Posted on 10/25/2010 3:29:15 AM PDT by Scanian
De-fund NPR! In the wake of the firing of Juan Williams by National Public Radio, we've once again heard conservative voices issue that call. NPR representatives respond, as they always do when their dependence on government purse strings is noted, by arguing that only two or three percent of the service's money comes from the federal government. NPR apologist Norah O'Donnell recently threw out a one- to three-percent figure on MSNBC.
We don't see these people volunteering to give up that three percent, but we have to admit that this amount of funding is not the gigantic boondoggle we might prefer to oppose. Is this three-percent number a fair claim by the NPR crowd? Apparently, in a very limited sense, it is, but in a more comprehensive analysis, it is nowhere near accurate.
To understand NPR funding, we have to recognize that public radio is a two-tier operation. There is, on the one hand, the network itself, the Washington-based producer of programs that actually terminated Juan Williams' contract. On the other hand, there is the collection of some nine hundred NPR affiliate radio stations who bring this programming to radios around the United States. We cannot hope to understand NPR's finances without understanding the stations as well, so let's begin there.
According to information available from the NPR website, local radio station money comes from the following sources:
32.1% Individual contributions
21.1% Business contributions
13.6% University funds
10.1% Corporation for Public Broadcasting funds
9.6% Foundation money
5.6% Federal, state, and local government funds
7.6% Other
At first glance, this distribution of funds seems to confirm that public radio's support does not come in large amounts from the direct allocation of tax moneys. After all, 5.6% is not a gigantic portion of the budget, is it? But let's look more closely. That 10.1% that comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is 99% provided by -- you guessed it -- the federal government. Those university funds, whenever they are provided by a public university, represent taxpayer-provided dollars. We can safely assert that three out of four university-supported stations are publicly funded, which means that more than 10% (three-quarters of that 13.6%) is taken from the taxpayer's pockets.
this means that at least 25% of NPR’s funding comes from taxes, not the tiny 2-3% they pretend
not only are they liars but ungrateful wretches as well!!
they need to be de-funded from taxpayer sources, and businesses need to get the message loud and clear that NPR is not a suitable object of their largesse
This shouldn’t be a debate at all , I have 200+ stations on my TV right now , nobody can argue that the Federal Government NEEDS to have it’s own station.. This isn’t 1956 and we don’t have 2 local over the air stations anymore.. anyone can get huge programming packages anywhere in the country representing all points of view.
Defund NPR now , along with the dept of Education and Energy..
I disagree with counting deductions for charitable giving (even if I deplore the charity) as government funding or subsidy. That assumes the money belongs to the government.
How public is NPR’s ratings picture?
The original argument was that the heartland folks needed culture...so jazz, opera, and classical music was piped out to the nation. Then various outlets came into existence on the commercial side.
Then the argument was kid’s programming....then commercial outlets started to pump out several alternate possible avenues.
Then the argument was news programming was needed in the heartland....then AM radio and several cable networks came to offer alternate possible avenues.
So, what’s left now? I think that spring will bring these meetings in DC....and the NPR folks will be forced back into the jazz, opera, and classical routine....while they let twenty-five percent of their manpower go.
Cut them off, cut off foreign aid, and cut off the funds for Air Foce One and we can balance the budget.
25% comes from US????? ALL the media says 2-3%!!!!
lets stop it and I am sure we will find out.
They won’t miss 2-3%. Giving up this tiny contribution will be a small price for them to pay if it allows them to restore their constitutional “separation of press and state”. (Hint they can find this in the first amendment right next to where they find the “separation of church and state”)
Once again, after a nearly 10 year hiatus, here’s the solution.
Public radio is owned and operated by the states and is run for the most part from state universities. The governors have the ability to control public radio but won’t. The stations use NPR because they lack the funding and talent to do it themselves.
Rather than defund NPR, the boss should be fired and the board marched down to the river and off the plank. NPR should be taken over completely and revamped down to the janitor level. NPR should become the voice of the people and vociferously condemn everything liberal that is killing the republic.
NPR is radio
While we are at it, let's also quit funding the National Endowment of the Arts.
Thanks for that. I'll be reusing that concept.
NPR is a perfect example of waste in Gummit. I don’t remember the last time I watched or listened to a Public station. Cut the fat.
Pray for the Election
Denigrate, defund, dismantle and destroy if necessary all anti-truth, anti-freedom, anti-individual, anti-life collectives. Schiller should be denigrated and her collective defunded at the very least. Soros, now that’s another matter. His tentacles ot totalitarianism are vast. Funding Schiller’s collective is a tiny fraction of his destructive ability.
Life, liberty and the pursuit and destruction of totalitarians.
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