Posted on 03/12/2011 1:14:08 PM PST by STARWISE
After the public shaming of NPR this week, Nina Totenberg was given the option of taking a day off from PBS's "Inside Washington" so that she wouldn't have to face the music concerning the so-called "news organization" she works for.
Demonstrating admirable spunk, Totenberg showed up to "defend the product" her radio station produces only to have Charles Krauthammer say in the midst of a lengthy discussion about the issue, "If the product is so superior, why does it have to live on the tit of the state?" (video of entire segment follows with transcript and commentary):
Transcript Excerpt:
GORDON PETERSON, HOST: Nina, fasten your seat belt. NPR's bumpy ride just ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON SCHILLER, NPR: It is very clear that we would be better off in the long run without federal funding. NPR would definitely survive and most of the stations would survive.”
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PETERSON: That is Ron Schiller, formerly NPR’s head of fundraising, caught in a sting at a Washington restaurant by people posing as members of a fake Muslim group. They said they were potential NPR donors which is why it was there. Some members of Congress are ready to take Schiller up on the offer, by the way, and cut off funding. Schiller also had some very unpleasant things to say about the Republican Party, the Tea Party, said they were racist, some are Jews. After the story broke, NPR’s President and CEO Vivian Schiller, no relation, resigned . Now I offered Nina the chance to take the week off. She declined. She wants to defend her company. So, you’re on.
NINA TOTENBERG, NPR: I can’t defend the executives, the top executives, and I can’t necessarily even defend the board, but I can defend the product. There is a reason that we are the only news organization, other than Fox, with a growing audience. It is because of our product which is straight-shooting, factual, and spends an enormous amount of money gathering news from all over the country and the world. Judge us by our product. The people in the newsroom were probably more mortified than Charles or anybody in the Tea Party, or any, any anybody else. I mean, we were just horrified, and not by the political incorrectness of what he said, but by the fact that he even thought this way.
PETERSON: Well, this plays right into the belief that you’re a bunch of lefties.
TOTENBERG: I know it does, but it’s not true. [Laughter]
Was that nervous laughter by Totenberg or a subconscious admission of guilt? Regardless, Krauthammer wasn't buying any of it:
PETERSON: Charles?
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: Well, all I would say, I mean I don’t want to rehash all the grounds, it obviously is a liberal organization. Obviously what you're getting is a taste of what people say to each other internally. Everybody knows that. But I have no objection to liberal news organizations. I read the New York Times. The difference between NPR growing, Fox growing, is that Fox is not holding out a tin cup for taxpayer money. I want NPR to thrive, but not on my dime.
PETERSON: Colby?
Prepare to be shocked, for Washington Post columnist Colby King actually agreed with Krauthammer:
COLBY KING, WASHINGTON POST: I think NPR ought to take that initiative and say we do not want the subsidy.
PETERSON: Wouldn’t that kill some of the stations?
TOTENBERG: It would kill a lot of stations.
And therein lies the truth. Supporters of NPR claim on the one hand it would do fine without the public's money, but folks inside the organization know that not to be the case. King seemed to know it as well:
KING: Yeah, then this is a test of public support…
KRAUTHAMMER: We got a market in the country. We have thousands of stations.
KING: …and whether the public will step forward. And let's go back to that performance we saw on TV. I mean, it was disgusting, and it was disgusting because he was pandering. He was pandering to get some bucks, and he would say anything to get five million bucks. That’s the despicable thing.
Good post!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_in_the_United_States
In 1998, the number of U.S. commercial radio stations had grown to 4,793 AM stations and 5,662 FM stations. In addition, there are 1,460 public radio stations in the United States.
So on your planet, NPR and PBS do not influence voters, so reducing their funding need not be a conservative priority.
Not every thread is a Sarah Palin thread.
You are, of course, dead right.
And what better way to dispose of the property than sell it to its listeners. Put a price on the assets...and if the employees and the listeners can't meet it...sell the operation to Fox...
A journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step.
You must not be familiar with that quote, huh?
If you want to fix everything in a fortnight, you're doomed to be disappointed. Getting us out of this fix is going to take a lot of time...and a lot of patience.
Depends on who’s making the step and why?
Bet you never thought about it that way.
Depends on who’s making the step and why?
Bet you never thought about it that way.
Of course. So?
But you agree it's gong to be a long, protracted fight? A war that won't be won by Mother's Day?
chortle!
...and thanks for that, Bob.
Maybe 100 Mother’s days if were’re lucky.
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