It's a news feed, but for news -- populated exclusively by journalists. Anyone can sign up and follow along, but no misinfo, no spam, no hate speech -- just fact-based reporting.
> Federal funding is essential to public radio's service to the American public and its continuation is critical for both stations and program producers, including NPR.
> On average, less than 1% of NPR's annual operating budget comes in the form of grants from CPB and federal agencies and departments.
"Less than 1%" is still more than 0. Sounds like NPR is, in part, Government-funded Media, making the Twitter label accurate, at least on face value. If they don't want to be labeled as such, they can't accept government funding. I'm sure if the US government attached strings to their money, NPR would roll over and do whatever is asked.
Okay, but the funding for NPR must also have some stipulations, since a normal American can't just access it. There's probably something on the CBP grants page[1], I didn't look too deep.
So if the whole point is that the money comes with stipulations, this seems to be fulfilled without a need for hidden content control through the state. Shouldn't we, as per Occams Razor, not assume that NPR really has creative control?
I agree in principle, but this rationale isn't applied consistently. It's applied selectively and it's hypocrisy of the selective application that I'm trying to tease out.
As a thought experiment let's imagine a parallel universe where we replace NPR with RT. Now imagine a Russian HN where two people are having a similar discussion about RT being Russian state-sponsored media. In that context would Occam's Razor apply? And if not, why? Pointing to Western fact-checkers isn't going to convince a Russian living in Russia any more than an American pointing to fact-checkers from RT is going to persuade an American. They've been indoctrinated by the public school system from an early age.
In this imaginary universe Russia still doesn't have a 1A, but even without one, it doesn't follow that RT wouldn't be able to exert the same creative control as NPR. Any fact that could be seen to reflect poorly on the government is very easy to omit without compromising control and ensures no direct or indirect evidence of collusion.
Another option would be to rely on a neutral third party. The problem with that is if the majority of institutions are already captured, a third party reporting the truth has to overcome an overwhelming counter-narrative of "fact-checkers" and imbeciles parroting rhetoric like "surely all of these people can't be wrong" and other appeals to authority.
I'm not entirely convinced this is true, but suppose so. How would you go about proving or disproving the validity of this capture from within the system?
I think you are incorrect. The government hands money out all the time with no strings attached. Mortgage interest deduction, electric car tax credits, charitable donations.
I've never heard anyone ever report that NPR has answered to the Federal government in any manner regarding their reporting.
> The government hands money out all the time with no strings attached. Mortgage interest deduction, electric car tax credits, charitable donations.
I see strings: the government wants you to buy a house, buy an electric car, and give to charity. You can't claim those tax deductions and credits until you've done those things.
Aren't those state funds and not federal funds? It's a false equivalence regardless since college newspapers have a single campus audience while NPR is mainstream press. I don't believe the authors at college newspapers are typically paid either
Its an example of government subsidizing journalism. Should it matter if it's state or federal?
But the crux of the issue is the question "does a small amount of federal money influence NPR". I think the answer is "it does not". I've listened to NPR and read NYT, WSJ, WashPo for years and I've never heard a peep about the federal money influencing NPR.
The OP is stating there are strings attached and NPR answers to the Feds. I've never seen one iota of that in my entire life.
If NPR was as upstanding as some want to believe, and if this money isn't meaningful, then it should be easy for NPR to give the money back and distance themselves in a way that leaves no room for question.
NPR's actions demonstrate how corrupt and depraved they are.
The enemy of the people deserve everything that happens to them.
There was a time when journalists exposed and reported on the malfeasants of powerful corporations and governments.
But when those responsible for reporting on the powerful choose to accept financial contributions from the powerful, then what else do you call it except for corruption and depravity?
The Public Broadcasting Act created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The Act doesn't give the executive branch direct control over the funding of public broadcasting. However, the CPB Board of Directors consists of 9 members, each member serving a 6 year term. The CPB board members are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
If you're going to say there's no influence here, you also concede the president has no influence on the make up of the Supreme Court. It's the exact same process.
I would of course concede that the president has influence over the makeup of the CBP Board of Directors. That does not necessarily have anything to do with whether the board members are influencing editorial decisions. So you've failed at answering my request by conflating "influence" over the makeup of the board with editorial influence.
In fact, the only references I can find to the CPB attempting to influence editorial decisions at NPR were a series of incidents that happened during a Republican administration, and the actions were found to be in violation of the law, and one of the board members resigned as a result.
It’s not about the money being meaningful or not, it’s the fact that the organization was initially labeled as “state-affiliated media” which is blatantly false, going by the common meaning of the term. As I understand it (I don’t use Twitter) the label was later revised to “government-funded media” which is probably correct, but is IMHO a meaningless designation designed to sow distrust. I’m willing to bet every single media organization in the country benefits from government funding somehow.
The real issue (and the purpose of the label, at least before it was corrupted by Musk) is whether the government has editorial control over the journalism, which they clearly don’t for NPR.
Calling NPR “the enemy of the people” is some Orwellian-level bullshit.
RT is wholly owned by the Russian government. Either you didn't know that and now you're informed, or you did and you were deliberately intending to confuse by conflating a propaganda bureau of the Russian government with an independent network of media outlets that get single-digit percentages of their funding from the state.
Either way I'm not going to engage with you further.
edit: also, it wasn't "being applied consistently" until they fixed it, as I mentioned in the grandparent post. RT and NPR are fundamentally different, and Twitter even recognized that by changing NPR's label while keeping RT's the same.
