I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. We have now rather a lot to dive into right now, so let’s get to it: NPR cuts its summer time internship program, Proof results in justice, and SiriusXM retains a longtime podcast within the fold with a brand new deal.
Dealing with $10 million in funds cuts, NPR axes summer time internship program
NPR, which instituted a near-total hiring freeze final month, is taking one other drastic step to save cash by canceling its prestigious summer time internship program.
The information was first tweeted out Tuesday morning by All Issues Thought of technical director Stu Rushfield. “This makes me really unhappy,” he stated. “@NPRinterns are a part of NPR’s lifeblood & a pipeline of nice expertise.” Former interns chimed in that many owe their careers in radio to the coaching and connections they made by means of this system.
About one-sixth of present staffers on the community began as interns, in line with NPR’s internship web page (which remains to be up). All internship postings have been faraway from the careers website. The corporate confirmed Tuesday afternoon that this system has been canceled for the summer time.
“We’re seeing a worldwide set of financial challenges which have weakened the promoting business and negatively affected media and know-how corporations. A serious portion of NPR’s income comes by means of company sponsorships, that are delicate to modifications like this within the economic system,” the community stated in an announcement to Sizzling Pod. “Sadly this implies we’ve got to make laborious decisions and, along with a close to hiring freeze, we made the troublesome choice to cancel this summer time’s internship program. We’re dedicated to offering a constructive intern expertise and hope to have the ability to reinstate it quickly.”
This isn’t the primary time NPR has canceled the summer time internship; it took the identical step in 2020 throughout the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. However whereas that was possible because of quite a lot of pandemic-related components (similar to security and the transition to distant work), this lower is only for monetary causes. Two weeks in the past, NPR CEO John Lansing despatched an electronic mail to staffers saying that the community is anticipating a $20 million decline in company sponsorships, and might want to make $10 million in funds cuts this monetary 12 months. That accounts for about 3% of NPR’s annual funds.
Whereas this system will hopefully return, there’s a time strain for younger graduates. At present, it’s a must to have graduated up to now 12 months to be able to be eligible for the internship, which means that 2022–2023 graduates might miss out on a significant pipeline to public radio careers. NPR didn’t reply as as to if they are going to lengthen the eligibility window transferring ahead.
Past the influence on present NPR staffers who depend on intern labor and the would-be interns in want of expertise, the transfer is one other worrying signal for the state of the media enterprise. Between the layoffs at CNN, Spotify’s podcast studios, Gannett, and others, it feels just like the partitions are closing in.
Have you ever heard rumblings of layoffs or different staff-cutting measures at your organization? Be happy to hit me up at ariel.shapiro@theverge.com (nameless is ok!).
One other true crime podcast results in long-overdue justice
Proof: A True Crime Podcast debuted earlier this 12 months, and has already had some main real-world influence. The present unearthed new proof within the 1996 capturing of 15-year-old Brian Bowling, exposing the false grounds on which two Georgia youngsters had been convicted for the homicide. These now-43-year-old males have been exonerated because of the highlight Proof shone on the case.
Cain Joshua Storey and Darrell Lee Clark had been launched final week after the Rome Judicial Circuit District Lawyer’s Workplace dismissed all the costs in opposition to them. Based on the Georgia Innocence Mission, which represented the pair, interviews performed by Proof hosts Jacinda Davis and Susan Simpson in 2021 ended up being essential for the case’s final result. They discovered that one witness was coerced by the police into giving false testimony, whereas one other witness had been misunderstood by the choose and jury because of his speech and listening to impairment.
“I’m simply glad the reality lastly got here to gentle after 25 years,” Lee Clark stated in an announcement. “I’m so grateful for the Georgia Innocence Mission and Proof podcast for what they did. With out them, I might nonetheless be in jail.”
The scenario is paying homage to the latest developments with Serial and its major topic, Adnan Syed. However whereas Serial was initially ambivalent about whether or not or not Syed was harmless and there was an eight-year hole between the present’s run and Syed’s launch, Proof managed to assist ship justice in a few 12 months.
I’m typically not large on true crime podcasts (particularly ones that gawk at violence), however clearly some are price their salt as investigations! And when carried out proper, they’ll present a strong platform for tales that might in any other case go unnoticed.
How Did This Get Made? renews cope with SiriusXM
I reported yesterday solely for The Verge that comedy podcast (and private Ariel Shapiro favourite!) How Did This Get Made? is sticking with Earwolf. The present has been below Earwolf’s banner since 2010, lengthy earlier than the studio received into broad fare like Workplace Girls and its guardian Stitcher was acquired by SiriusXM. Even when HDTGM will not be a chart-topper (although it does typically rank respectably within the high 50 comedy podcasts on Apple), it’s nonetheless a success at 40 million downloads a 12 months. As audio corporations scramble to license high exhibits, it’s in SiriusXM’s curiosity to maintain the podcast in its roster somewhat than lose it to a competitor.
That’s all for now, see you subsequent week!
