NPR appointed Edith Chapin as its senior vp of stories, overseeing the newsroom. She has been serving on this place on a brief foundation since autumn 2022.
Steven Voss / Steven Voss
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Steven Voss / Steven Voss
NPR appointed Edith Chapin as its senior vp of stories, overseeing the newsroom. She has been serving on this place on a brief foundation since autumn 2022.
Steven Voss / Steven Voss
NPR has taken steps to strengthen its management throughout a time of serious change by appointing seasoned newsleader Edith Chapin as its Senior Vice President of Information, Head of Public Broadcasting Information. Since autumn 2022, she has held this place on a brief foundation.
“NPR has some excellent journalists who inform tales, and being accountable for that journalism is a big privilege,” Chapin stated in a short interview Monday morning. “All of us try on daily basis to ship data and moments of pleasure to our viewers which might be helpful and related.”
Chapin led NPR for greater than a decade, becoming a member of in 2012 as overseas affairs editor after which rising to govt editor and efficient chief deputy information officer. She beforehand labored as a journalist for CNN for 1 / 4 of a century, rising from intern to vp. As a producer and task editor, she lined the election of Nelson Mandela to the presidency of South Africa, the primary Gulf Conflict, the genocide in Rwanda and Bosnia, after which helped her community cowl Hurricane Katrina and the lethal tsunami in South Asia.
“In a turbulent time, she was a agency hand and sensible recommendation to me,” NPR chief govt John Lansing stated in an interview. “Her editorial management has helped NPR create a few of the most glorious journalism we have ever had.”
Lansing additionally cited Chapin’s qualities as “her expertise main our worldwide protection, her expertise main collaborative NPR journalism with our member stations, her day-to-day management as govt editor, and her excellent efficiency as head of stories after Nancy.” [Barnes] left.”
Monetary issues and the resignation of the management shocked the editors of NPR.
Barnes stepped down as senior vp of stories final fall to grow to be editor-in-chief. Boston Globe –– after Lansing introduced that he would rent a content material director above her. This new govt ought to set NPR’s technique in an period of streaming, through which podcasts have grow to be nearly as vital to public broadcasting earnings as conventional radio exhibits. The content material director may also oversee NPR’s programming and music departments, which cowl most, although not all, of its podcasts.
Lansing’s predecessor, Jarl Mon, sacked an analogous place as chief content material officer shortly after becoming a member of in 2014 in an effort to ease tensions between radio and the digital components of the community. Nonetheless, in recent times, NPR’s information and programming departments have usually clashed over their priorities, assets, and wish for innovation.
Barnes’ departure was adopted within the following months by NPR’s announcement of a freeze on most of its spending as a result of a pointy drop in podcast revenues; the next want to fireplace and purchase out about 10 p.c of the community’s employees; the departure of CFO Deborah Cowan; departure of Chapin’s chief deputy, Terence Samuel, to grow to be editor-in-chief USA as we speak this month; and, most not too long ago, the July 14 announcement that NPR COO Will Lee might be leaving the community in lower than two years for a brand new company place that has but to be introduced.
Not all of those occasions are associated; taken collectively, they signify a serious drawback for Lansing and the community. In accordance with three folks with direct information, NPR focused Alex McCallum, a former senior govt at CNN and New York Occasions, be its chief content material supervisor. Nonetheless, earlier this month, she accepted the place of Chief Income Officer at Washington Put up.
On Monday, Lansing stated NPR had different finalists however determined to reopen the search. He stated the chain has taken the painful steps essential to make sure monetary stability given the advanced realities of the business.
“We’re beginning to press all of the cylinders once more,” he stated.
Chapin pointed to NPR’s work protecting the upcoming presidential election, its earlier protection of the pandemic, involving teams concerned in worldwide affairs, public well being and politics, as a part of an effort to strengthen its reporting by means of collaborations with native radio stations.
“The good proposition of public radio is to tie collectively the native, regional, nationwide and worldwide,” Chapin stated. “To date, we’ve demonstrated success in our work. And now we have to enhance it.”
Disclosure: This story was reported by NPR correspondent David Folkenflick, edited by Affiliate Enterprise Editor Emily Kopp. Neither high-ranking newsroom executives nor company representatives had been allowed to view this text earlier than it was launched to the general public.
