NPR to impose near-freeze on hiring but avoids layoffs as budget cuts loom
NPR will need to cut at least $10 million from the current fiscal year ending next September 30, the network's chief executive, John Lansing, announced Wednesday, due to a sharp drop in revenue from sponsors.
Lansing told staffers in a memo that he intended to avoid layoffs, but would be forced to severely curtail hiring, amounting to what he described as "close to a total hiring freeze." The network will also sharply cut back discretionary spending and non-essential travel.
"As we did during the pandemic, we are prioritizing our staff and not anticipating layoffs at this time," Lansing wrote. Yet he noted that he recognized the strain that a near-freeze on hiring would put on NPR's current journalists and their non-newsroom colleagues. The figure represents approximately 3 percent of NPR's annual budget.
"It means we won't have the skills and support of the people who would have been in the roles that must remain vacant," Lansing wrote. "For those working long and stressful hours, that is not good news. But it is a reality we can't avoid if we are to save jobs."
Among the casualties: Lansing said he would slow down the search for a chief content officer, a new position that would be over the network's news and programming leaders.
Other media outlets have announced cuts that include layoffs. On Wednesday, CNN Chairman Chris Licht told the network's staff that long-planned cuts are starting. On-air contributors and full-time employees will be among those who will lose their jobs, he confirmed.
Many companies have scaled back advertising in the face of an uncertain economy. And the ongoing costs of covering the war in Ukraine have taxed newsroom budgets as well.
NPR needs to cut $10 million stems from a sharp decline in projected revenue in sponsorship - at least $20 million. Some of those losses were offset by new revenues from business agreements to license NPR content on outside platforms and from fund-raising efforts.
Lansing has an ally in the largest union at NPR, SAG/AFTRA executive director Pat O'Donnell, whose unit covers 570 employees. "It's happening other places as well, in the advertising world. I am pleased they are making determinations now as how to deal with it," O'Donnell said. "I hope that it does not result in any layoffs."
O'Donnell noted that NPR had taken a similar tack in addressing even larger shortfalls during the early stages of the pandemic. "They've not only been collaborative, they've been communicative," she said. "They talk to us. We meet every single week."
Disclosure: This article was written and reported by NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by Senior Business Editor Uri Berliner. Under the network's protocols for covering itself, no corporate officials or news executives reviewed this story before it was published. [Copyright 2022 NPR]
