Boston Radio: WGBH GM To Exit This Month

General Manager of GBH News Pam Johnston announced Monday that she plans to step down on May 31.

Johnston’s four-year tenure, which began during COVID-19 in 2020, saw a significant push into multiplatform journalism, but more recently, those efforts were overshadowed by an internal investigation into newsroom culture.

“I have decided the time is right for me to step aside to make room for a new leader to guide the next chapter at GBH News,” Johnston said in an internal statement.

Johnston said her “mission” had been to bring GBH News content to new audiences — and in particular, she focused on digital platforms.

Pam Johnston

Johnston began at GBH in 2012 as first director of audience development. She also focused on moving content across multiple platforms and on audience growth.

“Pam is well-versed in modern audience metrics and a champion for digital innovation, pushing to expand how we deliver news and information to audiences where they are — and that’s increasingly on digital and streaming platforms. Our overall audience reach has doubled in the last five years because of this digital growth,” said Susan Goldberg, president and CEO of GBH, in a joint email with COO Shane Miner circulated to GBH staff.

But also during Johnston’s tenure, questions arose over the treatment of newsroom personnel by management. A three-month investigation into the newsroom’s culture last fall — which included allegations of bullying by a top editor and an environment of intimidation and retribution — resulted in no finding against the editor and a commitment by Johnston to improve newsroom culture.

A Boston Globe article in February highlighted continued unrest in the newsroom and anger that the investigation’s findings were not shared in a written report with the newsroom, but instead described only verbally in a series of staff meetings.