Staid NPR is really far too dramatic these days. They just announced the resignation of CEO Vivian Schiller:

The NPR Board of Directors announced today that it has accepted the resignation of Vivian Schiller as President and CEO of NPR, effective immediately.

Board Chairman Dave Edwards said: "The Board accepted Vivian's resignation with understanding, genuine regret and great respect for her leadership of NPR these past two years."

According to a CEO succession plan adopted by the Board in 2009, Joyce Slocum , SVP of Legal Affairs and General Counsel, will be appointed to the position of Interim CEO. The Board will establish an Executive Transition Committee to develop a timeframe and process for the recruitment and selection of new leadership.

No reason was given, so let's just speculate! Marks against Schiller: she handled the Juan Williams fiasco poorly, forcing Ellen Weiss, an executive under her, to resign. We pointed out at the time that that was hardly fair; the honest thing to do would have been for Schiller to resign herself, if she felt so strongly about it. Then yesterday came the latest James O'Keefe hoax vid targeting NPR's chief fundraiser. The whole thing was a farce hardly deserving of the press it got. But it's certainly possible that NPR's board got tired of all the recent bad press during Schiller's reign.

Or, it's possible she was axed to appease Republicans in Congress. Or it's possible she just got tired of the drama! We'll find out soon. If you know more, email me.

[Photo: Getty]