What was Current’s must-read coverage of public media in 2021? Readers flocked to practical advice, news of shows ending and hosts departing, our study of what people earn in public media, and a send-off for a bald cartoon boy that some parents love to hate. Here are our top 10 articles for 2021, ranked by unique pageviews among readers who visited our site at least twice during the year.
10. Follow this onboarding checklist to set your team up for success
“These are the things that I always craved as a new employee, and they are even more essential in the times of distance and remote work.” Read more >>
9. An anti-racist future: a vision and plan for the transformation of public media
“This effort is the result of more than 200 people in public media coming together to identify the primary obstacles to anti-racist public media and create a vision for transformation.” Read more >>
8. Current’s 2021 Public Media Salary Survey
More than 1,900 readers told us about what they earn in public media. See the key findings and dig deeper into the data. Read more >>
7. ‘Takeaway’ host Tanzina Vega resigns
Melissa Harris-Perry was named the radio show’s host in October. Read more >>
6. NPR editor Petra Mayer dies at 46
“She was ferociously intelligent, sardonically funny and made your day better by merely existing.” Read more >>
5. New York Public Radio lays off 14 staffers, including newsroom leaders
“We cannot achieve our goals and meet our commitments while shouldering a fourth year of losses,” said CEO Goli Sheikholeslami. Read more >>
4. NPR will end ‘Ask Me Another’ in September
The weekly hour of comedy, trivia and music aired on more than 300 stations. Read more >>
3. Why parents are celebrating the departure of PBS’ ‘Caillou’
“Pretty much everything on PBS is better than Caillou.” Read more >>
2. PBS distances itself from former staff attorney ensnared in Project Veritas sting
A video of the former employee included “hateful rhetoric” that violated PBS’ values, the network said. Read more >>
1. Lulu Garcia-Navarro will leave NPR
“I need a break,” she tweeted. (It was later announced that she joined the New York Times.) Read more >>