NPR Chief Jarl Mohn to Step Down in June

CEO helped turn around radio network but was criticized for his handling of a sexual harassment scandal

Mr. Mohn will become president emeritus, and he and his wife will donate $10 million to the network, NPR said. Photo: Alex Brandon/Associated Press
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NPR’s chief executive Jarl Mohn is stepping down after a tenure in which he helped turn the public radio network into a podcasting powerhouse but faced criticism for responding too slowly to a newsroom sexual-harassment scandal.

NPR said Tuesday it would begin searching for Mr. Mohn’s successor, adding that he would stay on through the end of his contract—which expires in June—and beyond if necessary, to ensure a smooth transition. Mr. Mohn will become NPR’s president emeritus, and he and his wife will donate $10 million to the network.

During his four-plus years as president and CEO of NPR, Mr. Mohn steered the nonprofit through a period of transformation in the radio business. As audiences and advertisers alike began to crave more on-demand audio, Mr. Mohn helped the network organize and grow its library of podcasts, shepherding hits like “How I Built This,” “Hidden Brain” and “Invisibilia.” The company’s podcasts draw a monthly audience of 18.8 million U.S. listeners, according to audio analytics firm Podtrac—the most of any podcast producer.

Mr. Mohn also led a ratings revival at NPR, according to the network, and helped reverse its financial fortunes.

But NPR’s own journalists criticized Mr. Mohn last year for his handling of sexual-harassment allegations against Michael Oreskes, the public radio network’s former news chief. Mr. Oreskes, who joined NPR from the Associated Press in 2015, was accused of sexually harassing women who met with him to discuss career opportunities.

According to an investigation of the matter by law firm Morgan Lewis and Bockius LLP, Mr. Mohn was informed of an accusation of sexual harassment and the appearance of impropriety stemming from Mr. Oreskes’s meetings with women in September 2017. Mr. Oreskes resigned from NPR in November 2017.

“The day I resigned from NPR I issued a statement taking responsibility and expressing my deep regret,” Mr. Oreskes said Tuesday. “I stand by that statement.”

Mr. Mohn apologized at the time to NPR’s staff for his handling of the episode, saying he should have acted “faster and more decisively,” according to NPR. The investigation concluded in a report last February that NPR employees harbored a “high level of distrust” in the public radio network’s management.

As CEO of NPR, Mr. Mohn has had to juggle a mandate to grow the network’s flagship brand with his responsibility to serve NPR’s more than 900 member stations across the U.S., priorities that occasionally came into conflict. In 2016, NPR published a policy forbidding its member stations from promoting NPR One, the network’s popular audio app, after some member stations complained that the app would siphon away their listeners. NPR changed that policy in 2017, allowing for on-air promotion of NPR One and better integrating the app with its member stations.

NPR has also weathered threats from Congress to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a crucial funding source for the public radio network. In March, President Trump signed a budget bill that preserved the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s $445 million federal funding appropriation.

Write to Benjamin Mullin at Benjamin.Mullin@wsj.com