Posted on 03/19/2006 4:13:09 PM PST by Crackingham
To Jay Kernis, senior vice president of programming at National Public Radio and a founding producer of "Morning Edition," the darkest moments in the network's 36-year history probably came in 1983, when it was just days away from running out of money and had to be sustained with emergency transfusions from its member stations and from federal grants.
.......
The last two years, however, have been a very different story. NPR has created nearly 70 new jobs in its newsroom, many of them for reporters on newly created beats like police and prisons, labor, international economics, the environment, technology and the media. And all this as other news organizations have been paring their staffs and scaling back their ambitions as consumers and advertisers drift away.
NPR doesn't have traditional advertising, of course, so it has always relied on the generosity of corporations (which typically receive understated acknowledgments on the air), foundations and listeners. One listener in particular is responsible for the new mood: Joan B. Kroc, the widow of Ray A. Kroc, the man who built the McDonald's chain. Just before her death in 2003, she arranged to leave NPR a gift of about $230 million. That was bigger than anyone at NPR could ever have imagined — so big that the interest alone has paid for most of those new jobs. Since the gift was announced, in November 2003, nothing at NPR has been quite the same.
"It was like Christmas and the lottery," said Mr. Kernis, who left NPR in 1987 and returned in 2001. "It was unbelievable. It was this enormous act of validation. We knew who we were. But suddenly, this outside force was saying, 'Not only are you worth it, but we want you to continue for decades doing this.' "
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Most of corporate America do not seem to be our friends.
Evidently true, considering that NPR is significantly undermining the influence of the major networks. Journalists who complain that major networks are cutting their news budgets should be taking NPR to court as an unfair, government subsidized intrusion on their marketplace. NPR is undercutting advertising sponsorship for news programming; this is unfair competition.
So not only are they not fighting back, they are praising the single greatest enemy of their survival. This Times article is an example of corporate America collaborating in its own destruction.
A balanced NPR would be a wonderful thing, since it's a high-quality service in many respects. I agree, though, that government subsidy is improper.
Corporate America has been invaded by liberals, and the non-liberals are too concerned about social acceptability and the bottom line to stand up to them in many cases. It's a shame. I wish I knew what to do about it. It's not clear that anyone else does.
All of the good that woman could have done with that money, and she gives it to NPR. "To whom much is given, much will be required." She will have a lot to answer for.
I was hoping that NPR would have been Defunded in 1994 after the Republican Revolution and again when Bush was elected in 2000.
However, our Republican President and Congress continue to give billions to NPR.
NPR gives comfort to our enemies. Pulling its subsidies isn't enough. The President should use his emergency powers to silence it and toss its principals in the Greybar Hotel.
And don't forget Daniel Schorr. He was on today bad mouthing GHW Bush for stopping the 1st Iraq war too soon and GW Bush for starting the 2nd war, in the same piece.
In the strangest most Clintonesq double speak, the ombudsman declared the Schorr wasn't a liberal! Why? Well, 'cause he doesn't call himself one, therefore he isn't.
You know, I've never once heard NPR add "..and taxpayers like you" to their list of contributors. Wonder why?
So, can WE stop paying now?
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