Posted on 05/09/2014 9:55:43 AM PDT by Drango
Media industry veteran Jarl Mohn will be NPR's new CEO, the organization's board of directors has announced.
Mohn, 62, currently sits on the board of directors at several media organizations, including Scripps Networks Interactive and Web analytics company ComScore. He is also on the boards of KPCC Southern California Public Radio and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
Announcing the hire, Kit Jensen, who chairs NPR's board of directors, said Mohn has "an ability to find nuanced and new ideas." He is slated to start work at NPR on July 1.
The move to NPR represents something of a return for Mohn — he worked as a radio disc jockey for about two decades before joining MTV as an executive in 1986. He later became president and CEO of E! Entertainment Television before moving on to other enterprises, including a stint on the board of XM Radio.
Mohn will be NPR's fifth permanent or acting CEO since January 2009, following a procession of executives who served relatively short tenures: (2009-2011), (2011-2013) and Paul Haaga Jr., who became the company's interim CEO last fall. That span also includes former NPR general counsel Joyce Slocum, who served as acting CEO in 2011.
Knell left in August to become president and CEO at the National Geographic Society, which he said at the time was an opportunity "I could not turn down."
The transition from Knell to Haaga the following month coincided with an announcement that NPR planned to to its employees in an effort to balance its budget.
Those financial issues are not yet settled: NPR's budget for the current fiscal year includes a projected "operating cash deficit of $6.1 million, or 3 percent of revenues," according to a note from Jensen explaining the buyout plan last fall.
Here's how Mohn's career is described by his profile page at :
"Mr. Mohn was the founding President of Liberty Digital Inc., a publicly traded subsidiary of Liberty Media Group involved in interactive television, cable television networks and Internet enterprises, and served as its Chief Executive Officer from June 1999 to March 2002.
Prior to founding Liberty Digital, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of E! Entertainment Television. From 1986 to 1989, Mr. Mohn was Executive Vice President and General Manager of MTV and VH1. His professional career also includes twenty years in radio."
During his radio career, Mohn worked as an on-air personality using the name Lee Masters, which he continued to use for a number of years.
He also has been an angel investor in several young digital media and mobile companies in recent years, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Update at 12:30 p.m. ET: Mohn's Political Contributions
Two questions will arise today, says NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik: How do we say Jarl Mohn's name, and what do his political contributions say about him?
On Twitter, the Center for Responsive Politics database shows that between 1990 and 2014, Mohn contributed $217,000, most of it going to Democratic candidates and political committees.
As for how to say Jarl Mohn, we have this guidance: the "J" is pronounced like a "Y," and Mohn rhymes with "phone."
On Twitter, the Center for Responsive Politics database shows that between 1990 and 2014, Mohn contributed $217,000, most of it going to Democratic candidates and political committees.
Just moving the deck chairs on the titanic.
Why is "nuance" a desirable attribute?
Just report the news!
I’m sure the dozen or so listeners of NPR will be pleased. How much taxpayer scratch will this moron cost us?
I'm going to go out on a limb here and bet Mohn will ONLY find nuanced liberal ideas. And since liberals haven't had a new idea in 50 years it ain't gonna be that 'nuanced'....
NPR's a joke.
He wouldn’t have been considered for the position if he weren’t a loyal and dependable party member.
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