4 ms·

Is this really a business model issue? I understood that NPR’s funding primarily comes from corporate sponsors, not listeners or the government. If that’s true,

• tootie 3y ago
  That's not exactly true. For one, all the local affiliates have their own budgets, their own expenses, revenues and staff. Up until this year, NPR was specifically prohibited from collecting donations from listeners. If you had gone to npr.org and clicked "donate" it would force you to donate to your local affiliate. Affiliates do not give NPR a cut of their donations. Instead they pay (on a sliding scale I think) for the rights to content produced by NPR. If you look at the sources of revenue for any given affiliate, it will probably be mostly donation from listeners. So taken as a whole, public radio is very much paid for by listeners.
  • ed-209 3y ago
    Their actual problem would then seem to be this rather complex explanation to a simple question (ie. Where does your money come from / what are your conflicts of interest). Any time I've considered donating, I remember all the "this segment brought to you by ..." and figure they don't need me (and I don't need them).
    • tootie 3y ago
      Donations go straight to the local affiliate who probably did not get any corporate sponsorship and very much need listener support. And besides just saying "corporate sponsor" is not an actual indication of them buying coverage. It doesn't really track that corporations bribed them into being too liberal.