Comings and goings: Miles Parks named co-host of ‘NPR Politics Podcast,’ Doug Mitchell leaves NPR …

NPR named Miles Parks co-host of the NPR Politics Podcast.

Parks succeeds Asma Khalid, who left NPR this summer to co-lead a podcast for the BBC.

Parks co-hosts with Tamara Keith and Sarah McCammon. He joined NPR in 2014 as a Stone and Holt Weeks fellow and later became an associate producer. Parks will continue in his role as a  correspondent on the Washington Desk, where he covers voting and election security.

“Miles has an organic curiosity that enables him to guide conversations with skill, personality, and authenticity. His regular beat with the Washington Desk will also help him bring highly relevant background and expertise,” said Chief Washington Editor Krishnadev Calamur and Senior Supervising Editor Muthoni Muturi in an Oct. 1 NPR release announcing his co-hosting role.

“I love being on this show for the same reasons I fell in love with it as a listener 10 years ago: our format allows a level of detail and nuance that feels really refreshing in the era of social media politics, and maybe more importantly, it’s just really fun,” Parks said in the release. “The current moment often feels impossible to fully understand, but I’m honored and excited to get to the bottom of it with our listeners.”

Doug Mitchell, founder and director of Next Generation Radio at NPR, plans to transition the training program into an independent organization.

Mitchell started working for NPR in 1987 as a producer. He founded Next Generation Radio in 2000 as a training program for early career journalists to develop audio skills. The program has since evolved into an intensive digital-first audio training program with a focus on audio narratives.

“As I’ve been saying, and will continue to say, ‘This is not retirement,’ so please don’t think that,” Mitchell said on LinkedIn. “We have a plan in place to go forward, as I have been positioning the program for it for several years. We will (eventually) establish Next Gen as an independent organization. In the short term, we will remain a program that is ‘hired’ by funders/sponsors to conduct our audio-focused sprints. And, I’ve heard about a fiscal sponsorship opportunity during this transition away from NPR. Becoming our own company is the next level, meaning having our own staff and administrative infrastructure. We shall see.”

Rick Holter joined Public Media Company as a director.

Holter, a former VP of news for KERA in Dallas, has worked with PMC under a consulting contract since 2021. At KERA, he led development and launch of a journalism collaboration with three other Texas public radio stations.

Before joining KERA, Holter worked in several roles at NPR, including supervising editor of digital news. He’s also been arts editor for the Dallas Morning News, features design director for the Tampa Bay Times and copy editor for The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C.

“PMC has been around for decades, but since public media was defunded by the Trump Administration and the GOP Congress this summer, the company’s taken a central role, launching the $50+ million Public Media Bridge Fund to help the most at-risk public radio and TV stations,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “It’s a mission play. I, like PMC, just want to help.”

Content

Phillip Martin is retiring from his position as a senior investigative reporter for GBH in Boston. Martin joined the station in 2010 and was also a panelist for the station’s Basic Black public affairs program. Martin previously worked for NPR as a race relations correspondent and later as a supervising senior editor.

PBS Reno in Nevada promoted Lynn Lazaro to content creator. Lazaro joined the station last year as a digital marketing assistant. Before that they were a digital content producer for KTVN, a CBS affiliate in Reno. “After engaging with our community on social media for more than a year and a half, I’m excited to bring my content creation skills to our television audiences,” said Lazaro in a news release.

Jerry Quijano was named host of Austin Signal, a new daily half-hour program produced by KUT in Austin, Texas. The program launches Oct. 6 and will discuss the day’s top local stories alongside news about the city’s arts, culture and sports. “At a time when news fatigue is real, Austin Signal offers a fresh, approachable way to stay informed,” said KUT News Managing Editor Ben Philpott, in a news release. Quijano joined KUT in 2017 as a weekend host and will keep his role as All Things Considered host.

Fellowships

The National Press Foundation selected five public media journalists out for its 2025 Federal Action, Local Impact Journalism Fellowship to be held in Washington, D.C., Oct. 7–9. The fellows, part of a class of 30 chosen for the program, will participate in seminars on covering the federal government. The five public media fellows are: Jourdan Bennett-Begaye, managing editor of ICT (formerly Indian Country Today); Jeanette DeDios, Indigenous reporter for KUNM in Albuquerque, N.M.; Carmen Russell-Sluchansky, politics reporter for WHYY in Philadelphia; Katarina Sostaric, state government reporter for Iowa Public Radio; and Douglas Soule, Florida government reporter for WUSF in Tampa.

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