You go to college and all the sudden you're like 'wait a minute, I've got to do something when this is over.' David Westin speaks with top names in finance about the week's biggest issues on Wall Street. It puts a filter on that helps us explain even unpopular decisions, how they link to our mission. My top goal is to support the women of color at NPR so that they feel like they have more upward mobility.. That said, Mohn set higher annual expectations for the network in fundraising and agreed to be co-chairman of its 50th-anniversary capital campaign. Lansing says even that proved overly optimistic. It is our work our North Star and our work are the same thing. Lansing, who is 62, is. 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. Share Your Design Ideas, New JerseysMurphy Defends $10 Billion Rainy Day Fund as States Economy Slows, What Led to Europes Deadliest Train Crash in a Decade, This Week in Crypto: Ukraine War, Marathon Digital, FTX. At a young age, my biggest goal at the time was to someday be a news director for a local TV station. During the pandemic, NPR sidestepped layoffs through temporary cuts to pay and retirement contributions, distributed with an eye to shielding less well-paid employees, so they were most sharply felt by the most highly compensated staffers and executives. NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C. So we were pleased to see SAG-AFTRA join our efforts. He served on the Bellarmine University Board of Trustees from 2010-2016 and was vice-chair 2014-2016. We saw a lot of companies react to the [murder of] George Floyd and we did too. For two years, he served as the president and CEO of a cable trade group called the Cable and Telecommunications Association for Marketing. John Lansing testifying before a House Appropriations subcommittee in July. CEO John Lansing says ad revenue for podcasting shriveled even as general economy seems on mend. The emphasis, he says, must be on drawing in "the future audience to make NPR sustainable for the next 50 years. 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. 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. The agency has an annual budget of $808 million. Inquiry Exonerates USAGM Executives Suspended By Trump Appointee - NPR Mr. Lansings colleagues attribute the growth to his embrace of digital formats and the understanding of audiences that he gleaned from the private sector. 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. But also, what are the larger things that are happening? 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. What do you think are some characteristics of good leadership? 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. We have many miles to go. (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.). You have stated that DEI is your top priority at NPR. I, and the management team, all of us, we determined that was going to be a priority for the year 2021. Under his leadership NPR has been reaching new audiences as the country's top podcast publisher and through platforms like smart-speakers and connected cars. Were working with them to do joint investigative reporting. The network's fight for listeners' time has become more feverish. 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. And what a breath of fresh air Whitney brings into the organization. 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. Leading the organization through it all is CEO John Lansing, a longtime media executive who has been on the job since October 2019. 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. How does the economy react to all of that? We'd like to revisit a story that first broke yesterday and . I just started in May. 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. 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. I thought, wow. Scripps Networks Current: How else might NPR assist stations in the coming year? Current: Why are NPR and its partners looking to sell the Pocket Casts podcast app? And I was very proud of the progress we were making. The various challenges everybody's having from working at home, for example, you realize that everybody's situation is different when you're working. 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. Let's say, I was walking out of high school into college, I had no idea what I was going to do. 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. The second pillar is to transform our workplace culture. When you first got to NPR, what did you think? 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. John Lansing, CEO, photographed for NPR, 22 January 2020, in Washington DC. NPR Press Release. 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. 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. What advice would you give to young journalists of color when navigating these white spaces, but attempting to make a change? Will there be another stimulus? 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.". 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 has a new CEO. 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. How is it a priority? Weve also seen very positive upticks in development. 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. 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. 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. We're funded by your subscriptions, your donations, advertising, and a generous grant from the Wyncote Foundation. John Lansing, the chief executive officer and director of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, will become NPR's CEO in mid-October. Current: When was the climate survey conducted? So those are the four pillars that rotate around the centerpiece, we call it the North Star, of our commitment to DEI. I joined in October of '19. Lansing's tenure at the agency has not been without controversy. "I don't anticipate that it would be like a haircut across every division, because that's just not management," Lansing says. But it was not from a standing start. 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? Bellarmine alumnus and former trustee John Lansing, a veteran cable television and government broadcast executive, is the new CEO of NPR. At the U.S. Agency for Global Media, Lansing championed a free press even as leaders of many nations move against it. 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. 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. 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. NPR strives to create a more informed publicone challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of events, ideas, and cultures. How has that effort been progressing? This is an edited transcript of the conversation among Lansing, Current Reporter Tyler Falk and Digital Editor Mike Janssen. 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. Its not a sidebar. Age: 62, Born on July 31, 1957, in Minneapolis As we moved through the summer, that deficit remained at about $25 million. And how's that being measured and accounted for? I thought, wow. NPR Facebook Post with Comments. He made his mark in his current job with stirring defenses of journalism, free from government interference. 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. administration regarding the now former managers of his former place of employment (USAGM) but claims the mantle of private citizen to do so. So that would be mine. Lansing blamed a slowdown in advertising dollars. 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. And weve seen that really help them grow. 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. 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. Were working with member stations on topic teams for, say, political reporting or criminal justice reporting across the system. "What you really want to do is be connected to people that are consuming content on something they're holding in their hand, and aren't necessarily tied to a TV set on a wall or a radio in a living room," Lansing said. hide caption. They lost their objectivity and are now just pushing leftist ideology. This is simply disingenuous. He joined NPR after serving as CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. 