According to her employer, Tonya Mosley will leave NPR at the close of the month. Her departure marks the latest in a series of hostesses of color to quit NPR over recent weeks.
The announcement was made in a Story from NPR’s own media correspondent, David Folkenflik. It was headlined “NPR hosts’ departures fuel questions over race. The full story is complex.”
Mosley hosts the afternoon show. “Here & Now,”She will launch her podcast, called “Truth Be Told,”She will continue to be a special correspondent for NPR through August, when her contract ends.
She Tweet Wednesday, “Thank you for listening to me on @hereandnow and letting me be a part of your life. It has been my immense pleasure to learn and navigate with you the last few years of this pandemic, racial reckoning, and the fragile state of our democracy … This pandemic has forced us to reckon with so much and part of that reckoning for me is to take a beat to understand my purpose and how to serve the public in ways that don’t contribute to the noise but adds value to our lives. I love public radio, I 100 percent still believe in the mission. This moment offers us a great opportunity if we choose to take it.”
Folkenflik made a brief overview of the happenings at his employer. Audie Cornish joined CNN+ last week, days after she announced her departure from NPR. “All Things Considered.”She was preceded “Weekend Edition Sunday”Lourdes Garcia Navarro is host, and she moved to New York Times in September. “Morning Edition”Noel King is the former host of Vox Media; he was previously “1A”Joshua Johnson, host of MSNBC, has landed.
Folkenflik was just one of many NPR employees to highlight the departures of Black hosts and host of color at the outlet.
“If NPR doesn’t see this as a crisis, I don’t know what it’ll take,”TweetCornish’s “All Things Considered” co-host Ari Shapiro last week.
Cornish tweeted the following day. “Every single word of my announcement is true. I am leaving of my own accord with no malice or resentment. I have had a great run with a company full of people I respect and admire. And I am ready to try something new. I also understand that 4 hosts leaving in a year – three of them POC women– is a red flag as my co host @arishapiro underscored earlier this week. I appreciate him taking it upon himself to raise it. I can’t speak for all POC – but I want to be clear. I do not have to. Our experiences at the company vary and there are some common threads. A number of people have been waving their hands in the air trying to draw attention to them. check the threads. they are not hiding! Moreover some of these issues permeate the public media system – yes stations AND yes your favorite podcast companies that have sprung from that system. While the media reporting on this has been to treat each as a problem in isolation that is not the case.”
Folkenflik says NPR hosts have expressed concern about what they perceive as pay disparities along racial lines and gender lines, overly contentious negotiation and lack of managerial support.
A representative for NPR told after Cornish’s departure, “Diversity in our staff, sourcing and coverage is not only crucial to the accuracy and fairness of NPR’s content, but to the future of public media and our audience at large. Ensuring that public media reflects the people of the United States is not a responsibility or initiative, but a necessity. Continuing and improving our diversity efforts is NPR’s foremost priority.”