Kevin Klose Returns To RFE/RL As Acting President And CEO

WASHINGTON — Distinguished journalist and broadcast executive Kevin Klose returns today to RFE/RL, Inc., as Acting President and CEO. RFE/RL’s corporate board of directors announced Klose’s appointment, for a period of up to one year, on January 17.

“I am honored to return to Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty,” Klose said. “RFE/RL correspondents work in some of the world’s most hostile media environments, connecting with audiences in countries such as Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Russia to provide news, analysis and debate they cannot otherwise get. I look forward to re-connecting with many friends in Prague and Russia and to working with the entire RFE/RL team.”

“We are grateful that Kevin has agreed to take on this task,” said Dennis Mulhaupt, chairman of the RFE/RL corporate board, which consists of members of the Broadcasting Board of Governors. “Kevin understands well from first-hand experience the special challenge and public trust that RFE/RL represents.”

“Kevin Klose’s deep experience in journalism and international broadcasting is unparalleled for this mission,” according to RFE/RL board co-chair Susan McCue. “His leadership and stable hand will build bridges to the future while ensuring that RFE/RL’s long tradition of journalistic integrity and courageous reporting is honored.”

Klose was president of U.S. public radio broadcaster NPR from 1998 to 2008, and was named President Emeritus in 2008. Before joining NPR, he was president of RFE/RL from 1994 to 1997, overseeing its relocation from Munich to Prague. In 1997-98, he directed the International Broadcasting Bureau at the U.S. Information Agency. Prior to this, he was an editor and reporter at The Washington Post for 25 years, including stints as Moscow bureau chief, city editor and deputy national editor. A tenured professor at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, Klose served as dean of the journalism college from April 2009 to July 2012. He will be on leave from his faculty position while serving at RFE/RL. He earned a B.A. from Harvard and is the author of five books, including Russia and the Russians: Inside the Closed Society.