R.I.P.: Former NPR Chief Frank Mankiewicz

Frank Mankiewic (NPR Photo)

Frank Mankiewicz, who came from a family of Hollywood luminaries but forged his own path in Washington politics and media, serving as a top aide to presidential candidates Robert F. Kennedy and George S. McGovern, as an ambitious president of National Public Radio and as a rainmaker at a prominent public relations firm, died Oct. 23 at a Washington hospital.

He was 90 and the cause was a heart attack, reports The Washington Post.

Mr. Mankiewicz was a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge and, in a career spanning six decades, a lawyer, journalist, author, congressional candidate and player in liberal Democratic politics.

Mankiewicz took over National Public Radio in 1977. The outfit was so obscure at the time that he had never listened to a broadcast, he said, and his mandate was to use his political connections and publicity skill to raise the organization’s profile.

During his six years at the helm, the NPR news department more than doubled and listenership nearly tripled. He helped start the popular program “Morning Edition” in 1979; opened the first overseas bureau, in London; and used his access to top Democratic lawmakers such as Senate Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd (W.Va.) to obtain gavel-to-gavel radio coverage of important hearings.

Such initiatives brought the network prestige and acclaim, but NPR couldn’t keep pace financially with the aggressive growth. Meanwhile, the Reagan administration moved in the early 1980s to cut public broadcasting funding, spurring Mr. Mankiewicz to make a then-startling push for commercial underwriting.

Mankiewicz’s tenure ended with a $5.8 million deficit, which nearly pushed NPR into bankruptcy before the Corporation for Public Broadcasting granted a last-minute funding reprieve.

The crisis resulted in the decentralization of future funding, with local stations receiving more money and greater control over programming. Mr. Mankiewicz had fervent supporters and detractors, but he was generally credited with helping to transform the network into a vastly more influential news operation.

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