This is simply disingenuous. Lansing will start in his new position in mid-October. Selected by the NPR board of directors, Lansing will start in October, succeeding outgoing head Jarl Mohn, Scripps Company, where he managed the company's portfolio of ten broadcast television stations across the country. But it was not from a standing start. I can't speak for other people, CEOs. I established DEI as our top priority on Jan. 5 of 2020. Disclosure: This story was reported by NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik under guidance from NPR chief business editor Pallavi Gogoi. 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 are you working to shore up NPRs place in the podcasting landscape and compete with deep-pocketed tech companies? "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. 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. ", "I am thrilled to work with NPR's exceptional management team, staff and journalists," said Lansing. Just be tuned into our folks. John Lansing will begin his term as President and CEO of NPR in October, 2019. "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. NPR Lansing will begin his term at NPR in October and will succeed Jarl Mohn, who has been Chief Executive Officer and President since 2014. The other is the fight for donors. 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. 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 . He took over a troubled organization beset by infighting and bureaucratic inefficiency. That survey happened in the fall of 2020. It's interesting. 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. Mr. Lansing will start in October, replacing Jarl Mohn, who has run NPR since 2014. Its an inclusive process. John Lansing, the chief executive officer and director of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, will become NPR's CEO in mid-October. NPR strives to create a more informed publicone challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of events, ideas, and cultures. 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. So were now into the new fiscal year. Others have waded into the podcast fray with a vengeance. Current: What are some of the highlights of that strategic plan? 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 is a media executive with a deep understanding of journalism, having spent two decades as an award-winning journalist, successful newsroom leader and major market local media executive before becoming a global chief executive officer. Mohn led NPR through five consecutive years of audience growth and budget surplus. hide caption. 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. 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. Lansing: Thats a great question. 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. I'm sure that's true even today. 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. "We managed to get through that year, tough as it was, and to end the year break even," Mr. Lansing said. The varied broadcasters also offered jazz and other music to appeal to people under Communist regimes using a soft form of diplomacy. He will now lead the nations top audio producer and broadcaster. Why? Let's say, I was walking out of high school into college, I had no idea what I was going to do. Current: NPR and a group of stations started a pilot project around collaborative fundraising in 2019. What steps does NPR still need to take in this area? 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 maintains 17 national bureaus and 17 bureaus abroad. It really stretched me to understand that flexibility is a good thing. I thought, wow. 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%. Ever since I've started, I've noticed that you've been very vocal about the need for diversity. The Lookout is a free, daily email newsletter with news and happenings from all over Colorado. We can help you keep up. I just started in May. Lansing will start in his new position in mid-October. Video Snippet My top goal is to support the women of color at NPR so that they feel like they have more upward mobility.. How is it a priority? The work of those pillars will be done through the lens of improving our efforts on DEI. 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. But were going to continue to follow up on that going into this year. 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. I'm from Minneapolis, and my parents are buried about six blocks from where George Floyd was killed. He guided the organization in becoming a leading developer of unique content across television, digital, mobile and radio platforms. Listen now. John Lansing is a former Obama appointee who was named president and CEO of NPR on Thursday. So Im pleased to see that that short era is over. Bloomberg Markets European Close. Were they targeted to specific spending areas or just for general costs? administration regarding the now former managers of his former place of employment (USAGM) but claims the mantle of private citizen to do so. Their editorial independence is enshrined in federal law, though it sometimes came under attack. First, we're a nonprofit. Being a changemaker is awesome, but can have its own challenges as you're just trying to improve your career. 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. That with a combination of expense cuts, including our employees and our management all taking voluntary pay cuts and benefit cuts, helped close that deficit gap. 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. Mr. Lansing rejected that accusation, saying that the agency was independent by law. 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. NPR Start Date: Mid October, 2020 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. 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. Mr. Lansing, who began his career as a teenage cameraman at a television station in Kentucky, spent two decades at Scripps Networks. 