After an intensive search process, St. Louis Public Radio (STLPR) has selected Ashley Lisenby to serve as the station’s next News Director. Lisenby will supervise and support STLPR’s local newsroom of 28 reporters, producers, and editors.
“We are thrilled that Ashley will bring her sharp editorial skills, commitment to local journalism, and passion for public media to STLPR,” said CEO Tina Pamintuan. “Ashley also impressed the hiring committee with her ideas for building a vibrant, sustainable newsroom culture. All of these attributes made her a natural choice for this position and I am excited to watch our news team enter its next phase with Ashley at the helm.”
Lisenby was most recently News Producer/Editor at Weekend Edition for NPR, where she pitched national and international news segments, produced host interviews, and wrote and edited audio scripts. In this role she also edited NPR’s Up First podcast.
Prior to NPR, Lisenby served as Senior News Producer/Editor for WAMU, American University Radio in Washington, D.C., where she managed a staff of producers, reporters, and hosts in daily news production covering Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Virginia. She also wrote, edited and produced daily local audio segments for NPR’s Consider This podcast and assisted in planning WAMU’s award-winning COVID-19 coverage.
She was also named to the 2021 cohort of Poynter’s Leadership Academy for Women in Media and has won numerous awards for her reporting, including a regional Edward. R. Murrow Award for the Documentary, One Year of the Pandemic in Washington: A Special Report.
Lisenby also brings considerable familiarity with St. Louis, Missouri, and Illinois audiences as the former Race, Identity and Culture Reporter for STLPR, a former Reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and as a Statehouse Reporter out of Springfield, Illinois, for the Associated Press.
Lisenby envisions expanding the reach of STLPR in the station’s next chapter — connecting with communities across the metro region, cultivating local talent, and encouraging the growth and development of the STLPR newsroom.
"I’m thrilled to return to St. Louis Public Radio as its news director,” Lisenby said. “I am passionate about the region and local journalism, and I have so much respect for the STLPR newsroom and staff.”
“After working in St. Louis and other parts of the country, I’m coming back with new ideas about newsroom organization and ways to tell informative and creative stories,” Lisenby said. She wants to ensure these new ideas help STLPR retain talent, provide ethical and informative journalism, and reach new audiences.
“I want to help enthusiastic journalists enjoy what we do because I think it makes a difference,” Lisenby said. “I saw the impact of my own reporting on communities in St. Louis where I covered policing and conditions at the St. Louis Medium Security Institution (the Workhouse)."
Lisenby said her vision is to build a compassionate, collaborative, people-first newsroom where producers, reporters, and editors feel empowered to create impactful journalism.
