New NPR CEO Gary Knell Hopes To 'Depoliticize' Public Radio Debate

NEW YORK -- NPR named Gary Knell as president and CEO on Sunday, ending more than six months of speculation about who would lead the media organization.

Knell, who's currently the president and CEO of Sesame Workshop, said in a statement that he's "thrilled to join NPR." He continued:

Over the past 40 years, it's grown from an inspired idea to one of the world's most respected and leading providers of news, music and cultural programming -- both on the air and across ever-expanding digital platforms. This is media with a deeply held mission, compelling history and boundless future. Simply put: it's journalism at its best. What an opportunity to work with the incredibly talented staff here, and to partner with stations, as we continue to innovate, expand civil dialogue and set the standard for media.

NPR's board of directors kept the lengthy CEO search process very close to the vest, a strategy that rankled some employees who felt left in the dark. While reporting on the search last week, I heard Knell's name second-hand as a contender but couldn't confirm it. Indeed, board members weren't returning calls and the three NPR staffers allowed some input on the selection were forced to sign strict confidentiality agreements.

Knell joins NPR following a tumultuous year at the network, with Ellen Weiss, the network's top news executive, losing her job in January over NPR's handling of the firing of Juan Williams. Two months later, CEO Vivian Schiller resigned following another scandal involving an NPR fundraising executive's comments during a hidden-camera sting.

On Sunday, Knell told NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik that he hopes to "calm the waters" and "depoliticize" the public radio debate. (Last week, for example, House Republicans threatened again to cut off any federal funding to NPR).

"It's not about liberal or conservative -- it's about fairness," Knell said. "We've got to make the case we're delivering a fair service, not only in the way we do our jobs, but in the way we disseminate the news."

Knell joined Sesame Workshop in 1989, rising to the top job 11 years later. Previously, Knell served as managing director of the Asia-based Manager Media International and as senior vice president and general counsel at WNET/Channel 13 in New York, according to his NPR bio.

Folkenflik reports that Knell "served as a counsel for Democrats on several Senate committees and subcommittees," but noted in the interview that he's also done work on child health issues with Republicans.

Knell starts on Dec. 1 and will eventually move from New York to Washington to work from NPR's headquarters.

Comments

[John Di Saia]

04:55 PM on 10/11/2011

A fair news service? - There is none. They all lean one way or the other. They should not receive public funds.

[Hastings]

05:55 AM on 10/05/2011

No government should fund or promote any artistic or informational programmng. All government funding for PBS and NPR should be phased out as soon as possible. PBS and NPR could retain their nonprofit status or go commerical but under no circumstance should they receive one penny of local, state, or federal funding.

PS I was a strong supporter of government funding for the arts untill I experenced first hand the corruption and cronyism that this funding created. I worked on telethons to raise money for PBS. I worked on the start up of a NPR station at a local university. I enjoy watching and listening to both PBS and NPR. However, nobody and I mean nobody can look at me with a stright face and tell me that these broadcast entities are not ideology propaganda machines created to promote liberal public policy. That is their whole point of being. It is time for PBS and NPR to be honest and go private.

[Emma Jane]

10:14 AM on 10/05/2011

Yeah .... go private ... what a great concept in an an era when media ownership has been whittled down to a handful of corporations.

[starbright]

08:36 PM on 10/03/2011

This guy is clueless. It's not about fairness. It is about one side whose political philosophy means that anything funded by the government and not specifically mandated by the constitution needs to go. The only exception some of the less pure have seems to be programs that they find personally beneficial. I hope the new CEO doesn't believe that reporting both sides instead of the truth will save NPR from the GOP's budget cutting efforts.

[ElBruce]

10:37 PM on 10/03/2011

Well, he's going to try to do a PR offensive reminding the country that NPR is politically neutral in its reporting, while selling it as a brand-new policy. That might slow the wingnut attacks down somewhat. Won't stop 'em, but it might make them slightly less able to convince their constituents that it's some sort of horrible leftist propaganda machine.

[kauthon]

10:51 PM on 10/03/2011

Nope it's going to speed it up. Any time a righty hears NPR they get frustrated and mad because their brains start working. They don't like that at all.