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. That's the way I think about leadership here. We are not just putting out regulations or policies and paperwork. The roots of the VOA involved providing truthful reports to people under Nazi and Axis power rule during World War II. 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. The various challenges everybody's having from working at home, for example, you realize that everybody's situation is different when you're working. Lansing was most recently the CEO of USAGM, a $800 million dollar independent federal agency that operates on multiple platforms reaching an average weekly audience of 345 million in 61 languages. Vegas PBS General Manager, Tom Axtell, announces his retirement. And some stations who had a schedule to go down actually were allowed to go down. Every time I hear it, I think that's a success by itself because we all have that as our guiding light. John Lansing, a veteran government broadcast and cable television executive, has been selected by NPRs corporate board to succeed its current chief, Jarl Mohn. I got this part time job at a TV station to make a little money while I was going to college. 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. Lansing, who is 62, is. 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. "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.". Lansing blamed a slowdown in advertising dollars. 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. 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.. And were pleased to work with them. While member stations on average receive about 10 percent of their funding from the federal government, fees from the stations make up a significant part of the NPR budget. Lansing: Back in May and June, it was an alarming decline in radio ratings. NPR has also been the nations leading producer of podcasts, since Podtrac started measuring the audiences. Lansing says the agency referred Haroon Ullahs 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. I think leaders are accountable for walking the walk, for doing what they say they're going to do. Ever since you started, you've been very vocal about it. 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. 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. "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. Then I moved on to manage TV stations and cable networks. 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. I'm kind of a politics junkie. So sad to me. It was a reckoning for all of us together collectively at NPR. "Governments around the world are increasingly cracking down on the free flow of information; silencing dialogue and dissent; and distorting reality," Lansing said in a speech he delivered in May to the Media for Democracy Forum. This is an edited transcript of the conversation among Lansing, Current Reporter Tyler Falk and Digital Editor Mike Janssen. Lansing's previous experience includes nine years as President of Scripps Networks, where he is credited with guiding the company to become a leading developer of unique content across various media platforms including television, digital, mobile and publishing. Lansing said he took pride in maintaining conventional broadcasts while appealing to new audiences, reaching about 25% more people each week. 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. "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. It's not just what happened this week on the Hill, although that's important. And the pandemic hit six months later in March of '20. Or 'How are we doing on the North Star?' 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? NPR has a new CEO. Bloomberg Markets live from New York, focused on bringing you the most important global business and breaking markets news and information as it happens. That said, Mohn set higher annual expectations for the network in fund-raising and agreed to be co-chairman of its 50th anniversary capital campaign. 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. Our newsletters bring you a closer look at the stories that affect you and the music that inspires you. I would enjoy being on a podcast talking about politics. I had no idea what was out there. But an example of that one that weve already created is the Consider This podcast, which is just a terrific example of taking the national-local partnership into the on-demand future. At the US Agency for Global Media, Lansing championed a free press even as leaders of many nations move against it. He held off a push by House Republicans to spin off Voice of America into a non-governmental broadcaster. Current: Do you have any examples of how digital operations would be integrated into divisions throughout the organization? We can share resources and story ideas, and we can help organize and support those efforts. 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. So we were pleased to see SAG-AFTRA join our efforts. John Lansing, a veteran government broadcast and cable television executive, has been selected by NPR's corporate board to succeed its current chief, Jarl Mohn. Lansing: Lets go back in time. NPR's president of operations, Loren Mayor, was the leading internal candidate for the chief executive position. In terms of mission, understanding of media, the depth of experience, his strategic leadership, his commitment to people and culture, I would say those were really the key things that we were looking for, said Goli Sheikholeslami, vice chairwoman of the NPR board of directors and CEO of Chicago Public Media. And the work goes on. Apple is reportedly building a podcast subscription service. 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. (Podcast). Courtesy of Allison Shelley for NPR. Current: NPRs budget also took a hit because of the pandemic. 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. Scripps Networks September 5, 2019; Washington, D.C. - The NPR Board of Directors announced today that it. That said, Mohn set higher annual expectations for the network in fundraising and agreed to be co-chairman of its 50th-anniversary capital campaign. But we made a firm commitment, as you know, to freeze station dues and fees. 