It was a bittersweet broadcast of NPR’s Morning Edition Dec. 20 as the show and network said goodbye to five staffers who opted to take an offer for a voluntary buyout. NPR newscaster Jean Cochran gave her final newscast Friday, concluding her 33-year career with the network. Cochran said she planned to travel and pursue new career options, possibly to include consulting and voice-over work. Last Newscast from Ben Mook on Vimeo. Mostly, she said, she was looking forward to keeping normal hours. “My whole life has been NPR,” she said. “And I say that happily, but I won’t miss having to get to work at 3 a.m.

First Look Media, a new journalism organization backed by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and headed by former Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald, will include a 501(c)3 nonprofit as part of its structure. The company, announced in June with $250 million in promised capital from Omidyar, will comprise several entities, including a for-profit division dedicated to exploring new media technologies. According to a Dec. 19 announcement, the still-unnamed nonprofit-journalism side of the company will create a digital publication. Funds from the technology wing will support the journalism, which will retain editorial independence. The announcement comes alongside Omidyar’s first infusion of $50 million in capital for the organization.

Harry Shearer’s eclectic, acidic Le Show marks 30 years on public radio this month, and The Associated Press observes the milestone with an in-depth interview. When he launched his show on KCRW in Los Angeles in December 1983, Shearer figured that if no money changed hands in the deal, no one could tell him what to do. “The show has stayed free in both senses of the word,” he said. “That’s the only way you can do it for 30 years — without meetings and memos — if you have other things to do in your life.” Shearer pretapes the show’s multicharacter sketches and compiles and writes the remainder before the weekly broadcast.

Two more senior v.p.s are leaving PBS: John Wilson, a PBS programmer for nearly 20 years, and Rob Lippincott, who has led the network’s education strategy and partnerships since 2007. Their exits, which take effect Jan. 3, bring the total number of executive-level departures within the past four months to six. In a Dec. 13 memo to station managers, President Paula Kerger noted that Wilson has served the network “with tremendous insight, understanding, and leadership. During his time at PBS, he helmed some of the most memorable and award-winning PBS series and specials in our history.” Wilson wrote in the memo that he has been “approached about opportunities beyond PBS” within the past year and he now believes “it is time to pursue these options more seriously.”

Lars Schmidt, the senior director of talent acquisition and innovation at NPR, is leaving his position to form his own company, he announced in a blog post Dec. 19.

Is PBS NewsHour padding its content with previously aired segments and infomercials for books authored by pubcasters? Baltimore Sun TV critic David Zurawik believes so. Today he notes that in its final half-hour Tuesday night, NewsHour ran a segment that had already aired on PBS’s Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, as well as an interview with Masterpiece Executive Producer Rebecca Eaton about her book on the popular PBS series. Zurawik pointed out that in October NewsHour ran an interview with its founder, Jim Lehrer, about his novel on the Kennedy assassination. The show also featured a story about ultra-tiny apartments in New York City that NewsHour Weekend produced and ran three months ago.

The broadcast union SAG-AFTRA said Wednesday that it had secured a majority of votes to represent staff members at Chicago Public Media. SAG-AFTRA said it would represent 49 editorial members of Chicago Public Media, the pubcaster that operates WBEZ and Vocalo. In September, 36 full-time editorial staff members and three additional employees signed a petition seeking union representation and presented it to CPM interim CEO Alison Scholly. “We have great leaders and a committed board and we believe organizing as staff members is an important step to achieving the goals we all share here: producing excellent journalism that serves the public and making this important local institution even stronger than it is today,” said Rob Wildeboer, criminal and legal affairs reporter for WBEZ, in a prepared statement.

Kirk, a key contributor to PBS’s Frontline since its inception, was cited for his body of work in producing more than 200 investigative documentaries. He joined Frontline as senior producer for its 1983 national debut on PBS; in 1987, he left the show to produce through his own independent company, the Kirk Documentary Group. His documentary films have been recognized with Peabody Awards, duPont-Columbias, a George Polk Award, national Emmys and Writers Guild of America awards. Kirk earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Idaho in 1971 and was inducted into the UI Alumni Hall of Fame in 2000.

Juan Sepúlveda, former senior adviser for Hispanic affairs for the Democratic National Committee, joins PBS Jan. 6 as senior vice president of station services, PBS President Paula Kerger told station managers in an email Tuesday. Sepúlveda replaces Joyce Herring, who exited PBS in October. “The national search for this position included a wide range of highly talented candidates — both from within and outside of our system,” Kerger said in the email. Kerger said she first met Sepúlveda several years ago when he was the host of Conversations on KLRNin San Antonio. He also designed and led the station’s community advisory board, she said.

A sheriff’s deputy has been convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a PBS NewsHour shuttle driver last May, reports the Washington Post. After two days of deliberations, the jury recommended a six-year sentence Dec. 13 for Craig Patterson, an Arlington (Va.) County deputy. Dawkins was shot in the early morning hours of May 22. He had worked for the NewsHour for nearly three years.  Patterson was arrested eight days later. Though he was charged with first-degree murder, the jury convicted him of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter. Prosecutors said the men had a verbal altercation.

In 2014, smart radio organizations will consider a “mobile-first audio strategy,” predicts Jim Schachter, news v.p. at WNYC in New York, in a piece for Nieman Journalism Lab. What that means, he writes, “is that our news reports and stories increasingly will be produced and packaged in forms divorced from the formats dictated by a radio clock,” as consumers increasingly filter their news through apps or playlists. “I guess I’m predicting more work for me and my colleagues,” he notes. “But I’m also predicting bigger audiences than ever for high-quality audio journalism.” His piece is part of Nieman Lab’s interesting “Predictions for Journalism 2014” series, running through Friday.

Latino Public Broadcasting announced today that it is backing nine programs through its Public Media Content Fund, which supports Latino-themed content for public TV and the Web. Independent filmmakers submitted 83 proposals this year, according to LPB. “Our selection process was highly competitive with many outstanding projects making it to the final round,” said Sandie Viquez Pedlow, LPB executive director, in the announcement. “We look forward to working with these talented filmmakers in bringing these compelling stories to the American public on PBS, and extending the reach of this content into classrooms across the country.” Submissions were judged by a panel of public media professionals, station programmers, academics, executives from funding organizations and other filmmakers.