Nancy Barnes To Walk Away As NPR's Chief News Executive

NPR Newsroom

NPR's chief news executive, Nancy Barnes, said Friday she would be leaving the network, prompted by NPR CEO John Lansing's decision to create a new executive role above her.

According to a posting by NPR, a new chief content officer will oversee NPR's news and programming divisions, which have frequently collaborated and almost as frequently clashed over resources and priorities.

"As many of you have noted to me and others, there is increasingly overlap between the News and Programming divisions," Barnes wrote in a memo to staff Friday afternoon. "Now is the right time for me to pursue some other opportunities."

The development means NPR, one of a handful of vital players among national news organizations, will be searching for two top executives over news at the same time.

Nancy Barnes

Barnes called her decision "bittersweet," but wrote that she supported Lansing's decision and asked that the staff give him their support as well: "NPR is a national gem. The work we do is critically important, now more than ever."

Barnes wrote that she would stay until at least late November. Both Lansing and Barnes declined to comment for the NPR  story.

NPR's leadership in podcasting has made the popular audio form one of the network's growing sources of audiences and revenues in recent years. Yet that has come under duress from competition from other public radio players and, more recently, for-profit outfits–leading to arms races for talent, audiences and revenue.

Lansing's remarks in an initial memo to staff about the new executive job released Friday morning ahead of Barnes' revelation suggested that the network's search for a new chief content officer was driven by strategic aims and financial pressures. It reflected the changing nature of the media business, and the need to fight for audiences.

NPR faces increased competition from commercial outlets

According to the most recent figures, dating back to spring, NPR has 24 million listeners of its broadcast shows, 8 million listeners of its podcasts and 16 million distinct visitors to its website every week.

A newspaper veteran, Barnes inherited a newsroom scarred by #MeToo scandal

Barnes arrived at NPR in fall 2018 after leading the newsrooms of the Houston Chronicle and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, two major regional news organizations with strong records of enterprise reporting.

She found herself confronted with the challenge of helping to restore a staff still shaken by the behavior and departure of her predecessor Michael Oreskes. He had been forced out a year earlier over multiple accusations of sexual harassment during the #MeToo moment.

Last winter, unease erupted into public view over the departure of four female NPR hosts of color - each to other opportunities. Their decisions had been influenced by frustrations over compensation, opportunities and support. Several said they had found negotiations with the network troubling or offensive. Barnes' top executive over news magazines left the network several months later. Even so, hiring of people of color spiked upward at NPR and inside NPR News during her time.