Member stations are federally funded. Member stations pay NPR.
To say that NPR doesn’t receive a significant portion of its budget from the federal government is a lie. This same argument is made whenever a politico mentions cutting funding to NPR. There is a large push to claim that NPR receives very little funding and it’s irrelevant to the network.
But you can’t have it both ways. The lady doth protest too mightily.
> In 2009, member stations derived 6% of their revenue from federal, state and local government funding, 10% of their revenue from CPB grants, and 14% of their revenue from universities.[34][63] While NPR does not receive any direct federal funding, it does receive a small number of competitive grants from CPB and federal agencies like the Department of Education and the Department of Commerce.[34] This funding amounts amounted to less than 0.1% of revenues, according to its 2020 public filings.
I'm not from the US so don't know the politics of this discussion, but it seems like NPR is funded more by the public directly, as well as the public sphere (foundations, universities, etc) than by the public sector. Do you have a source to the contrary?
Not OP, but I would have said misleading instead of lying.
To get the correct figure, you need to add together not just federal money for NPR but also state government money, and federal and state money for its affiliates and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. NPR only functions in an ecosystem, and the total figure for that ecosystem is at least 14 percent according to... NPR [1]. I suspect the real figure is somewhat obscured because some of their non-government donors will get some of their money from the government(s). I do not think the public media ecosystem would exist with 14 percent less money, but I could be wrong.
“Public Broadcasters Fear ‘Collapse’ if U.S. Drops Support,” announced a New York Times headline in March of 2017. Michael Grynbaum and Ben Sisario reported for the Times:
Public radio and television broadcasters are girding for battle after the Trump administration proposed a drastic cutback that they have long dreaded: the defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
The potential elimination of about $445 million in annual funding, which helps local TV and radio stations subscribe to NPR and Public Broadcasting Service programming, could be devastating for affiliates in smaller markets that already operate on a shoestring budget.
The Federal Government prints the dollar. If you buy something with that dollar, did the Federal Government fund your expense?
It's just as disingenuous to say NPR is directly funded by the Federal government as it is to say NPR receives little money from the Federal Government since it gets a lot of money from CPB which actually gets money from Congress.
Federally funded != State Affiliated. There is no one from the Biden Administration telling them what to say. By labeling them as such, Elon/Twitter are implying that NPR has a Goebbels-like figure running it, which is mendacious at best.
Perhaps more relevantly, by expanding the use of labels indicative of state association beyond the original use of “state-affiliated media” for those orgs which are editorially controlled by governments, Musk decreases the impact and clear distinction of that label, further normalizing and empowering the actual editorially-controlled state propaganda outlets operating on Twitter.
NPR was founded by the CPB, which was created with an act of Congress and is governed by a board of directors selected by the President. If it's "mendacious" to claim NPR is state affiliated, presumably it would be completely accurate and correct to state NPR, an entity that was founded and continues to be funded by a federal government body run by presidential appointees is "not state-affiliated"?
Yes that's how words work, NPR is not State Affiliated media. No one from the government is there dictating what they report on or what projects they pursue. When a lab at a private college takes NIH funding to do research, that does not make the private research institution state affiliated. When oil and gas companies accept government subsidies, they are not labeled as state affiliated (and in this case oil and gas are far more deeply intertwined with the levers of government). Elon Musk is a reactionary polemic and these choices are obviously intended to further those goals.
"There is no undisputed definition of state media or government media. The most common definition of state media or government media refers to any media organization that is either directly or indirectly owned or operated by the state.[4]"
"...State or government media can range from media outlets that are completely under state control to editorially independent public service media outlets.[1] The term "public media" can be used to refer to state or government media and public service broadcasting (PBS). Although there are differences between them. According to the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network, state and government media are directly controlled by the state or government; and PBS are not.[7] According to Facebook, state-controlled media are "partially or wholly under the editorial control of a government".[8]"
Interestingly:
"Twitter uses the term "state-affiliated media" and defines it as "outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution." At the same time, "state-financed" editorially independent media are not considered "state-affiliated".[9][10]"
"The goal of the ACE network is to provide knowledge to people working in the field elections, with the intention of supporting credible and transparent electoral processes with emphasis on sustainability, professionalism and trust. "
To say that NPR doesn’t receive a significant portion of its budget from the federal government is a lie. This same argument is made whenever a politico mentions cutting funding to NPR. There is a large push to claim that NPR receives very little funding and it’s irrelevant to the network.
But you can’t have it both ways. The lady doth protest too mightily.