Veteran news leader Edith Chapin has been named NPR’s senior vice president for news, making her the newsroom’s chief. Chapin has occupied this position on an acting basis since fall 2022.
Chapin joined the organization in 2012 as a foreign editor. She climbed the ranks of NPR becoming executive editor, a role that is considered the top deputy for the newsroom. Before Chapin joined NPR, she had been at CNN where she rose from an intern to network executive.
NPR chief executive John Lansing told the organization’s media reporters that Chapin has been “a steady hand and wise counsel to me,” during a “turbulent time.”
“Her editorial leadership has helped NPR produce some of the most excellent journalism that we’ve ever had,” Lansing continued.
In an interview on Monday, Chapin highlighted the journalistic talent of the NPR staff. “We all aim every day to serve our audience with information and moments of joy that are useful and relevant,” Chapin said.
Chapin’s official appointment to the newsroom post comes on the heels of a tumultuous year for NPR.
In February, Lansing announced that the outlet would be laying off 10% of its workforce as a result of declining ad revenue. The network’s cuts primarily impacted the podcast division, where four podcasts were slashed.
In the announcement to staff regarding the layoffs earlier this year, Lansing stated that NPR’s revenues are likely to fall short by more than $30 million on their annual $300 million budget.
Chapin now has the challenge of maintaining NPR’s journalistic output amid the outlet’s financial distress.
“We’ve shown success with the work so far,” said Chapin. “And now we need to scale that up.”
