To succeed Lewis, NPR Board seeks 'partner' for stations
This backgrounder was written before the Nov. 11, 1998, announcement that journalist Kevin Klose will be NPR's next president. Originally published in Current, Oct. 12, 1998
By Jacqueline Conciatore
The NPR Board is nearing the end of a truly confidential search for the network's next president/c.e.o.
A search committee, comprised of board members and NPR's acting chief operating officer, Pete Loewenstein, is interviewing an eclectic candidate group, says board Chair Kim Hodgson. It will winnow the pool to probably two or three finalists, who will meet with the entire board most likely in early November, Hodgson says. NPR should announced the appointment at or before meeting the third week in November.
The organic nature of search, interview and selection processes makes it perhaps useless to predict what kind of person the board will choose. But it's clear the board's priorities have changed since that body last chose a c.e.o., in 1993. Then, it wanted foremost an executive who would position NPR to compete in the increasingly competitive media environment. There was hope for big-money deals with for-profit media partners.
Board member Jon Schwartz says the board's priorities today are evident in the strategic "framework" the board approved in July. It calls for NPR not only to strengthen its commitment to producing high-quality newsmagazines like All Things Considered, but also to develop continuous-programming streams for distribution through new means such as direct broadcast satellite. "We want more service to more Americans," Schwartz says. To accomplish this, NPR must form production partnerships, particularly station ones, and develop new revenue sources, the board says. The directors also want NPR to pay attention to in-house matters, particularly staff pay levels.
The framework further calls for NPR to improve the "effectiveness and efficiency of governance," which could lead the network to consider splitting the NPR operation into two divisions, programming and membership. Former President Delano Lewis suggested this move, saying NPR was stretching in too many directions.
Station managers for their part say they want someone who will treat them as partners, not as problems or adversaries or simply customers. The ideal person would "truly carve out a partnership with stations, [and] look at stations not necessarily as a monolith, but as various different partners," says Laura Walker, president of NPR's biggest dues-payer, WNYC. It's time to change the dynamic that has NPR always looking to stations for money, she says. "Look at us and love us for who we are."
She'd like to see more partnerships such as those NPR's News V.P. Jeffrey Dvorkin brought about in establishing news bureaus at stations around the country. "We've got some really talented people out there," Walker says. "It's an exciting time to say, 'How can we work together to create efficiencies and better programming?'"
Says Kit Jensen, g.m. of Cleveland's WCPN: "You have to pull people together in a synergistic fashion. But then there has to be a person who says, 'Let's do this, let's try that.'" The next c.e.o. must lead the system in that effort, asking big questions. "What are we trying to do? Why? Do we want a better country? Our information to be a daily mainstay? What are we trying to accomplish?"
Board members say they too want a c.e.o. who's sensitive to the need for collaboration. "Most of the things we're talking about do require excellence and skill in partnering, and a track record in it," said Schwartz. Hodgson agreed: "Go back and read the strategic framework and see how many times and how many ways we're saying that it's critical."
Matters of soul
Board members and others say there's another critical candidate criterion, pertaining to values. "We need someone who lives, eats and breathes the idea of public service," says Schwartz.
There may be different opinions about what that public service commitment looks like, but at bottom, says Station Resource Group consultant Tom Thomas, it represents a commitment to "journalism of the highest integrity and quality, a passionate stance toward America, a commitment to quality in cultural performance, and of making an active contribution to civic and political life."
To independent producer Jay Allison, it means not commoditizing NPR's identity and achievements. "There has been recently so much attention given to the brand, and my concern is by branding us too much, it kind of tarnishes our soul, because we become a product. And there are lots of products already."
Allison would also like to see NPR's next head bring independents into the fold.
Not Moyers, not Shalala
When Lewis announced his retirement in April, Hodgson promised a confidential, leak-proof search for his successor. A few names are floating around, but the board essentially has kept Hodgson's word.
Two names that came up early were those of Bill Moyers and Donna Shalala, health and human services secretary. NPR host Scott Simon says he talked with Moyers, who he believes would be an "outstanding president of NPR and for that matter of the United States." He says he also spoke to members of the search committee about Moyers, but his involvement ended there. Moyers says he is not a candidate. Susan Stamberg says she trumpeted Shalala, who prior to joining HHS was president of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Says Stamberg: "I floated it, and it's not going to happen."
The cap that restricts PBS, NPR, and CPB salaries to $151,800--a top level of federal pay--would be familiar to a Cabinet member like Shalala. But for others, such as university presidents, the pay ceiling could be a deterrent. "We've gotten some very strong candidates," says Vice Chair Bill Davis. "But, I think the salary cap is an issue this board and PBS and APTS have to deal with squarely, because--it may not this time--but at some point it could effect our ability to hire and find the best person."
Hodgson says the cap is not deterring qualified candidates. "I'm happy and even somewhat pleasantly surprised with the field and the variety," he says.
Nor is it dampening their enthusiasm; candidates are saying NPR is "an extraordinary and precious" institution, Hodgson says. The lure of the job for most of them is personal, he believes. "It stems from a real belief in what NPR does and what it stands for. . . .People are motivated for this job by a sense of the social import of this undertaking."
Earlier news: Delano Lewis announces retirement as president of NPR, 1998.
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