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They aren't state funded. They get most of their money from corporate sponsorship. They get some money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, but the maj

They aren't state funded. They get most of their money from corporate sponsorship. They get some money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, but the majority is from private sponsors. The public money they get is indirect so the layers of separation makes it hard to put them in the same category as BBC or Russian or State Media. They are so dependent on private sector sponsorship that they are laying people off now.

pibechorro 4y ago
Still state funded.
- falcolas 4y ago
  Grants amounting to less than 1% of their total funding is hardly "state funded".
  - kbelder 4y ago
    From what I understand, state funding is 30-40%. It's just indirectly funneled to the main NPR org through member stations.
    - falcolas 4y ago
      https://www.npr.org/about-npr/178660742/public-radio-finances https://www.npr.org/about-npr/178660742/public-radio-finance... Perhaps worth reading from the horses' mouth as it were. Also, here's the financials for a member station near me: https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/4c/1d/4e0c21b44d2aa963c25f8bc9830b/fy21-kemc-audited-financial-report.pdf https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/4c/1d/4e0c21b44d2aa963c25f8bc9... Note that state contributions totaled less than 5% of their total revenue. The CPB grant, which could be stretched to be considered state/government contributions, was about 16% of their revenue. Given that member station contribution is 30% of NPR's total revenue, there's no chance that state funding is going to reach 30%-40% values.
    - Tagbert 4y ago
      And even then it is a minority of the funding and only part of that is federal funds.
    - efields 4y ago
      And those member stations rely on _local_ subscriptions to stay solvent. They need to engage with their communities in a way that the communities find useful. This basically is big govt working the right way. This framework enables local communities to support their local public broadcasting networks, which then contribute to the state and federal news via NPR, which is better at elevating the stories that matter to the nation.
- tacomonstrous 4y ago
  By that criterion, Tesla is a lot more state funded than NPR: https://subsidytracker.goodjobsfirst.org/parent/tesla-inc https://subsidytracker.goodjobsfirst.org/parent/tesla-inc
  - moose_man 4y ago
    SpaceX would practically belong to the Pentagon.
  - jklinger410 4y ago
    Very true and yet completely irrelevant.
    - tacomonstrous 4y ago
      So you'd be fine with labeling Tesla a state-affiliated organization? I suppose that's at least consistent, though I don't see the utility of a label that applies so broadly.
  - perardi 4y ago
    And that strident libertarian Peter Thiel is the chairperson of a company that makes its money off government contracts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palantir_Technologies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palantir_Technologies Must be nice to be a libertarian—lot of fat government subsidies seem to come their way.
mantas 4y ago
Who appoints head of Corporation for Public Broadcasting? Or who comes up with rules how it distributes the funds?
- moose_man 4y ago
  From their website: CPB is a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. CPB is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting and the largest single source of funding for public radio, television, and related online and mobile services. CPB’s mission is to ensure universal access to non-commercial, high-quality content and telecommunications services. It does so by distributing more than 70% of its funding to more than 1,500 locally owned public radio and television stations. CPB by the numbers: 391 radio grantees, representing 1,207 public radio stations 158 television grantees, representing 357 public TV stations 251 of the total 549 radio and TV grantees are considered rural 99% of Americans have access to public media More than 70% of CPB’s federal funding goes directly to local public media stations Less than 5% of funding is spent on CPB operations CPB does not produce programming and does not own, operate or control any public broadcasting stations. Additionally, CPB, PBS, and NPR are independent of each other and of local public television and radio stations. CPB strives to support diverse programs and services that inform, educate, enlighten and enrich the public. Through grants, CPB encourages the development of content that addresses the needs of underserved audiences, especially children and minorities. CPB also funds multiple digital platforms used by thousands of public media producers and production companies throughout the country. CPB's core values of collaboration, innovation, engagement, and diversity, help to inform our program investments system-wide.
  - jvmfjvfjvflkj 4y ago
    "CPB is a private nonprofit corporation that is fully funded by the federal government."
barelysapient 4y ago
Yes, they are: https://www.npr.org/about-npr/178660742/public-radio-finances https://www.npr.org/about-npr/178660742/public-radio-finance... 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.
- moose_man 4y ago
  They get money indirectly through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is a private non-profit. It's also a tiny fraction of their funding.
  - jvmfjvfjvflkj 4y ago
    From its own website, CPB says they are fully funded by the federal government. How are you defining "tiny" and what is the figure? https://cpb.org/faq https://cpb.org/faq

pibechorro 4y ago

Still state funded.

