Citing the "erosion of advertising dollars," National Public Radio is working on cutting its workforce by ten percent as well as eliminating currently open positions, NPR's media correspondent reported on Wednesday:
NPR's chief executive announced the network would lay off roughly 10% of its current workforce – at least 100 people – and eliminate most vacant positions. CEO John Lansing cited the erosion of advertising dollars, particularly for NPR podcasts, and the tough financial outlook for the media industry more generally.
"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. "This will be a major loss."
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.
Lansing also said that he was still "1,000 percent committed" to podcasts but said the advertising market still isn't showing signs of recovery, hence the need to cut employees to ensure budgets are met.
Adding in some woke blather, Lansing explained that "he does not yet know who within NPR will be affected, but said the job cuts would not fall evenly across the organization" and "vowed to make sure job cuts do not fall disproportionately on employees of color." So, white employees who might otherwise have kept their jobs might find themselves on the chopping block in order to keep the layoffs equitable? And how is the proportionality being determined? It's unclear how that promise can possibly be kept without letting race becoming a determining factor in who stays and who goes.
Lansing said "I don't anticipate that it would be like a haircut across every division, because that's just not management," apparently. The "final decisions on which jobs will be eliminated" are expected before the end of March.
NPR's latest round of cuts follows a November 2022 announcement that NPR would undertake a $20 million reduction in expenses that caused "a near-freeze on hiring, elimination of most travel, and suspension of internships."
Ironically, NPR's financial woes are thanks to the president and political party the biased outlet overwhelmingly props up and defends. Will this cause any soul searching about why layoffs are taking place? Probably not in any meaningful way that causes any change of heart in NPR's attitude toward fiscal conservatism.