got to NPR, what did you think? Selected by the NPR board of directors, Lansing will start in October, succeeding outgoing head Jarl Mohn, In late November, the network announced $20 million in cuts, including a near-freeze on hiring, elimination of most travel, and suspension of internships. 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. 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.. Because when you're all at work, you're all at work, and you go home to your individual situations. 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 . I had been gone for the better part of a year or so. So at the end of the day, its a commitment, but this also has to be accountability. 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. 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. Current: How much were those anonymous gifts? Michael was a senior marketing executive at Scripps for Food Network and HGTV and really brings a lot of media marketing expertise. How cool is it to be at NPR? Current: With broadcast listening declining during the pandemic, what is NPR doing to address and adjust to those trends? hide caption. The first pillar is to expand the power of the national-local partnership into the on-demand future. It is our work. Not exactly. Mr. Lansings colleagues attribute the growth to his embrace of digital formats and the understanding of audiences that he gleaned from the private sector. During the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic, NPR was at risk of laying off staff when sponsors canceled their spots on the network, said John Lansing, NPR's chief executive. 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. 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 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. 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. 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. John Gibbs is an American far-right political commentator and politician. Mr. Lansing, who began his career as a teenage cameraman at a television station in Kentucky, spent two decades at Scripps Networks. "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. 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. "The combination of his health issues plus the situation with Mike Oreskes did derail his plans.". 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. NPR Start Date: Mid October, 2020 John Lansing will begin his term as President and CEO of NPR in October, 2019. We're funded by your subscriptions, your donations, advertising, and a generous grant from the Wyncote Foundation. Obviously, this job that you have as a CEO of NPR is a really huge responsibility. Family Status: Married with 4 Children (Jean Rausch Lansing) When asked about his priorities, Lansing invoked what he has called the network's "North Star'' since his arrival in the fall of 2019: a push to ensure the network has a bigger and broader audience base, rooted in younger and more diverse listeners, readers and consumers. 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. 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. NPR's total workforce has grown by about 50 percent since before that crisis. 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. Lansing will start in his new position in mid-October. 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. He guided the organization in becoming a leading developer of unique content across television, digital, mobile and radio platforms. Leading the organization through it all is CEO John Lansing, a longtime media executive who has been on the job since October 2019. That content executive position has not yet been filled; its creation led to the departure of then-NPR chief news executive Nancy Barnes. It really stretched me to understand that flexibility is a good thing. So that would be mine. The layoffs are in keeping with an increasingly grim landscape for media companies over recent months. CEO John Lansing discusses NPRs diversity efforts, budget deficit and growing podcast competition. How has that effort been progressing? Current: What challenges have you faced in implementing your DEI plans? But it was not from a standing start. 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. 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. "Management is about committing to strategy, making tough decisions.". "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 president of operations, Loren Mayor, was the leading internal candidate for the chief executive position. It puts a filter on that helps us explain even unpopular decisions, how they link to our mission. NPR Start Date: Mid October, 2020 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. U.S. Agency for Global Media There were three of them, each for $1 million. How cool is it to be at. We'd like to revisit a story that first broke yesterday and . There was one the year before I was here, then this was the follow-up. Lansing, who is . John Lansing, the chief executive officer and director of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, will become NPR's CEO in mid-October. In a large part, the digital teams and the divisions will work together to reach a final model. Way back when, I was a news cameraman. 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. The roots of the VOA involved providing truthful reports to people under Nazi and Axis power rule during World War II. Lansing: Thats a great question. I think you have to be transparent and be able to explain what you're doing, even if it's unpopular. Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnlansing. I just started in May. Coming into public media, which I love, I noticed something that would be unusual in commercial media, in that there really wasnt a great investment in marketing podcasting to outside audiences off of our platforms. Current: NPR has helped stations during the pandemic by delaying planned changes to the dues they pay. And our work began then. Every time I hear it, I think that's a success by itself because we all have that as our guiding light. 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? We established management commitments to the women of color so that we address specifically their concerns. Scripps Co., says whenever an economic slowdown appears imminent, marketing budgets get slashed. Within a few weeks, Lansing became convinced that projection would be unreachable. The ratings for our weekend magazine shows are actually slightly greater than they were a year ago pre-pandemic, so thats a bright spot.. Mohn led NPR through five consecutive years of audience growth and budget surplus. 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. Mike Morgan/Mike Morgan When you first got to NPR, what did you think? 