1. The FEDERAL GOVERNMENT gives no direct money to NPR. It gives very little money to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting who, in turn, supplies NPR with about 2% of its budget. The idiot at the WSJ also refers to "tax breaks and support of colleges that in turn, have radio stations that carry NPR"...well GE (General Electric) paid NO TAXES last year, nor did CitiBank or Bank of America. NONE. I propose that the WSJ can bitch all it wants about America's use of tax dollars in education but the big right wing corporations pay NO TAX so who are they bitching on behalf of?
2. THIS IS THE BIGGIE: PUBLIC RADIO is publicly supported in the majority....and that majority elected an administration and congress that reflects that majority and it is the majority will that programs like "car talk" and "all things considered" and "morning edition" programs that have been on air for decades, survive and are given a token amount of appreciation by the citizenry...and I mean token. DO YOU KNOW THAT WE SPEND LESS - INDIRECTLY ON NPR THAN IT TAKES TO RUN THE PENTAGON FOR 4 HOURS?
This is the clip that got Williams fired from NPR. I won't show the clip for the "outraged" right wing...NPR - that get's NO MONEY FROM THE GOVERNMENT and if you toss in the subsidy from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting at MOST puts the ante up to 2%....ohhh the dumb sh** right wing outrage....phony baloney.
Here are their programs:
news/talk
Morning Edition
All Things Considered
Fresh Air
The Diane Rehm Show
On The Media
On Point
State of the Reunion
Talk of the Nation
Tell Me More
Weekend Edition Saturday
Weekend Edition Sunday
entertainment
Car Talk
Radiolab
Snap Judgment
Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me
music
All Songs Considered
From the Top
JazzSet
Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz
Mountain Stage
Song of the Day
The Thistle & Shamrock
World Cafe
World of Opera
Here are their listeners ..... come from the left huh Bill? Seems down the middle except for the "smart" part.
It's false to say that NPR gets no support from government. It's just funneled through a lot of college stations, which are sometimes funded in part by the state and receive money from the Corp for Public Broadcasting. Haven't you heard their pitches? They like to maintain the fiction that they get all their funding from private donations from the educated, enlightened classes, but they're not being honest. They consider themselves a charitable organization, which would be fine if all they did was broadcast educational shows, but in fact, they receive tax exemptions from state and local taxes which enhance their ability to provide biased coverage to news. I don't trust their statistics. NPR is not a church, although it seems to regard itself in much the same way as most religions.
ReplyDeleteOnly 2% of their budget. Then they shouldn't miss the public support. By the way, there is a difference between tax exempt and paying no federal income tax.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it that NPR fans and staff always say "we really don't get much money from the government and we could really do without it" and then get into full blown panic when someone actually talks about cutting them from the public teat?
ReplyDeleteNo one is afraid of NPR. They're just tired of their tax-money going to them, as well as the blatant hypocrisy and hyper-partisanship. It's really that simple. Be as liberal as you want to be, but quit demanding everyone else pay your bills.
If it's not an important source of income, then why not stop taking it and remove the chance for Republicans to bitch about it.
ReplyDeleteNPR runs fund drive and commercials (they can call them sponsorship messages, or corporate partner messages or whatever, but they are commercials), and gets money from universities and foundations. They won't miss 2% and will be free of having to give a damn about what congressmen think.
you all forget that NPR/CPB has majority support by a long shot. I want some of my tax money to go for something other than bombs and corporations and big oil. We are the majority. go screw.
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