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. Again, I think it's about getting it intertwined into everything we do. What would you go back and tell your younger self? The Washington Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, eliminated its Sunday magazine and a handful of other jobs. August 20, 2022 August 20th is National Radio Day. Tech companies that also rely heavily on advertising are undergoing layoffs too. Lansing has earned an advanced degree in political agility. We are different from other federal agencies, said Grant K. Turner, the agencys chief financial officer. "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. I think leaders are accountable for walking the walk, for doing what they say they're going to do. Not exactly. It's not just what happened this week on the Hill, although that's important. NPR has tapped longtime media executive John Lansing to become its next president and CEO. 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. 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 . 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 rigorous reporting and unsurpassed storytelling connect with millions of Americans everydayon the air, online, and in person. He is passionate about NPR's public service mission and the role of a free and independent media in a strong democracy. 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. 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. I'm kind of a politics junkie. 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. 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. Current: With broadcast listening declining during the pandemic, what is NPR doing to address and adjust to those trends? In these comments, John Lansing slides by with a public swipe at the Trump Family Status: Married with 4 Children (Jean Rausch Lansing) Since then,. It was a reckoning for all of us together collectively at NPR. If you had to create a podcast, what would it be about? John Lansing , CEO of NPR NPR President John Lansing '09 is Bellarmine's 2021 commencement speaker, Honorary Degree recipient April 22, 2021 NPR P. 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. The ratings have tanked because all they talk about is race. And be a good listener. Prior to joining USAGM, he served for two years as the President and CEO of the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM), an organization that facilitates collaborative marketing initiatives for its members. Lansing, who is 62, is. Podtrac, which measures the audiences of podcast publishers, has consistently placed NPR at the top of its monthly rankings. He served for four years as the SVP, Television for the E.W. NPR Names John Lansing President And CEO : NPR - NPR.org That survey happened in the fall of 2020. 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. 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. NPR's John Lansing Discusses the Importance of Integrity in Journalism "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.". We can share resources and story ideas, and we can help organize and support those efforts. NPR Announces Layoffs In 'Major Loss' For Network I established DEI as our top priority on Jan. 5 of 2020. Lansing: Thats a great question. And its where our focus needs to be right now. 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. 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. It's interesting. While serving as chief operating officer, she took on a greater role during two of Mohn's medical leaves and in the aftermath of the sexual harassment scandal. Vegas PBS General Manager, Tom Axtell, announces his retirement. Board Member. NPR faces financial pressures from two fronts. Applicants to this years fellowship see its cancellation as a setback for journalists of color who want to work in public radio. Lansing: Were still working on it right now. 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. But were going to continue to follow up on that going into this year. John F Lansing, National Public Radio Inc: Profile and Biography - Bloomberg Markets Live Now Bloomberg TV+ Bloomberg Daybreak Middle East Bloomberg Daybreak Middle East. 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. John Lansing will begin his term as President and CEO of NPR in October, 2019. Lansing: Lets go back in time. Current: How much were those anonymous gifts? He also vowed to make sure job cuts do not fall disproportionately on employees of color. It began to improve a little bit as we moved into August and September, as corporate sponsorships began to recover a little bit. . 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. 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. Harvard Kennedy School. 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. For the year that ended last September, NPR reported $241 million in expenses. We are not just putting out regulations or policies and paperwork. I think there are interesting trends to follow and try to understand. The only route to a successful engagement on this issue is to deal with it, to talk about it, and to take action. Lansing describes himself as a citizen watching from the outside A private citizen? 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. All of those underlying effects generally lead to whatever effects were going to have in corporate sponsorship. To be a part of creating the future of such an important institution is humbling, exciting, and a distinct honor.". There were three of them, each for $1 million. Lansing: They were for general. John Lansing Email & Phone Number - National Pu.. | ZoomInfo And now in our budgeting were shifting some revenue for Michael to use that to promote and support our podcasts as they compete, as you note, with other large commercial businesses. hide caption. 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. It did not drive a lot of immediate donations, but there were some. Considering the demise of local newspapers around the country and the growth of our member stations newsrooms around the country, were really working hard to support their local journalism, because its so important to us. How do you think that the North Star, the strategic initiative, is going? "Nothing is nailed down yet except the principles and what we know we have to reach.". The last time NPR faced such stark choices, it was 2008. 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. And it really opened the funnel. NPR will cut 10% of its workforce, CEO John Lansing said Wednesday. 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. I would enjoy being on a podcast talking about politics. Its not something weve baked and were just going to hand it down. And some stations who had a schedule to go down actually were allowed to go down. And the fourth one is to diversify and grow our revenue models so that were not overly reliant on one or two revenue streams to help strengthen our future financials. Prior to that, Lansing was VP and GM of Scripps ABC affiliates. "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. Mr. Lansing, who began his career as a teenage cameraman at a television station in Kentucky, spent two decades at Scripps Networks. For several years, it eliminated salary increases and suspended retirement contributions. The newsroom currently stands at just shy of 490 people, while programming has shot up to 230. Mohn led NPR through five consecutive years of audience growth and budget surplus. advanced degree - political agility. 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. He held off a push by House Republicans to spin off Voice of America into a nongovernmental broadcaster. 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. Selected by the NPR board of directors, Lansing will start in October, succeeding outgoing head Jarl Mohn, 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.