Can the President of the USA disband National Public Radio? (vanity)

[mandingo republican]

because it's about time - it's the American eqiv of the BBC. There should be a movement to end it.

[Spok]

It just needs to be unfunded-the rest will take care of itself.

[Lurking Libertarian]

I think it would take an act of Congress, since Congress established NPR.

[Non-Sequitur]

No. Congress determines who gets funded and how much they get.

[plain talk]

Hey, we don't have to end it. How about we just don't fund it with federal dollars FCOL? At this friggin' junction, I'll accept baby steps. Heck, I'll accept any crums of progress I can stuff into my emaciated political body. I get so ticked off at this stuff, at this rate I'll be dead before I'm 60.

[Corporate Law]

It would be worth a good laugh to try. I would love to see the libs that are whining about Rush on AFR because "our tax dollars should not support political propaganda" turn around and whine that our tax dollars should support NPR. Nothing is funnier than watching the liberals have their terrible twos tantrum.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Congress needs to defund it. Then it'll whither sooner than it takes for Randi Rhodes to spout a conspiracy theory.

[johnfrink]

It will never happen. Same situation as with leaving the UN--no matter how much sense it might make, the benefits would be outweighed by the massive condemnation.

[Wings-n-Wind]

They probably need "disbanding"... don't think the President alone can do this -- funding bills... Congress in the picture..etc.

Just food for thought.... we need to be careful asking to silence any forum--even the extreme bias of the NPR. Setting the precedent would start the arena of debate and ideas down a very slippery slope of the censorship of political speech.

I recommend that we exercise our influence on our reps... see if we can pull the plug on the tax dollars. Let their ideas sink or swim in the open market place.

Likewise.. let's just be better at handling these debates and issues than those clinging to baseless foggy-headed notions. If we can't sit them down in the arena of ideas, we will shout them down on the streets, and vote them out at the ballot box.

Regards

[Fiddlstix]

We need to get rid of it asap

[Cicero]

Congressional Republicans tried it once, and they got beaten to a pulp by Hollywood stars and the media.

They might have a better chance now, because NPR used to have some redeeming social value, what with the classical music and all. Now it has very little value of any kind. Nothing but left-wing rants all day long.

The question is, is it worth while putting your political credibility on the line to do this, or are there more important causes, such as confirming good judges?

[CWOJackson]

If I recall correctly, I believe only 12% of their funding comes from the government and the rest from private contribtions. Defunding the government side wouldn't kill it if my recollection is right.

[pete anderson]

Federal Defunding of NPR would do little to hurt NPR's ability to provide services as less than 5% of its funding comes from Congress.

NPR (National Public Radio) is a private, self-supporting nonprofit media company with hundreds of independent radio stations as members. NPR receives no direct federal funding for general support. NPR supports its operations through a combination of membership dues and programming fees from stations, contributions from private foundations and corporations, and revenue from the sales of transcripts, books, CDs, and merchandise. A very small percentage - between 1-2 percent of NPR's annual budget - comes from competitive grants sought by NPR from federally funded organizations, such as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. At present, NPR's annual operating budget is approximately $100 million a year (2002 NPR Annual Report).

http://www.npr.org/about/privatesupport.html
BTW-KUT the NPR Station here in Austin plays great music.

[RichInOC]

He and Congress could probably get federal funding eliminated, but I think the stations are all affiliates rather than owned-and-operated, with their own fund-raising apparati. In other words, they could tag the NPR network with a substantial hit in the pocketbook, but getting them all off the air (which is what I suspect you had in mind) is probably much easier said than done.

[pete anderson]

I am not sure Congress could stop the millions private people and corporations give NPR each year nor could they Stop Joan Krok's 200 million dollar gift to NPR.

[MineralMan]

Your local public radio station is an affiliate of NPR, nothing more. It survives on its listeners' contributions, and would continue to survive, even if there were no federal money available at all.

Only a few percent of the total NPR budget is government funds, and the network would survive just fine.

Now, the real question is: Can we get the FCC to pull the licenses from stations that play rap music all day long? No? Well, I guess I'll just have to tune into a station I like to listen to, and ignore the others. I guess you could probably tune right past NPR, too, just like I do.

[SAJ]

The next step is to make contributions to NPR (and PBS) no longer tax deductible as ''charitable'' donations.

Couple that with defunding, and this batch of Marxists is out of business w/in 6 months, tops -- or else the left-wing foundations will start picking up the tab...in which case we pull THEIR tax exemptions as well.

DEFUND THE LEFT...or at LEAST get the buggers out of OUR pockets!

[pete anderson]

The next step is to make contributions to NPR (and PBS) no longer tax deductible as ''charitable'' donations.

And how would you propose we do that?

[AlexW]

"are there more important causes, such as confirming good judges?"

I agree with you.
Prior to 1992, my radios were glued to public radio.
I even contributed to the local station, as I enjoyed the music.
Since then, I discovered Rush, by accident, and now have FOX NEWS, and the internet.
I have not only canceled any association with public radio,
I do not even have an antenna that will let me see ABCCBSNBCPBS crap.

Anyway, PBS is just preaching to the choir and has zero influence now.

[Xenalyte]

Yeah, it's all hilarity until you realize that THE LIBERALS ARE GETTING AWAY WITH IT.