NPR And PBS: Taxpayer Dollars Down The Drain

Toogood Reports ^ | May 17, 2002 | Chad Stafko

[Stand Watch Listen]

The Media Research Center and recently-born, "The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly" made mention of a story by Lisa Myers of NBC News complaining that talk radio was dominated by conservatives. Both the Media Research Center and The Factor noted that Ms. Myers failed to mention National Public Radio in her analysis of talk radio. As anyone from either side of the political fence knows, NPR is by no means a bastion of conservative thought. Rather, NPR and its television cousin, PBS, nearly always present a liberal tone in any program dealing with politics or the issues of the day.

With this in mind, does it not trouble anyone else that it is our tax dollars that help fund both National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System? The annual report of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is the umbrella organization of both NPR and PBS, noted that it received federal appropriations of $300 million in 2000. Is this a necessary expense of government?

Some may argue that NPR and PBS provide benefits and programs that would not normally be produced by commercial radio or television networks. This argument has little merit, as television networks such as C-SPAN, CNBC, Disney, Nickelodeon, A&E, Discovery and National Geographic produce largely the same types of programs as PBS and without funding from the government.

Sesame Street, by far the best children's program on PBS and possibly among all others, could easily be produced profitably. Cookie Monster could even drink Nestle chocolate milk instead of chocolate milk with a plain carton, utilizing the trend among many programs of grabbing advertising dollars by using name-brand products on air.

The same holds true in regards to NPR. NPR programming consists nearly entirely of news, talk radio, classical music and some jazz music. Each of these programming types has managed to thrive without the help of government funding. NPR stations should have to compete against other local stations without the benefit of government subsidies. Simply put, there is nothing that NPR or PBS produces that cannot be produced profitably by for-profit radio and television stations.

Even for those individuals who live in rural areas of the U.S. and do not have cable or satellite television services, it is still quite easy to obtain weather and emergency information. An internet connection affords these individuals with virtual real-time access to this information. For those who do not have internet access, signals from radio stations can be picked up from hundreds of miles away and can provide these types of information.

The most disturbing aspect of public funding for NPR and PBS is that American taxpayers, regardless of their political persuasion, are forced to subsidize a radio and television network that, to put it mildly, slants to the left politically. Imagine if legislation was enacted that allocated $300 million of federal money to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity or other programs with well-known conservative hosts. The Left would be outraged and they would have every right to be upset.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting needs to become a for-profit company that does not receive any significant federal funding. It can and should compete in the capitalistic marketplace of ideas among other communication companies. In NPR and PBS, essentially we have government controlled radio and television networks. Of course, this is not unique as countries such as Cuba and Iraq find government-owned networks to be quite convenient in passing along their messages. Let us urge our lawmakers to end federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and let the fate of its more than 1,000 radio and television stations be determined by their local markets.

[gitmo]

I have created a 3 hour radio show, where I respond to callers using only arm-pit farts and burping. So far this has not drawn much interest from our local commerical radio stations. Do I have a future on NPR?

Which armpit do you use?

[gitmo]

And didja know that the United Way provides legal defense for the indigent al quieda (sp.?) prisoners in Cuba and for illegal immigrants. I have stopped my payroll deduction to U.W.

Don't forget how the "Untied Way" sponsors abortion and attacks the Boy Scouts.

[yawningotter]

It is not just Sesame Street. Throw in Barney, Teletubbies, Arthur, and the other kids shows that sell billions in merchandise every year. I remember that when Newt wanted to cut funding for PBS (and libs were having conniption fits) it was revealed that PBS execs had negotiated some bad contracts with companies marketing merchandise from all of the PBS kids shows. They weren't getting nearly as much of a percentage of the profits as were non PBS kids shows. I wonder if this ever changed, because PBS has more shows that are heavily marketed now than in the mid 90's.

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

I usually listen to CarTalk on Sat. a.m.'s, and the program following that is "What do you Know?" but it comes out "whatayaknow?" This morning, the program was taped in Sioux Fall, South Dakota, and they had a local newspaper man on discussing how crazy South Dakotans were about Tom Daschle, and how Bush and Rove were trying to get a Republican elected to the Senate from S.D. Also, Michael Feldman, the host, made a crack about how the Republicans in the primary race were attacking each other, when it was more common to see them "picking on the less fortunate."

Somehow, it just doesn't seem right to tax me and take that money and oppose my political views. Take their own money, yes, and talk all day, just don't use MY money to do it.

[eleni121]

This morning an NPR reporter in Germany kept talking about "Mr." Bush this and "Mr." Bush that...Then I realized that she was referring to President Bush! Shut em down now!!!