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. There's always going to be things here and there that have to be worked out, because that's just the way a company is, but I've never been in a company before where it was so understood that we're here to serve the American people. So I wouldn't create a politics podcast because there are too many, and we have the best one of many already. And its tied to the same variables you would know yourselves, which is, how fast can the vaccines be deployed? 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. The roots of the VOA involved providing truthful reports to people under Nazi and Axis power rule during World War Two. 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. He will be the 11th permanent president or chief executive in the radio network's nearly 50-year history. NPR Names Veteran Media Executive John Lansing As Its New CEO, News That Matters, Delivered To Your Inbox. Lansing: We arent in a position to answer that until we know for sure when the pandemic is going to subside. I think we're moving forward. NPR Facebook Post with Comments. 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 also elevated to chief strategy officer a former U.S. State Department staffer who recently pleaded guilty to having defrauded the U.S. Agency for Global Media out of more than $40,000 in government money in 2018, according to federal prosecutors. 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. John Lansing testifying before a House Appropriations subcommittee in July. Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world. 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. We have many miles to go. How do you think that the North Star, the strategic initiative, is going? And I still think we have a long way to go. NPR stands stronger than it did at the outset of Mohn's five-year term in 2014. [1] [2] Born and raised in Albany, New York, Lansing was trained as a lawyer, and was long involved in politics and government. Lansing: When we look at our strategic plan and our commitment to growing our audience of the future, its clear to us that every corner of NPR has a digital on-demand initiative thats critical to our success and that it makes more sense to have the digital assets closer to the work thats influencing our audiences and growing our audiences. 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. Fear drives their path. 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. 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. But we felt like it was an important investment to make in our member stations to support them during the pandemic. A number of executives will report directly to Lansing, including Nancy Barnes, senior vice president for news and editorial director, who joined NPR last November and oversees the networks newsroom. Mohn fired head of news Michael Oreskes on Halloween 2017. Lansing has earned an advanced degree in political agility. In an interview, Lansing said he wants to build on NPRs successes in broadcast news and entertainment to become even more dominant in podcasting and more prevalent in streaming. Lansing has earned an advanced degree in political agility. Since then, sponsorship revenue has returned, Mr. Lansing said, and NPR was able to navigate the pandemic without cutting staff. department of treasury austin texas 73301 phone number; wii sports club unable to acquire data; randolph high school track and field; huntley ritter parents 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. All rights reserved. Way back when, I was a news cameraman. Current: How much were those anonymous gifts? 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. According to Nielsen data supplied by NPR, its programs and newscasts had an overall audience of 27.4 million in spring 2019. 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. Experts say the behavior could have constituted insider trading. Current: NPR has helped stations during the pandemic by delaying planned changes to the dues they pay. 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. August 20, 2022 August 20th is National Radio Day. And weve seen some significant success with that. Jarl would be the first to say that it is the area where he feels that his work was not complete, Sheikholeslami said. Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnlansing. I just think that somebody's truth is the truth. The ratings for our weekend magazine shows are actually slightly greater than they were a year ago pre-pandemic, so thats a bright spot. I think that's where we all wind up. John Lansing, CEO, photographed for NPR, 22 January 2020, in Washington DC. Lansing, who is 62, is currently . He joined NPR after serving as CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. 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. 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. Their editorial independence is enshrined in federal law, though it sometimes came under attack. ", He continued: "Citizens in countries from Russia to China, from Iran to North Korea, have been victimized for decades. It didnt begin in the summer it accelerated in the summer. To be a part of creating the future of such an important institution is humbling, exciting, and a distinct honor.". NPR has a new CEO. You'll find out about what they do and what. Its not something weve baked and were just going to hand it down. She also has led initiatives to reform hiring practices and to sweep far more temporary positions into permanent slots, often working closely with the networks chief unions to do so. It is our work our North Star and our work are the same thing. 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.". We established the top priority [a.k.a. Required fields are marked *. 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. Lansing: We hope to have that completed within about eight to 10 weeks. And our number one goal is to improve our audience diversity.