Edith Chapin, NPR’s editor-in-chief and Chief Content Officer, told colleagues on Tuesday she is stepping down later this year.
Chapin’s announcement comes just days after the Senate and House voted in favor of President Trump’s plan to claw back $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the entity that funds both NPR and PBS.
In a brief interview with NPR’s media reporter, David Folkenflik, Chapin said she surprised NPR CEO Katherine Maher two weeks ago with her plan to leave.
“I have had two big executive jobs for two years and I want to take a break. I want to make sure my performance is always top-notch for the company,” she told NPR.
Chapin has been with NPR since 2012, joining the organization after spending 25 years at CNN, and has been NPR’s top editor since 2023. She was also named NPR’s acting CCO a few months later and has retained the title since.
Her impending exit follows President Trump’s successful push to defund NPR and PBS, which has been a key focus of his since reentering the White House earlier this year. In May, President Trump signed an executive order calling for the end of taxpayer subsidization of PBS and NPR, two outlets he has called “radical left monsters” that have a bias against conservatives.
“Unlike in 1967, when the CPB was established, today the media landscape is filled with abundant, diverse and innovative news options,” the order said. “Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary, but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.”
The president then formally called on Congress to cancel public broadcaster funding over the next two years via a rescission request, which needed a simple majority in both the House and the Senate for approval. Congress approved that plan last week, taking back $1.1 billion that had been earmarked for public broadcasters over the next two years.
Maher, in an interview with Status, said NPR was taking a “moment to mourn” the defunding of public broadcasters. She also said NPR would be reducing its operating budget by $8 million, following the cuts.
