NPR to cut jobs by 10 percent

National Public Radio is cutting around 10 percent of its workforce amid falling ad revenue and economic uncertainty, its CEO John Lansing announced Wednesday. 

The nonprofit media organization’s financial outlook “has darkened considerably” in recent weeks, Lansing wrote in a memo to staff, shared with The Hill, as it faces a “sharp decline” in revenues from corporate sponsors in a weakened ad industry. 

“We had created a plan to address a $20M sponsorship revenue falloff for FY23 but we are now projecting at least a $30M shortfall. The cuts we have already made to our budget will not be enough,” Lansing said in the memo.

“Unlike the financial challenges we faced during the worst of the pandemic, we project increasing costs and no sign of a quick revenue rebound. We must make adjustments to what we control, and that is our spending. We have reached a point where we can no longer protect all jobs,” he added.

NPR will reduce filled positions by approximately 10 percent in job cuts falling evenly across the organization, and most vacant positions will also be slashed, Lansing said. 

Leadership plans to make final decisions on which posts the new layoffs will affect by the week of March 20, after conversations internally and with unions — working to ensure the cuts don’t disproportionately impact people of color in its workforce. 

Lansing said the company has already cut $14 million in expenses through job freezes, nonessential travel restrictions and other measures — NPR axed its annual summer internship program in an effort to cut costs back in December. 

NPR joins a number of top media companies, including The Washington Post as well as CNN, that have been slashing their workforces amid economic woes and financial uncertainty. Job cuts throughout the media industry jumped up around 20 percent between 2021 and 2022, according to research released last month.