NPR Layoffs Begin, Podcasts Canceled
• NPR has begun its announced layoffs of approximately 10% of its staff — at least 100 people – and eliminate most vacant positions — as it seeks to close a yawning budget gap that stands in excess of $30 million. “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,” CEO John Lansing (pictured) wrote in a staff memo. “This will be a major loss.”
Concurrent with these painful layoffs, NPR announced it had stopped production of a trio of acclaimed seasonal podcasts — Invisibilia, Louder Than a Riot and Rough Translation. The network also canceled a comedy podcast launched a year ago called Everyone & Their Mom, a spinoff of NPR mainstay, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. “We literally are fighting to secure the future of NPR at this very moment by restructuring our cost structure. It’s that important,” Lansing said in an interview. “It’s existential.”
NPR’s financial woes can be traced mainly to advertisers’ growing reluctance to spend money, particularly on podcasting, in an uncertain economy. Other media outlets, including Gannett, CNN and Vox Media, and tech powerhouses such as Amazon, Google and Meta also have had layoffs in recent months.
Lansing said the network sought to protect its core public service mission of journalism while preserving what he calls its “North Star.” Since joining NPR four years ago, Lansing has pushed to ensure the network has a bigger and broader audience base, rooted in younger and more diverse listeners, readers and consumers who will serve as the next generation of NPR supporters.
The network has not revealed the names of those who have been downsized, choosing instead to let those departing decide how to share the news — like Karen Grigsby Bates, a senior correspondent for the Code Switch team based at NPR West in Culver City, CA, who revealed on Twitter that she had been let go. A number of longtime NPR staffers have also chosen to leave. Senior European Correspondent Sylvia Poggioli, who has been with NPR for a remarkable 41 years, announced her retirement last week, while correspondent Jason Beaubien posted his departure to Twitter, announcing he was leaving “to spend more time with my goats.”
