Free Republic

The chief executives of NPR and PBS faced questions in a March 26 congressional hearing as Congress considers legislation that would prohibit federal funding for the public broadcasters. About a quarter of U.S. adults (24%) say Congress should remove federal funding from NPR and PBS, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted March 10-16. A larger share (43%) say NPR and PBS should continue to receive funding from the federal government, while 33% say they are not sure. The funding structures for NPR and PBS are complicated, and much of their revenue comes from nongovernment sources like member donations...

Public television and radio stations like PBS and NPR got $445 million from the government in 2012—or about 0.014 percent of the federal budget. I don't understand why the American taxpayer should subsidize any television or radio stations. $445, in my opinion, is a lot of money. A lot of money. NPR is another very liberal outlet. I say defund NPR. What say you?

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...