NPR chief executive John Lansing says he intends to retire at the end of 2023. His four-year tenure will be defined by his handling of the extreme challenges of the pandemic, a racial reckoning, and headwinds in the podcasting industry that led to severe layoffs.
“I haven’t accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish, but I feel good about the time I had here,” Lansing says in an interview.
Lansing says the network is currently back in the black, stabilized in part by additional subsidies from the NPR Foundation. And he says it’s poised to prosper after making tough but necessary moves, including the job cuts and a reorganization of the network’s executive ranks.
“I thought he did a good job,” says Pat O’Donnell, executive director of SAG-AFTRA Washington-Mid Atlantic local, which represents more than 500 employees. “He did the best he could. Crisis after crisis — oh my God.”
She cites Lansing’s constant communication with staff during the pandemic, his conciliatory approach to union negotiations, his emphasis on diversity, and his willingness to ensure the network offered laid-off employees more generous severance terms than required under the existing contract.
During Lansing’s tenure, NPR’s journalists reported on the pandemic from all over the globe even as the network grappled with how to broadcast live during it; it covered crises challenging the state of the nation’s democracy, severe economic turbulence, mass protests around the country, and war in Ukraine. NPR won its first Pulitzer Prize in 2021 among other leading journalism recognitions.
“Our work has never been more important. Our shows and journalists are world-class and are serving the American public with the most professional, contextual and truthful information when it has never been more important in our country,” Lansing says.