[Shain Eighmey]

11:15 PM on 10/03/2011

The main problem is, they're already pretty darn neutral in their reporting. I really hope that they stay that way rather than put a lean on simply to try to ease political pressure off of them.

[gypsynomad]

05:50 PM on 10/03/2011

The gentleman was on NPR little while ago, very impressive and sounds inclusive too.
btw NRR had an indepth focus on todays Noble Awardee ~Ralph Steinman, a biologist with Rockefeller University, was named a winner Monday of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. ~ just died a few days ago. More reason to have NPR going strong for covering everthing from cooking to travels to news and what not. I did not see the news in this site ....just sayin`. .

[SMBrown2]

05:33 PM on 10/03/2011

A new captain for the sinking ship.

[kauthon]

10:53 PM on 10/03/2011

Sinking itself into new knowledge maybe. NPR Rocks.

[BrunoChopps]

01:57 PM on 10/04/2011

F&F

I listen every singe day.

[dzkar]

03:13 PM on 10/03/2011

So I guess now they are going to be only 98% cheerleaders for the democrat and progressive party instead of 100% .

[ElBruce]

10:26 PM on 10/03/2011

They've never been cheerleaders for any political side. You can't find a single example of them doing so. Go ahead and try, I'll wait here...

The rabid right wing views any information dissemination that isn't biased for them as being biased against them. The concept of neutral media is entirely alien to the wingnut bubble. As a great man once said, "reality has a well known liberal bias."

[dzkar]

09:33 AM on 10/05/2011

I will give you examples, but first you have to agree to admit I am correct once I do.

[Shain Eighmey]

11:17 PM on 10/03/2011

The strangest thing is, Public Radio is the only station around here that even gives the local Republicans any time of day. If not for that, I bet most people wouldn't have known who was running against Governor Lynch until they walked up to the ballot.

[dzkar]

09:32 AM on 10/05/2011

I agree, just take a look at the hp and how slanted to the left it is, that is how over 90% of news stations report. Provda style

[annasophie1228]

03:06 PM on 10/03/2011

he looks like ray romano.

good luck with this gig, buddy.

[mataylor16]

02:51 PM on 10/03/2011

Good luck pal. When people have accepted their favorite propaganda as the truth, fact based reporting is heresy to their programmed ears.

[Gail Lightfoot]

01:48 PM on 10/03/2011

Our local NPR station hosts Democracy Now - what could be more progressive/liberal? [I know the meaning of classical Liberal and it ain't what we got now].

We do not, by the way, live in a Democracy. We live in a Republic that selects its 'rulers' democratically.

It is time to restore the Constitutionaly method of selecting the Senators [by the state legislatures] and abide by the enumerated powers of the federal gov't without extending them via the mention of the general welfare - which does not make it an enumerated power - and the commerce clause which was intended to prevent states from blocking inports from other states not to allow the federal gov't to manage commerce nationally.

It will not be easy but unless and until the federal gov't's unconstitutional agencies and legislation is passed down to the states to be decided by We The People, the other control of the feds will simply grow and grow until the young people of this counrty [not a nation] revolt or go so far underground the gov't at all levels is starved out of existance.

[mo524]

02:01 PM on 10/03/2011

I do not understand why this hard for people to get we are a deomcratic republic meaning that yes we are a democracy.

[SimonBao]

02:30 PM on 10/03/2011

Thank you for coming in with an entirely Off Topic post.

You make a false distinction between a democracy and a republic. The distinction you seek to make is between a direct democracy, and a republic.

The US is both a democracy, and a republic, and is a democratic republic. It is not and never intended to be a direct democracy.

Better luck next time.

[philliplojek]

01:31 PM on 10/03/2011

If NPR is so good, why do they need Federal funding?

[grailknight]

08:28 PM on 10/03/2011

To minimize corporate shilling. It is also in the government's true interest, if we are a true republic, for its citizens to be well informed. If you ever bothered listening to NPR, you might actually have deduced that.

[philliplojek]

09:35 AM on 10/05/2011

Again...why do we need to fund a left-wing network? Maybe Rush should get equal money from the government?

