[Shout Bits]

links and citations are on the original blog page

[Tribune7]

Direct link

You should just excerpt your stuff.

[umgud]

We’ve survived just fine without Err America. We can live without NPR too.

[OrioleFan]

Statists and dictators have always had government propaganda outlets, and NPR serves this role comparatively benignly.

I would say it's blatently obvious they are a propaganda outlet. Anyone with half a brain can see their bias.

[Cicero]

I imagine that NPR will continue much as it is. They’ll just have to raise more money from their listeners and from progressive donors like Soros. The advantage to that change is that WE will no longer be forced to pay for it. And it will drain a few dollars out of the left’s vast coffers that would otherwise be spent on other leftist goals.

[traderrob6]

$4MM to $90MM my a$$. More like $450,000,000.

Do your homework.

[La Lydia]

My problem with this whole debate, logically, is that the NPR defenders argue that “no federal funding” = “no NPR.” I don’t think that is the case. I think they would quickly make up the difference with corporate and foundation funding. Nothing would change.

[FlingWingFlyer]

If NPR went of the air tomorrow, I wouldn’t know about it unless I read it here on FR.

[ottbmare]

The error is in thinking that NPR is going to go away. Believe me, it will be funded; it just won’t be funded by federal tax dollars. Well-meaning, guilt-afflicted liberals, classical music devotees, and large left-wing organizations will continue to fund it. I have no fear that Mozart is going away.

[headstamp 2]

“Sen. Harry Reid offered a typically pathetic defense of NPR by citing critical investigative reporting on dog racing.”

Between this and the cowboy poetry, Reid needs to retire and visit a rubber room.

[dead]

Very nicely written - clear, concise and well-argued.

I clicked on your blog when I was done, just to give you a hit.

I don't really get the bizarre mouth-foaming anti-blog faction here anyway.

[Huskrrrr]

Buh-bye!

[Jim W N]

I sure hope the classic-music portion of NPR continues with private funding. The problem of going commercial is almost certainly these stations will become bland, pop-culture shows like we already have: mostly yaking, contests, and little snippets of classical pieces because anything longer will lose the paying audience.

Bland radio as well as TV is attributable to the FCC. Government defunding of NPR doesn't solve the problem but defunding the FCC does. Until the FCC is dissolved, the government will continue to interfere with communications free-market supply and demand which would bring us robust, innovative and delightful shows (the golden age of radio before the FCC forced their pablum on America).

[CodeToad]

A world without NPR? I don’t even know of it on a daily basis. I refuse to get my news from any biased source such as NPR.

[Salman]

NPR will get by on their corporate contributions.

[Yardstick]

Agree with every point you make in the piece. Beating the socialists is no small thing because they've managed to tap into such primal stuff -- feelings of family, security, safety, etc. Socialism is the true opium of the masses, which is ironic. And of course since it's fundamentally a way to avoid and deny the difficult reality of life on planet Earth rather than to deal with it, it's a false choice and will generally result in more suffering.

[Larry Lucido]

I appreciate that you posted the entire thing. I think it was very well written.

[Yaelle]

Of course leftists enjoy leftist viewpoints. Just like I enjoy Rush.

What they need to do before funding it publicly is to tell the NPR-niks that an independent analysis finds that the political viewpoints on NPR are not mixed. They are all to the far left. Therefore, public funding could only continue if the Fairness Doctrine is applied... Suddenly they would agree to fund their little pet privately.

[Solar Wind]

Shout Bits,

Excellent post. This is a major insight into the statist mind and why NPR is such a touchstone for them. It is astounding that such an insightful analysis of the liberal mind was published through a university. This work goes very nicely with the ideas in Jonah Goldberg's "Liberal Fascism".

"Unlike talk radio and blogs, NPR is a one way flow of left wing sentiment; it coordinates the sentiments of its listeners. NPR is the left’s shaman telling his tribe the stories that define a cultural identity." That this leftist cultural validation comes from the government gives the left the comforting stamp of approval that this is the will of we the people. This why it is important what is funded by the government and what is a nonprofit. If it comes form the government, culturally it has our stamp of approval on it. Equally if we do not approve of it, it must be defunded.

How did you come across this paper? It is a real gem though rather obscure.

You can post your ideas anytime as far as I am concerned. You have something to say and you say it well. Vanities are no longer banned here. Several conservative writers have sharpened their teeth here on FR before going out to a wider audience. I cannot stand excerpting. If it can be posted in full I am for it.

I come to FR for news, ideas and discussion that I do not find anywhere else. I am glad to hear what you have to say anytime.

Regards,
Mr. Sol.

[dalereed]

Haven’t ever found it on a radio so I gues it can’t be missed.