[garyb]

The article stated that NPR gets about 1% of its budget from the Federal governemnt. Implying that the Kroc donation should more than cover it.

However, that is not the real picture.

In most cases (there are some exceptions) most federal support for public broadcasting goes from Congress to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. CPB then funds individual STATIONS. Very little of CPB money goes -directly- to NPR (or to PBS)

The individual stations decide which programs to purchase from NPR (or PBS) and then send payment from the station to the network for those programs. (There are additional payments from stations to support the general operation of the network(s) including satellite interconnection)

CPB funding makes up about 20% of the funding for a typical public broadcasting station. And generally speaking, it is just about that same amount that stations end up sending to Washington (NPR) or Alexandria (PBS) for programs.

Perhaps the 200M from Kroc would allow NPR to exist w/out the 1M from CPB, it would not allow stations to exist. (Only one station, KPBS in San Diego received any of the Kroc bequest)

CPB was created to serve as a "heat shield" to protect the editorial integrity of public broadcasting from politicians (read: Nixon) Congress has the same right to fund it as they do any cultural instution such as the Smithsonian, or for that matter school lunches.



Disclosure: I work for University owned public broadcasting stations.

[DManA]

Their "right" doesn't come from the Constitution.

Congress has the same right to fund it as they do any cultural instution such as the Smithsonian, or for that matter school lunches.

[DManA]

Politicians have a fiduciary DUTY to see that the taxpayers’ money they spent isn't used improperly (read: leftist propaganda )

[Drango]

Well said...Money is fungible (what a cool word) and the important thing is where it ends up, not how they disperse it.

Also a significant amount of STATE tax money is used to fund many of the stations.

[southernnorthcarolina]

Great post, garyb. Now, can you or anyone else tell me how many tax dollars in total go to NPR, PBS, CPB, and individual radio or TV stations each year? And another question (I sould know this, but I don't): are donations to any of the above tax deductable? If so, that's tantamount to an additional taxpayer subsidy.

I have no problem with a "listener supported" service, if it really is that. But we don't need a "state" broadcasting system, with all of the private alternatives (cable TV, satellite dishes, and now, satellite radio) available.