National Public Radio (NPR) has eliminated its entire climate desk during the outlet's latest round of layoffs, joining several other publications in scaling back their green coverage.
CEO Announces Restructuring
NPR CEO Katherine Maher announced that the company was doing away with dozens of newsroom positions in an attempt to adjust to an era without federal subsidies. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the private broadcasting body that previously funneled federal funds from Congress to NPR, was shut down in January.
Maher wrote that restructuring was necessary because the network expects to earn $15 million less in station fees this year. 'We have made every effort to preserve the core capacity and strengths of what makes NPR different and distinct,' Maher said. 'This is never an easy choice to make, to have to cut anywhere near the newsroom.'
The number of cuts was not specified, but the station is offering buyouts to some 300 staffers and would accept as many as 30, NPR reported.
Climate Editor Reveals Team Ousted
Just days later, NPR's Chief Climate Editor Neela Banerjee revealed that her entire team was laid off. 'I was laid off by NPR. The climate desk no longer exists separately but has been folded into the National Desk,' Banerjee wrote on LinkedIn.
'I have rarely been as inspired or happy as I was working with the nine other journalists on NPR's Climate Desk, and I feel so very lucky to have helped you - and learned from you. I'm finding my way forward, because as crushing as journalism can be, it has often given me purpose, joy and friendship. Our desk was a testament to that.'
Broader Trend in Media
This comes as several other media outlets have cut their climate coverage divisions this year. In February, The Washington Post let go of over 300 journalists, including at least 13 reporters and editors who covered climate change, sources told environmental newsletter The Drain. In March, CBS News laid off its national environmental correspondent, David Schechter, according to the LA Times.
Public Reaction
Banerjee's viral post sparked praise from some NPR critics who felt that the climate desk was pushing a woke agenda. 'NPR giving up on climate hysterics? The corner has turned, and now let's have a dialogue that is scientific, not dogmatic,' one person wrote on X. 'How awful that she'll have to find a vocation that contributes to humanity, instead of trying to destroy industrial civilization,' wrote a second. A third person wrote, 'Did they just make up jobs to justify taxpayer funding?'
'What a disgustingly pompous statement and admission that their job was to inject climate change b******t into everything NPR did,' added a fourth. 'Such a self-OWN statement to make. Good riddance. Leftist government embedded propagandists are leeches of society.'
The Daily Mail contacted NPR for comment.
