National Public Radio (NPR) CEO John Lansing announced in a Wednesday memo that the network will lay off 10 percent of its staff and freeze vacant positions.
The staffing cut, which will cost at least 100 people their jobs, comes in response to the “erosion” of advertising revenue, particularly for the network’s podcasts, NPR reported. Lansing said revenues are likely to fall roughly $30 million short of an annual budget of $300 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,” Lansing’s memo read. “This will be a major loss.”
News: NPR to lay off about 10 percent of its workforce.
CEO John Lansing says ad revenue for podcasting shriveled even as general economy seems on mend.
He promises NPR will build on its mission and values but adds, “”This will be a major loss.”My story: https://t.co/i14iUXJtDg
— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik) February 22, 2023
Lansing said it is currently unknown which pools of staff will be impacted by the layoffs, but final decisions will be made by March 20, the outlet reported. (RELATED: The Big Liberal Media Bloodbath Of 2022 Spills Into December)
The network predicted that its revenue would decline due to a difficult economy at the beginning of the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, according to NPR. Executives were forced to cut at least $10 million from the budget and froze hiring in November to compensate for the $20 million drop in advertising revenue. But it wasn’t enough.
“We were doing everything we could against the tide and couldn’t keep clipping our costs as the revenue kept slipping,” Lansing said of the budget cuts. “And we finally got to the point where there was nothing really that we could cut big enough to fill a hole like that.”
Major media companies have laid off a massive pool of their workers due to budgetary and profitability situations in the past year. CNN President Chris Licht fired or laid off several reporters and contributors from his staff after the network’s profit sank below $1 billion for the first time since 2016.
Gannett, the largest newspaper chain in the U.S., cut roughly six percent of its division staff, including USA Today staffers, in December due to budgetary concerns. The Washington Post terminated several employees in the same month by eliminating its stand-alone Sunday magazine, citing “economic head winds.”