Cochran (Photo: NPR.org)
Newscaster Jean Cochran, the longest-serving member of NPR’s newscast unit, announced today that she has accepted a voluntary buyout offer from the network and will be leaving.
Cochran made the announcement via Twitter this morning: “It’s official: I’ve accepted NPR’s generous Buyout. Leaving at the end of the year. Anyone need a newscast,I do birthdays, and bar mitzvahs!”
The buyouts are part of NPR’s plan to balance its budget before fiscal year 2015. It aims to reduce staff by 10 percent to help reach that goal.
Cochran started at NPR in 1981 and joined the newly formed Newscast Unit in 1989.
who is NPR’s accountant? they should be fired by greenlighting a brand new building and when it was all done, saying, oops there’s no money left to pay people!
Apples and oranges. Anyone who knows anything about nonprofit management knows it’s much easier to fund a capital project than an operating budget.
Um I heard Ms. Cochran doing NPR News twice this weekend, the latest at 4:01 PM Eastern Time, January 12, 2014. I phoned a friend of mine (another NPR Newscaster still on the air), who was shocked and who confirmed Jean was one of the Newscasters who had accepted the buyout. So I don’t know what gives, Hopefully, one or more of you do
We haven’t checked on this, but my guess is that she’s picking up shifts on a freelance basis.
Yes I agree. That was my initial thought as well. Thanks for your reply!