If I understand you correctly, it seems the fundamental difference is what percentage of their finances come from the state.
I urge you to reconsider and continue this discussion so we both can learn what exactly is that threshold to be regarded as state-sponsored in your view. Is it 0.0001%, 10%, 51%?
I must have touched the nerve of a propagandist :)
The inescapable fact of the matter is the onus is on NPR to absolve themselves of their conflict of interest. Their failure to do so is evidence in and of itself of their corruption. There's no way to snake and weasel out of this.
I'm eager to exchange ideas, but it's important to engage with those who are genuinely interested in constructive dialogue and are open to considering different perspectives.
If one chooses not to actively participate in the exchange of ideas I have to conclude:
NPR is the enemy of the people and they deserve everything that happens to them.
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It's a news feed, but for news -- populated exclusively by journalists. Anyone can sign up and follow along, but no misinfo, no spam, no hate speech -- just fact-based reporting.
Would love to hear your thoughts.
> On average, less than 1% of NPR's annual operating budget comes in the form of grants from CPB and federal agencies and departments.
https://www.npr.org/about-npr/178660742/public-radio-finance...
"Less than 1%" is still more than 0. Sounds like NPR is, in part, Government-funded Media, making the Twitter label accurate, at least on face value. If they don't want to be labeled as such, they can't accept government funding. I'm sure if the US government attached strings to their money, NPR would roll over and do whatever is asked.
What do you base this on?
Wasn't the COVID stimulus tax payer money handed out without stipulations?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paycheck_Protection_Program
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CARES_Act
So if the whole point is that the money comes with stipulations, this seems to be fulfilled without a need for hidden content control through the state. Shouldn't we, as per Occams Razor, not assume that NPR really has creative control?
https://cpb.org/grants
As a thought experiment let's imagine a parallel universe where we replace NPR with RT. Now imagine a Russian HN where two people are having a similar discussion about RT being Russian state-sponsored media. In that context would Occam's Razor apply? And if not, why? Pointing to Western fact-checkers isn't going to convince a Russian living in Russia any more than an American pointing to fact-checkers from RT is going to persuade an American. They've been indoctrinated by the public school system from an early age.
In this imaginary universe Russia still doesn't have a 1A, but even without one, it doesn't follow that RT wouldn't be able to exert the same creative control as NPR. Any fact that could be seen to reflect poorly on the government is very easy to omit without compromising control and ensures no direct or indirect evidence of collusion.
Another option would be to rely on a neutral third party. The problem with that is if the majority of institutions are already captured, a third party reporting the truth has to overcome an overwhelming counter-narrative of "fact-checkers" and imbeciles parroting rhetoric like "surely all of these people can't be wrong" and other appeals to authority.
I'm not entirely convinced this is true, but suppose so. How would you go about proving or disproving the validity of this capture from within the system?
I've never heard anyone ever report that NPR has answered to the Federal government in any manner regarding their reporting.
I see strings: the government wants you to buy a house, buy an electric car, and give to charity. You can't claim those tax deductions and credits until you've done those things.
How much are they willing to bite the hand that feeds them. It might be a small percentage but it makes part of their budget.
But the crux of the issue is the question "does a small amount of federal money influence NPR". I think the answer is "it does not". I've listened to NPR and read NYT, WSJ, WashPo for years and I've never heard a peep about the federal money influencing NPR.
The OP is stating there are strings attached and NPR answers to the Feds. I've never seen one iota of that in my entire life.
If NPR was as upstanding as some want to believe, and if this money isn't meaningful, then it should be easy for NPR to give the money back and distance themselves in a way that leaves no room for question.
NPR's actions demonstrate how corrupt and depraved they are.
The enemy of the people deserve everything that happens to them.
I find NPR news to be the most balanced news radio out there.
But when those responsible for reporting on the powerful choose to accept financial contributions from the powerful, then what else do you call it except for corruption and depravity?
If you're going to say there's no influence here, you also concede the president has no influence on the make up of the Supreme Court. It's the exact same process.
In fact, the only references I can find to the CPB attempting to influence editorial decisions at NPR were a series of incidents that happened during a Republican administration, and the actions were found to be in violation of the law, and one of the board members resigned as a result.
What uh... what are you expecting to happen to them, that they will deserve?
The real issue (and the purpose of the label, at least before it was corrupted by Musk) is whether the government has editorial control over the journalism, which they clearly don’t for NPR.
Calling NPR “the enemy of the people” is some Orwellian-level bullshit.
Are you equally outraged at RT's Russia state-affiliated media label?
Either way I'm not going to engage with you further.
edit: also, it wasn't "being applied consistently" until they fixed it, as I mentioned in the grandparent post. RT and NPR are fundamentally different, and Twitter even recognized that by changing NPR's label while keeping RT's the same.
I urge you to reconsider and continue this discussion so we both can learn what exactly is that threshold to be regarded as state-sponsored in your view. Is it 0.0001%, 10%, 51%?
The inescapable fact of the matter is the onus is on NPR to absolve themselves of their conflict of interest. Their failure to do so is evidence in and of itself of their corruption. There's no way to snake and weasel out of this.
I'm eager to exchange ideas, but it's important to engage with those who are genuinely interested in constructive dialogue and are open to considering different perspectives. If one chooses not to actively participate in the exchange of ideas I have to conclude:
NPR is the enemy of the people and they deserve everything that happens to them.
No. Goodbye.
https://deadline.com/2023/04/pbs-off-twitter-like-npr-after-...