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Nebraska Public Media is searching the country for a new General Manager/CEO. Mark Leonard announced in December he is retiring after more than 10 years here. Nebraska Public Media’s Dale Johnson sat down with Mr. Leonard to talk about his career and the status of public media.
Dale Johnson: I understand you're a dog lover.
Mark Leonard: I am.
Johnson: What breed?
Leonard: Dutch Shepherd and a half Belgian Malinois, both rescues.
Johnson: You lost me. What does that look like?
Leonard: Dutch, they're both in the shepherd family. And both of them you would think of perhaps as police dogs or military dogs. They're used a lot in service work and in protection work.
Johnson: Well you also obviously love public media. You've worked at six public broadcast stations in your career, spanning more than four decades. You came to Lincoln in August of 2013. From Illinois Public Media. What is it about public media that keeps you coming back?
Leonard: Well, it's about content and creating content. And when I was in college, I interned at a public television station that was just going on the air in Plattsburgh, New York. And I hadn't decided whether I was going to go into commercial, noncommercial industrial, who knows, just getting out of college. And it's kind of a lot of choices in front of you. But what I came to love in Plattsburgh was that working for the public station, we were able to go out and do stories about local people, about history, about issues, all sorts of things. And I was learning every single day I was on the job, because it put me in positions where I would be meeting people I'd never have access to otherwise. And we shot on the Akwesasne Indian Reservation, which straddles the Canadian and U.S. border, came to learn a lot about Indian Affairs, issues and history. And I never stopped being curious. Every single day it took me somewhere else. What other jobs could you do that? For my case, I went to the White House, did television shows in the White House. I went to Israel and produced a documentary in Israel, all sorts of things that were always enjoyable adventures.
Johnson: The fake news, Mark, isn't so much the label anymore since former President Donald Trump is not using it. That may come back if indeed he is reelected. But to what extent is public media remained impartial in your opinion?
Leonard: Well, we're not influenced, by statute we have to remain neutral, we have to disclose any of the funding that we receive. So, it creates a transparency of who is paying for the reporting, and why and we protect that independence vigorously. We pursue truth, we pursue balance, we pursue context, we're not looking for sensationalism, we're not looking to put our finger on the scale any place and we stand by the body of our work, both locally and nationally and internationally. NPR is the largest news gathering organization in the world at this point. And we are very proud to be the local component of that incredible news gathering network.
Johnson: Proud moments for you as GM CEO, here in Lincoln?
Leonard: The proud moments, I think, are when I see the staff taking such great pride in the work they do here and in the organization that makes it possible. I've always admired stations where the employees won't allow others to talk badly of the organization because they are so proud. We keep it in the family. We talk honestly, internally. But as far as the outside audience, I don't think I found anybody here who isn't painfully proud of the work that we do and defend us to the core.
Johnson: Disappointments and/or frustrations?
Leonard: Well, with any organization, whether it's for profit, nonprofit, you have structural issues, you have governing issues, we are complicated. And sometimes we have to move more slowly than I would like. We are both supervised by the University of Nebraska, and by the Commission of commissioners who are appointed by the state to guard the state's interests and look out for that half of our operation. Those wheels don't always move at the pace that we as broadcasters would like. And so to remain nimble, and take advantage of opportunities, we have to anticipate them and plan for them and lay the groundwork to make them possible. Our tradition has been that local content is the priority of this organization. It's something that we have stood for from the very beginning. And I think as we've moved into the 2000s, we realize that localism is truly what will preserve us going forward.
Johnson: When you stepped into this building on East Campus in 2013, you became the third leader for Nebraska Public Media, it's gone by different names, different abbreviations. What advice do you have for the fourth leader of this organization?
Leonard: My advice would be listen, learn the organization, learn what has made it successful throughout the years, learn its complexity, respect it, and don't rush things too quickly. I think you need to take a long view. The audiences are moving and Nebraska Public Media like all other legacy broadcast organizations has to change how those people access our content. And so we need to make sure it's available in new places, streaming and other otherwise, in addition to our broadcast services, broadcasting’s still very, very important in a rural community. And I think it will remain essential for a long time into the future, it is still the most efficient way of alerting the public to natural disasters or other kinds of things on a on a grand scale. And we certainly have a lot of natural disaster threats in our region. So it makes us even more essential, perhaps, than a station in a in an urban metro area.
Johnson: Originally, your retirement date was June 30. You've extended that three months allowing the search to continue. When it's official, what does retirement look like for you?
Leonard: I think retirement’s going to be exploring, but more on my own and not as part of the job. I think my wife and I enjoy traveling a lot, but it's been limited because of work commitments. So I think we're going be looking to hit the road with our two dogs and explore Nebraska and the surrounding areas.
Johnson: Good health to you. Be safe. Thanks for your time.
Leonard: Thank you, Dale.