For two years, he served as the president and CEO of a cable trade group called the Cable and Telecommunications Association for Marketing. "Nothing is nailed down yet except the principles and what we know we have to reach.". Live from. 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 . 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 programming division, which produces its industry-leading podcasts, has more than doubled since 2019. If it's not being solved from the top down, it shouldn't be a burden for people just trying to build their career. Current: You came to NPR after serving as CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. 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? Discovery, CNN cut hundreds of jobs and killed off its brand-new streaming service, CNN+. 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. 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. 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. 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. Then I moved on to manage TV stations and cable networks. We still remain one of the top, if not the top, podcasters in America. 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. 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. John Lansing , CEO of NPR NPR President John Lansing '09 is Bellarmine's 2021 commencement speaker, Honorary Degree recipient April 22, 2021 NPR P. 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. NPR takes only a few million dollars a year from federal sources for its programs. 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. 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. This documentary-style series follows investigative journalists as they uncover the truth. Its an inclusive process. 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 . document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Current is an editorially independent, nonprofit service of the American University School of Communication. NPR hosts' departures fuel questions over race. The full story is I am still morning the loss of an objective NPR. It really stretched me to understand that flexibility is a good thing. So I think that it has caused me to be more tuned in to hearing and understanding our employees. He made his mark in his current job with stirring defenses of journalism, free from government interference. 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. Weve seen a gradual comeback. 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. So I would tell my younger self to be confident, calm down, it's all gonna work out. There was one the year before I was here, then this was the follow-up. We established management commitments to the women of color so that we address specifically their concerns. Lansing started his news industry career at age 17 as a studio technician and cameraman at WPSD TV, Paducah, KY, where he was promoted to news photographer after two years. Harvard Kennedy School. ", "I am thrilled to work with NPR's exceptional management team, staff and journalists," said Lansing. 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. John Lansing Email & Phone Number - National Pu.. | ZoomInfo Lansing: Thats a great question. The Washington Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, eliminated its Sunday magazine and a handful of other jobs. advanced degree - political agility. Disclosure: This story was reported by NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik under guidance from NPR chief business editor Pallavi Gogoi. NPR's search for a new CEO is finally over! I think that's where we all wind up. The first pillar is to expand the power of the national-local partnership into the on-demand future. 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. People, given the opportunity, will do the right thing in a way that hopefully makes them want to be here for a long time. He was promoted to news photographer after two years, then moved on to managing editor, news director, and leadership of commercial television affiliates around the country. I joined in October of '19. Tech companies that also rely heavily on advertising are undergoing layoffs too. 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? 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. He will be the 11th permanent president or chief executive in the radio network's nearly 50-year history. Their editorial independence is enshrined in federal law, though it sometimes came under attack. 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. How is it a priority? 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. 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. Were working with member stations on topic teams for, say, political reporting or criminal justice reporting across the system. 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 had been gone for the better part of a year or so. Current: Why are NPR and its partners looking to sell the Pocket Casts podcast app? This time, Lansing says he is not confident the money will return anytime soon, so the network and its board have to plan more strategically. 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. That's something that perceptive journalists should be able to pick up pretty quickly. Obviously, this job that you have as a CEO of NPR is a really huge responsibility. How cool is it to be at. 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. "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. And some stations who had a schedule to go down actually were allowed to go down. 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 He won praise for doing so and says he informed leaders of SAG-AFTRA on Tuesday about the impending job cuts. I just started in May. 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. Apple is reportedly building a podcast subscription service. 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. Lansing served for ten years as a visiting faculty member at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. We'd like to revisit a story that first broke yesterday and . And how's that being measured and accounted for? NPR's president of operations, Loren Mayor, was the leading internal candidate for the chief executive position. David Folkenflik on Twitter: "News: NPR to lay off about 10 percent of 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. 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. Prior to that, Lansing was VP and GM of Scripps ABC affiliates. 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. There were about 20, 25 different meetings in the course of about 45 days. 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%. But my goals also go to all of my direct reports. So its a constant commitment to communication, to training, to accountability. 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. NPR is funded by the CPB/PBS which are funded in part by the U.S. government. How has that effort been progressing? And I was very proud of the progress we were making. Vegas PBS General Manager, Tom Axtell, announces his retirement. 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. 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. 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. Arcbazar.com. All rights reserved. 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. 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. 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. John Lansing Jr. - Wikipedia NPR maintains 17 national bureaus and 17 bureaus abroad. Scripps Networks From 2015 to 2019, Lansing served as the CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the independent federal agency whose programming reaches an average weekly audience of 345 million people in 62 languages. Mike Morgan/Mike Morgan When you first got to NPR, what did you think? 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. 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. Lansing: They were for general. "The combination of his health issues plus the situation with Mike Oreskes did derail his plans.". 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. NPR plans to lay off about 10% of its current staff due to the soft ad market and a drop in revenue from corporate sponsors, as well as uncertainties in the global economy overall. There are over 1000 NPR Member Station signals broadcasting across the United States "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. 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? Lansing, who is 62, is. Lansing describes himself as a citizen watching from the outside A private citizen? And its tied to the same variables you would know yourselves, which is, how fast can the vaccines be deployed? 