If you had to create a podcast, what would it be about? Learn more at npr.org/about or by following NPR Extra on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. On an annual budget of roughly $300 million, Lansing says, revenues are likely to fall short by close to $30 million, although that gap could reach $32 million. John Lansing is taking over for outgoing CEO Jarl Mohn, who has led the organization for . 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. Leading the organization through it all is CEO John Lansing, a longtime media executive who has been on the job since October 2019. It was hard for everyone. "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. The union represents 570 people at NPR. Courtesy of Allison Shelley for NPR. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Current is an editorially independent, nonprofit service of the American University School of Communication. Obviously, this job that you have as a CEO of NPR is a really huge responsibility. 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. ", He continued: "Citizens in countries from Russia to China, from Iran to North Korea, have been victimized for decades. NPR Names Juana Summers as Co-Host of 'All Things Considered' I established DEI as our top priority on Jan. 5 of 2020. NPR CEO Defends Journalist After Pompeo Lashes Out Over Ukraine And theyre all expected to articulate a DEI goal thats measurable, actionable, and that they can be held accountable for and will be. There are over 1000 NPR Member Station signals broadcasting across the United States 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. 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. 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. hide caption. NPR Laying Off 10 Percent of Its Workforce - townhall.com 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. NPR's rigorous reporting and unsurpassed storytelling connect with millions of Americans everydayon the air, online, and in person. 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. 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. "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. Lansing: SAG-AFTRA came out with their letter around our September board meeting in 2020. The various challenges everybody's having from working at home, for example, you realize that everybody's situation is different when you're working. Current: With broadcast listening declining during the pandemic, what is NPR doing to address and adjust to those trends? Lansing will begin his term at NPR in October and will succeed Jarl Mohn, who has been Chief Executive Officer and President since 2014. Government support for the public radio system isn't in any immediate jeopardy. Ever since I've started, I've noticed that you've been very vocal about the need for diversity. 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 now we're seeing authoritarian regimes expanding around the globe, with media repression in places like Turkey and Venezuela, Cambodia and Vietnam.". I hear that all the time. Apple is reportedly building a podcast subscription service. I'm just passionate about how good leadership can lead to good outcomes, and that led me here. So that would be mine. NPR's John Lansing Discusses the Importance of Integrity in Journalism NPR's search for a new CEO is finally over! 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. hide caption. CEO John Lansing cited the erosion of advertising dollars, particularly for NPR podcasts, and the tough financial outlook for the media industry more generally. "I have been an avid fan of NPR for many years. 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? 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. Selected by the NPR board of directors, Lansing will start in October, succeeding outgoing head Jarl Mohn, . NPR Selects Voice of America Boss as Its New Leader, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/06/business/media/npr-john-lansing.html. John Lansing testifying before a House Appropriations subcommittee in July. Current: Why are NPR and its partners looking to sell the Pocket Casts podcast app? Others have waded into the podcast fray with a vengeance. But also, what are the larger things that are happening? So at the end of the day, its a commitment, but this also has to be accountability. 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. Unlike some predecessors, Lansing doesn't face a particularly fraught political landscape. 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. Now with the magazine shows on weekdays were about 20% behind last year, which is a significant improvement over where we were about eight months ago. 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. And weve seen that really help them grow. John Lansing will begin his term as President and CEO of NPR in October, 2019. NPR has a new CEO. NPR announces layoffs, cutting jobs by 10% as ad revenue drops : NPR 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. "And we finally got to the point where there was nothing really that we could cut big enough to fill a hole like that.". 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. 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? Lansing said he took pride in maintaining conventional broadcasts while appealing to new audiences, reaching about 25% more people each week. There were about 20, 25 different meetings in the course of about 45 days. John F. Lansing (he/him) oversees one of the country's most iconic news organizations, whose rigorous reporting and unsurpassed storytelling connects with millions of Americans every day on the air, online, and in person. 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 describes himself as a citizen watching from the outside A private citizen? Lansing: We hope to have that completed within about eight to 10 weeks. He took over a troubled organization beset by infighting and bureaucratic inefficiency. And so in late 2019 we began working on a set of priorities for the calendar year 2020 that included promoting Keith Woods to chief diversity officer; putting more energy behind our effort to have 100% sourcing and notating the diversity of our sources; and hiring, leadership, unconscious bias training, et cetera. Podtrac, which measures the audiences of podcast publishers, has consistently placed NPR at the top of its monthly rankings. 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. And the work goes on. At the U.S. Agency for Global Media, Lansing championed a free press even as leaders of many nations move against it. 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. A member of the Republican Party, Gibbs was a software engineer and missionary before entering politics. administration regarding the now former managers of his former place of employment (USAGM) but claims the mantle of private citizen to do so. Last fall, when announcing the earlier cuts, Lansing said the network would have to make tough choices - and to "do less with less." He will be the 11th permanent president or chief executive in the radio network's nearly 50-year history. 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. The budget for the new fiscal year is set below last years actual based on our forecasts on continued downward pressure on corporate sponsorship. At the same time, we have to think creatively. Talk about a force of nature. So those are the four pillars that rotate around the centerpiece, we call it the North Star, of our commitment to DEI. "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. Michael was a senior marketing executive at Scripps for Food Network and HGTV and really brings a lot of media marketing expertise. We've made some good forward progress around hiring, with requiring that our hiring panels be diverse, requiring that our finalists have diverse representation at a minimum, but of course there's no maximum, in terms of a list of finalists. So Im pleased to see that that short era is over. Last year, President Trump appointed Michael Pack as USAGMs CEO. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly. Were they targeted to specific spending areas or just for general costs? John Lansing - Quick Profile. Disclosure: This story was reported by NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik under guidance from NPR chief business editor Pallavi Gogoi. You go to college and all the sudden you're like 'wait a minute, I've got to do something when this is over.' Lansing: I guess I would comment just as a citizen watching from outside. Mike Morgan/Mike Morgan When you first got to NPR, what did you think? NPR's president of operations, Loren Mayor, was the leading internal candidate for the chief executive position. The title of your piece, "Now Is A Time For Truth Telling, For Listening, And For Action," takes a bold stand in defending the urgent work of journalists during this . 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. All rights reserved. Lansing also spent almost 20 years working at Scripps, including eight years as President of Scripps Networks. ", Lansing, formerly a top television executive for the E.W. So I would tell my younger self to be confident, calm down, it's all gonna work out. Scripps Co., says whenever an economic slowdown appears imminent, marketing budgets get slashed. 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. The ratings have tanked because all they talk about is race. 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 The other is the fight for donors. President Biden will allow Congress to overturn new D.C. crime law