NPR is bracing for additional newsroom changes this week after its newly instated chief content officer, Nadine Zylstra, previewed a reorganization across News, Music and Lifestyle in a staff memo on Friday.
She assured, however, that the changes will result in “no job losses” and expressed excitement about the new “adventure” the news organization is undertaking.
The announcement came just months after NPR laid off 10 staffers and offered buyouts to at least another 18 in May.
“Over the last few weeks, I have started discussing the way we are organized as teams with a variety of people across the division,” Zylstra wrote in a memo on Friday ahead of the Indigenous Peoples Day holiday weekend. “As word of those discussions carries through the organization, I am sure many of you are asking, ‘What does this News, Music and Lifestyle thing mean for me?’ Or ‘What happens if my show is an emerging show and not a blockbuster?’
“As we head into the weekend break, I felt it was important to let all of you know that there will be no job losses associated with our future content reorganization,” she continued. “Our go forward plan will ask folks to be agile, work differently and maybe even change the job they have to do something new, but if this is an adventure you are excited to embark on, there is room for everyone. More to com on our future structure next week.”
Read the memo in full, as shared by The New York Times’ Ben Mullin, below:
Representatives for NPR did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Zylstra’s memo went on to draw parallels between today’s NPR mission and the purpose first laid out in 1970 with founding board member Bill Siemering’s foundational mission statement.
“All the way back in 1971, NRP was already audience centric,” Zylstra wrote of Siemering’s words. “Today we are able to reach those individuals directly and as we look Tod o what with greater impact, it is important that we reorganize our team so that we can carry a story across radio, podcast, video, digital, and social seamlessly.”
She then previewed that a Content Team meeting is forthcoming on Wednesday while she is in Washington, D.C. after the holiday to “talk about our future plans for the team.”
“Excited to be on this adventure with you,” the executive concluded.
NPR named Zylstra CCO in June in an effort to drive audience-centric digital strategy. Previously the global head of programming and originals for Pinterest, Zylstra said at the time that the NPR role is one she’s trained for “my whole career.”
“At Sesame Street, I learned how content can change the way people understand the world around them. At YouTube I learned to put the user at the center of the storytelling. Finally, at Pinterest I learned that there is a business to build around positivity,” she reflected. “I am humbled by the work NPR journalists and storytellers do and eager to learn all the ways in which I can help move our mission forward.”