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. During 2021, we worked on that with Keith and with Diversity and Inclusion Manager Whitney Maddox. NPR's Incoming Chief Dumped $10M In Stock Amid SEC Probe While At Prior Michael was a senior marketing executive at Scripps for Food Network and HGTV and really brings a lot of media marketing expertise. (On NPR's radio side, advertising takes the form of underwriting, as corporate sponsors are not permitted to call for listeners to purchase goods or services.). An NPR spokeswoman said final decisions on which jobs will be eliminated should occur by the week of March 20. Unlike some predecessors, Lansing doesn't face a particularly fraught political landscape. John Gibbs (government official) - Wikipedia US Media Propaganda. Drawing "Liberals" and "Leftists" into the CIA's I hear that all the time. And theyre all expected to articulate a DEI goal thats measurable, actionable, and that they can be held accountable for and will be. A new chief content officer will oversee NPR's news and programming divisions, which have frequently collaborated and almost as frequently clashed over resources and . ", "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. 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, who is 62, is. Just be tuned into our folks. And its where our focus needs to be right now. "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.". (Former long time member). Essentially, the success of the company falls in your hands. Ever since I've started, I've noticed that you've been very vocal about the need for diversity. I'm kind of a politics junkie. All of those underlying effects generally lead to whatever effects were going to have in corporate sponsorship. 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. Last fall, when announcing the earlier cuts, Lansing said the network would have to make tough choices - and to "do less with less." The roots of the VOA involved providing truthful reports to people under Nazi and Axis power rule during World War II. Both Lansing and Sheikholeslami say he is adamant about pressing forward with reforms to the workplace culture at NPR that Mayor has already started to put in place. 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 . Since then,. NPR hosts' departures fuel questions over race. The full story is Mr. Lansing will start in October, replacing Jarl Mohn, who has run NPR since 2014. 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. And as the year unfolded, we began to develop our three-year strategic plan. CEO John Lansing cited the erosion. As we got to April of last spring, we saw a massive deficit develop for NPR on the order of about $25 million. 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. Lansing: I dont know how long that may or may not take, but our emphasis right now is on our own internal digital strategy, digital production, digital storytelling. 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. 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. First, we're a nonprofit. 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. 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. 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. "The result, I believe, is a war on truth. But it was not from a standing start. 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. Lansing has won plaudits from journalists for his rousing defense of a free press even while serving in the Trump administration, which has been notably hostile to traditional notions of the role of journalism in civic life. John Lansing, president and CEO Chair of the NPR Foundation John McGinn Public members of the board Carlos Alvarez, CEO, The Gambrinus Company Fred Dust, designer, speaker, and consultant Paul G. Haaga Jr., retired, Capital Research and Management Company - Chairman of the NPR Board of Directors 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. When will that freeze be lifted? Within a few weeks, Lansing became convinced that projection would be unreachable. Lansing previously held positions overseeing the Scripps Co.'s local television stations and then its national cable channels, which include the Food Network and HGTV, among others. No. Lansing has earned an advanced degree in political agility. "Jarl would be the first to say that it is the area where he feels that his work was not complete," Sheikholeslami said. 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. But we felt like it was an important investment to make in our member stations to support them during the pandemic. National Public Radio will reduce its workforce by 10 percent as it grapples with what CEO John Lansing says is a "sharp . Well, I'm fortunate that we have a terrific executive committee and leadership team, so we all share the daily ins and outs of managing a big organization. Oh wait. Required fields are marked *. The ratings have tanked because all they talk about is race. Vox Media cut jobs by 7%; Gannett and Spotify by 6%. The network's fight for listeners' time has become more feverish. Courtesy of Allison Shelley for NPR. What would you go back and tell your younger self? Such distinctions between news and programming are tricky, however, as programming oversees podcasts, including those that perform journalistic functions, such as Code Switch, It's Been A Minute, Planet Money, and Throughline. Its something that we certainly support. 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. 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. 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. ", He continued: "Citizens in countries from Russia to China, from Iran to North Korea, have been victimized for decades. 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. It puts a filter on that helps us explain even unpopular decisions, how they link to our mission. And our number one goal is to improve our audience diversity. NPR CEO Defends Journalist After Pompeo Lashes Out Over Ukraine 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. 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. Current: NPRs budget also took a hit because of the pandemic. How are you working to shore up NPRs place in the podcasting landscape and compete with deep-pocketed tech companies? Fearing a tepid economy, Lansing and his corporate team projected that revenue would stay flat for the fiscal year that began October 1. 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. He took over a troubled organization beset by infighting and bureaucratic inefficiency. And probably the most important accountability is that, first of all, I hold myself accountable with my goals that I report to the board. 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 agency has an annual budget of $808 million. hide caption. And the work goes on. NPR Names Juana Summers as Co-Host of 'All Things Considered' NPR will cut 10% of its workforce, CEO John Lansing said Wednesday. 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. How cool is it to be at NPR? Being a changemaker is awesome, but can have its own challenges as you're just trying to improve your career. An open letter to NPR President John Lansing: Racial justice - Current NPR has tapped longtime media executive John Lansing to become its next president and CEO. NPR Press Release. Every time I hear it, I think that's a success by itself because we all have that as our guiding light. Selected by the NPR board of directors, Lansing will start in October, succeeding outgoing head Jarl Mohn, In recent remarks online, Johnson, who is Black, focused on a more competitive landscape for NPR journalists, including people of color. hide caption. I think there are interesting trends to follow and try to understand. I think there's an awareness, like in the way you asked the question about 'our North Star.' "When we say we are eliminating filled positions, we are talking about our colleagues - people whose skills, spirit and talents help make NPR what it is today," Lansing wrote in a memo to staff today. NPRs search for a new CEO is finally over! And Im holding myself accountable with my board and Ive been and am holding my direct reports accountable to me. NPR Selects Voice of America Boss as Its New Leader, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/06/business/media/npr-john-lansing.html. 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. 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. It is our work our North Star and our work are the same thing. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly. At the center of a graphic is our commitment to DEI, and all of our work in that circle is surrounded by four pillars. 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. We have many miles to go. 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. CEO John Lansing says ad revenue for podcasting shriveled even as general economy seems on mend.