falcolas 4y ago
Grants amounting to less than 1% of their total funding is hardly "state funded".
- kbelder 4y ago
  From what I understand, state funding is 30-40%. It's just indirectly funneled to the main NPR org through member stations.
  - falcolas 4y ago
    https://www.npr.org/about-npr/178660742/public-radio-finances https://www.npr.org/about-npr/178660742/public-radio-finance... Perhaps worth reading from the horses' mouth as it were. Also, here's the financials for a member station near me: https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/4c/1d/4e0c21b44d2aa963c25f8bc9830b/fy21-kemc-audited-financial-report.pdf https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/4c/1d/4e0c21b44d2aa963c25f8bc9... Note that state contributions totaled less than 5% of their total revenue. The CPB grant, which could be stretched to be considered state/government contributions, was about 16% of their revenue. Given that member station contribution is 30% of NPR's total revenue, there's no chance that state funding is going to reach 30%-40% values.
  - Tagbert 4y ago
    And even then it is a minority of the funding and only part of that is federal funds.
  - efields 4y ago
    And those member stations rely on _local_ subscriptions to stay solvent. They need to engage with their communities in a way that the communities find useful. This basically is big govt working the right way. This framework enables local communities to support their local public broadcasting networks, which then contribute to the state and federal news via NPR, which is better at elevating the stories that matter to the nation.
tacomonstrous 4y ago
By that criterion, Tesla is a lot more state funded than NPR: https://subsidytracker.goodjobsfirst.org/parent/tesla-inc https://subsidytracker.goodjobsfirst.org/parent/tesla-inc
- moose_man 4y ago
  SpaceX would practically belong to the Pentagon.
- jklinger410 4y ago
  Very true and yet completely irrelevant.
  - tacomonstrous 4y ago
    So you'd be fine with labeling Tesla a state-affiliated organization? I suppose that's at least consistent, though I don't see the utility of a label that applies so broadly.
- perardi 4y ago
  And that strident libertarian Peter Thiel is the chairperson of a company that makes its money off government contracts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palantir_Technologies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palantir_Technologies Must be nice to be a libertarian—lot of fat government subsidies seem to come their way.

mantas 4y ago

Who appoints head of Corporation for Public Broadcasting? Or who comes up with rules how it distributes the funds?

moose_man 4y ago
From their website: CPB is a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. CPB is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting and the largest single source of funding for public radio, television, and related online and mobile services. CPB’s mission is to ensure universal access to non-commercial, high-quality content and telecommunications services. It does so by distributing more than 70% of its funding to more than 1,500 locally owned public radio and television stations. CPB by the numbers: 391 radio grantees, representing 1,207 public radio stations 158 television grantees, representing 357 public TV stations 251 of the total 549 radio and TV grantees are considered rural 99% of Americans have access to public media More than 70% of CPB’s federal funding goes directly to local public media stations Less than 5% of funding is spent on CPB operations CPB does not produce programming and does not own, operate or control any public broadcasting stations. Additionally, CPB, PBS, and NPR are independent of each other and of local public television and radio stations. CPB strives to support diverse programs and services that inform, educate, enlighten and enrich the public. Through grants, CPB encourages the development of content that addresses the needs of underserved audiences, especially children and minorities. CPB also funds multiple digital platforms used by thousands of public media producers and production companies throughout the country. CPB's core values of collaboration, innovation, engagement, and diversity, help to inform our program investments system-wide.
- jvmfjvfjvflkj 4y ago
  "CPB is a private nonprofit corporation that is fully funded by the federal government."

barelysapient 4y ago

Yes, they are: https://www.npr.org/about-npr/178660742/public-radio-finances https://www.npr.org/about-npr/178660742/public-radio-finance... 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.

moose_man 4y ago
They get money indirectly through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is a private non-profit. It's also a tiny fraction of their funding.
- jvmfjvfjvflkj 4y ago
  From its own website, CPB says they are fully funded by the federal government. How are you defining "tiny" and what is the figure? https://cpb.org/faq https://cpb.org/faq