COLLEGE PARK — The job of holding NPR accountable to its listeners is moving to the University of Maryland.
NPR and UMD’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism announced Oct. 22 a multiyear partnership to host NPR’s public editor at the college starting in January 2027. The next public editor will also serve as a visiting professor on the Merrill faculty, specializing in trust, transparency and media ethics.
Merrill College is home to Capital News Service, whose student reporters cover Annapolis and Washington and whose work the Chronicle republishes, including its recent analysis that most General Assembly contests are unlikely to be competitive and voter guides for Southern Maryland House races.
Leaving Poynter
The move ends NPR’s nearly seven-year arrangement with the Poynter Institute, a journalism nonprofit in Florida, which began in 2020 when Poynter Senior Vice President Kelly McBride was named public editor. McBride announced her coming departure and the role’s move to UMD in her newsletter. Before Poynter, the public editor was an internal NPR position; moving it outside the network was meant to give it independence.
NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher credited McBride with raising the role’s profile and said the new arrangement keeps it independent. “Partnering with Merrill College allows us to build on that strong foundation,” Maher said in the announcement, pointing to the college’s academic rigor and its proximity to NPR’s Washington headquarters.
The public editor acts as the audience’s representative to NPR on journalism and ethics. The job involves reviewing NPR’s coverage, raising listener questions, pointing out where the network succeeds and falls short, and explaining the editorial decisions its journalists make, through columns, newsletters and on-air appearances.
Hiring ahead
The new public editor has not been named. Merrill College said it will post the position soon and will also hire staff to support the role. The announcement did not say how the university and NPR will divide oversight of the job or how the editor’s independence from NPR will be structured.
Merrill College Dean Rafael Lorente said the partnership will benefit students and journalism broadly. “It is imperative that we as journalists connect with the public in order to rebuild trust,” he said.
McBride’s columns, including the one announcing the move, are on NPR’s public editor page.