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. And be a good listener. At the U.S. Agency for Global Media, Lansing championed a free press even as leaders of many nations move against it. Now, he says, it must drum up more creative income sources, like the licensing of the popular show How I Built This to Amazon's streaming services, which he says generates $8 million annually. In 2019, Joshua Johnson left 1A, a nationally syndicated public affairs show produced by WAMU in Washington, D.C., and distributed by NPR, for MSNBC. 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. They lost their objectivity and are now just pushing leftist ideology. One thing I would say is, research the places you're looking at to either begin your career or advance your career and understand where they are on these issues. I, and the management team, all of us, we determined that was going to be a priority for the year 2021. Others have waded into the podcast fray with a vengeance. It's not just what happened this week on the Hill, although that's important. And my top goal is to support, in particular, the women of color at NPR so that they feel like they have more upward mobility. 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. 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. 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. All rights reserved. And the pandemic hit six months later in March of '20. We had begun a lot of work under [Chief Diversity Officer] Keith Woods' leadership to really move us forward. Follow Bloomberg reporters as they uncover some of the biggest financial crimes of the modern era. 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. 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. It was a reckoning for all of us together collectively at NPR. For the year that ended last September, NPR reported $241 million in expenses. 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. Current: Is there a timeline for that process? If it's not being solved from the top down, it shouldn't be a burden for people just trying to build their career. You'll find out about what they do and what they're inspired by on the daily. NPR, the public radio and podcasting giant, has a new leader after years of growth and internal turmoil. Government support for the public radio system isn't in any immediate jeopardy. He began his career in media at age 17 when he was hired as a studio technician and cameraman for WPSD TV in Kentucky. 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 agency has an annual budget of $808 million. And some stations who had a schedule to go down actually were allowed to go down. During the Donald Trump administration, he held roles in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and was acting Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Community Planning and Development. Pat O'Donnell, the executive director of the union's Mid-Atlantic unit, could not be reached for comment for this story. 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. So I wouldn't create a politics podcast because there are too many, and we have the best one of many already. Were still looking at a deficit, but were hopeful that by the time we get into March, well have a pretty clear-eyed view of how the year is going to end up. I was very pleased to see Code Switch named as Apples top podcast of the year. I just think that somebody's truth is the truth. 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 . Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly. 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 other is the fight for donors. NPR maintains 17 national bureaus and 17 bureaus abroad. 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. Current: Do you have any examples of how digital operations would be integrated into divisions throughout the organization? 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. John Lansing is a former Obama appointee who was named president and CEO of NPR on Thursday. ", He continued: "Citizens in countries from Russia to China, from Iran to North Korea, have been victimized for decades. 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. Did you plan for this or did it kind of just happen? The budget for the new fiscal year is set below last years actual based on our forecasts on continued downward pressure on corporate sponsorship. 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. Scripps Networks How does the economy react to all of that? Bellarmine alumnus and former trustee John Lansing, a veteran cable television and government broadcast executive, is the new CEO of NPR. We discovered in our most recent climate survey that that was an area that we needed to put more effort into. That survey happened in the fall of 2020. Your email address will not be published. We established the top priority [a.k.a. National Public Radio (NPR) CEO John Lansing announced in a Wednesday memo that the network will lay off 10 percent of its staff and freeze vacant positions. Today, those individual situations are happening in the background when everybody's working, whether it's kids that are school age, or kids that are toddlers, or elder care, or spouses working in the same room or in the same apartment. 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. In these comments, John Lansing slides by with a public swipe at the Trump Were working with them to create regional newsrooms in Texas and California and the Midwest and in the Gulf. And I still think we have a long way to go. 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. 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 joined in October of '19. I remember we had several all-staff discussions about a variety of issues that branched off of that, including the Code of Conduct, for example, as it relates to NPR employees at public demonstrations. Why did you undertake this? As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. And weve seen that really help them grow. Current: You came to NPR after serving as CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. And what a breath of fresh air Whitney brings into the organization. I'm just passionate about how good leadership can lead to good outcomes, and that led me here. Lansing said he took pride in maintaining conventional broadcasts while appealing to new audiences, reaching about 25% more people each week. Lansing describes himself as a citizen watching from the outside A private citizen? Last year, the network booked $134 million in such corporate underwriting, a record built on strong growth in podcasting revenue in recent years. 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Courtesy of Allison Shelley for NPR. So sad to me. 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.