[philliplojek]

01:28 PM on 10/03/2011

NPR sees the writing on the wall. Change now before the Republicans win in 2012 and vote for defunding.

[ElBruce]

10:30 PM on 10/03/2011

Counting a lot of chickens, are you?

[philliplojek]

09:50 AM on 10/05/2011

Increase over 2010 results, plus one in the BIG chicken coop.

[HeevenSteven]

01:07 PM on 10/03/2011

If there's anything NPR doesn't need, it's more "fairness". It needs fewer strings to corporate underwriting.

[Gracie fr]

01:04 PM on 10/03/2011

Take for example today’s top stories on NPR. By in large they are informative on subjects of medicine, the economy, human interest and books about the caste system in India.
China's Red-Hot Growth Gives Policymakers Pause
Shortages Lead Doctors To Ration Critical Drugs
Will Nobel Laureate Who Died On Friday Still Be Honored?
Three Books That Convey The Complexity of Caste
New Term: Supreme Court To Tackle Divisive Issues
The only story that might be construed as political is the Supreme Court piece, as Obama’s health care initiative has been discredited by the TeaParty and the Republicans. Many Americans are without health insurance because they can’t afford it due to the dire rate of joblessness and the shaky credit mortgage bust…..”Dr. Ruth Hastings notes that 56 percent of Medicaid patients in California at this point cannot find a primary care doctor, and hospital administrators tell horror stories about unmet medical needs.” is proof of the sad situation before the uninsured. A bit of truthful information intended to make Americans confront the inequality which besets the nation and how it could be remedied…..

[grailknight]

08:26 PM on 10/03/2011

Oh my, thoughtful news coverage!

[mac2jr]

12:47 PM on 10/03/2011

Listen to or watched the 'new' New Jersey Network, NJN, lately? The people of New Jersey lost a valuable source of information and ended up with fluff, bs, and repeats of week old stories from other networks. This is what you get when you elect a Republican Governor like Christ Christie who does NOT want his activities known by the general population, until they are already screwed.

[SimonBao]

02:41 PM on 10/03/2011

Not to mention, public radio has sort of ceased to exist in NJ, thanks to Christie.

Christie could have announced a 2-3 year plan for phasing out state funds and ownership of New Jersey public television and radio -- but instead he basically just shut it down. Shut it down so quickly that he guaranteed no grown-ups could possibly come up with alternative plans to sustain public broadcasting for New Jersey.

For no obvious reason, and to no great benefit to listeners in the Garden State, WHYY in Philadelphia has ended up with the licenses and broadcast frequencies for about half of the public radio outlets, and is now broadcasting throughout New Jersey. Which works out great for all those Jersey listeners who want to know nothing about their own region or state, and are desperate for news about Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley. The other licenses went to New York public radio, which neglects New Jersey news and public affairs as thoroughly as WHYY.

[mac2jr]

12:43 PM on 10/03/2011

Media in the USA, 2,500 radio stations owned by and broadcasting conservative right-wing biased and usually nonfactual bovine dust. Less than 25 stations are controlled by the left.

Then we add in the Religious networks which are biased in a way that makes absolutely NO sense to a vast majority of Americans, including those that actually believe in religion and attend services.

[mo524]

02:05 PM on 10/03/2011

Yes and you have to love how the use the same tactics as dictators and cult leaders with the liberal media non sense. Every dictator has to have their boogey man so you can deflect all blame and acountability from your self hence the so called liberal media.

[ElBruce]

10:32 PM on 10/03/2011

I notice that you're just saying scary words without basing any of them in any cited facts. "Dictators! Cult leaders! Nonsense! Boogey Man!"

Once we wipe all that spittle off, what did you actually SAY? Nothing.

[SMBrown2]

05:32 PM on 10/03/2011

The R's got talk radio and Fox. The D's got the networks and newspapers. We can trade if you don't think its fair.

[Dahveed1]

05:53 PM on 10/03/2011

The poor people in the middle have nothing but ESPN, the Discovery networks, and HBO. If you can tune out the other extremes, you can actually be entertained by TV. Well, almost.

Oh, don't forget the D's also have CNBC and Jon Stewart and Colbair (sp?)