NPR Senior VP of News, Margaret Low Smith will be leaving her position to become President of The Atlantic's live events business, AtlanticLIVE. Here is the announcement:
To: NPR Authorized Representatives
From Kinsey Wilson
Re: From Kinsey Wilson: A significant departure.
Dear Station Colleagues,
The following note was sent to NPR staff moments ago, announcing that Margaret Low Smith will be leaving NPR after nearly 30 years to take a job at The Atlantic. Upon her departure, Chris Turpin, executive producer of All Things Considered, will step in as acting head of news.
Many of you have come to know Margaret personally over the years, know how profoundly she has contributed to public radio, and will feel her departure as much as we do.
Please read on.
Kinsey
To: NPR Staff
From: Kinsey Wilson
Date: July 15, 2014
Dear all,
I'm writing to share the news that Margaret Low Smith is leaving NPR at the end of the month to take a position as President of The Atlantic's live events business.
Her departure will be felt as profoundly as any in recent memory.
Margaret has devoted nearly her entire professional career to NPR and in that time has become its most determined and eloquent champion. She is the best partner I've had in nearly 20 years of news leadership.
And for many, she is the soul of the organization in her compassion, her generosity, her optimism; equally in her intelligence, drive and ambition for NPR. She is our head and heart.
And so this will be a hard parting.
Margaret will tell you this was not an opportunity she sought. But she will also tell you she had hopes of someday going out on her own terms and of writing another chapter in her career. When Atlantic came courting, she found the opportunity irresistible.
As President of AtlanticLIVE she will be part of the leadership team charged with taking Atlantic's already prodigious events business to the next level - a job that draws equally on her experience in journalism, programming and executive leadership.
Chris Turpin, who has been filling in for Ellen McDonnell while she was on leave, will become acting head of news upon Margaret's departure. (Ellen returned yesterday). As executive producer of All Things Considered, and more recently as acting head of programming, Chris has shown the programming skill, news judgment, strategic outlook and leadership talent required to keep the organization on a steady course.
Margaret began her career at NPR in 1982 as an overnight production assistant on Morning Edition, eventually rising to become head of programming and, in January of 2011, stepping in to lead the news division at a challenging moment in our history.
Her life at NPR included a decade on All Things Considered producing stories on everything from the plight of chicken catchers on the eastern shore of Maryland to documenting the lives of the mentally ill homeless on the streets of New York. As head of programming she led the transformation of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! into a wildly successful live show.
She leaves the news division in a strong position, having undertaken a long list of ambitious initiatives that will be felt for years to come: crafting new ethical guidelines, professionalizing safety and security procedures for our overseas correspondents, naming new hosts, reorganizing her senior leadership team, moving WATC to the West Coast, overseeing the launch of new desks and foreign bureaus, undertaking an overhaul of the Morning Edition and All Things Considered clocks, launching an effort to reshape our newsgathering relationship with member stations, forging a first-of-its-kind partnership with WBUR and Here & Now, better integrating digital into our news operations, making tough but necessary budget cuts... The list goes on.
With those efforts, the news division is as strong as it has ever been - a beacon at a moment of turbulence in the news business.
Margaret will be here for the next three weeks, through August 1. And we will of course celebrate her properly as she heads for the door. More on that in the days ahead.
Chris will remain in his current position for the next week, before heading out on vacation. And we will detail staffing changes on ATC shortly.
All three of us will be available in the news conference room (3 North) at 10:30 to answer any questions. Dial-up information will be sent separately.
In the meantime, please join me in congratulating Margaret and Chris on the next chapters in their careers.
Kinsey
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