| Author | Message | ||
     Ft_bstrd |
I don't find NPRs coverage particularly broad or balanced. "All Things Considered"? Hardly. I don't want NPR to go away. I simply don't believe that public funds should be spent on the programing on NPR. If there is an audience that will support NPR, they will survive. I don't believe that the Federal Government should be supporting failing news papers either. If they are not commercially viable, they shouldn't exist. | ||
| Blake |
Bunch of arrogant condescending liberals. Dave, Concussions? What? Yet another depressing wartime topic to demoralize America? Did they do a story on wartime jock itch too? If NPR are so wonderful, then let them stand on their own without the federal govt forcing me to help pay their way. Or let them fail. I literally get nauseous listening to most of their programming. | ||
| Reindog |
BS. NPR engages in selective journalism. Please explain why Nina Totenburg was not fired or told to go see a psychiatrist for saying. [She hoped Jesse Helms would]“get AIDS from a transfusion, or one of his grandchildren will get it". NPR. Not On My Dime. | ||
| Roadcouch98 |
A Brief History of NPR's Intolerance and Imbalance From calling Tea Party members “Tea Baggers,” to saying that "the evaporation of 4 million" Christians would leave the world a better place, to suggesting that God could give former Sen. Jesse Helms or his family AIDS from a blood transfusion, NPR's personalities have said some pretty un-PC things in the past. A look at the record reveals no shortage of intolerant statements and unbalanced segments on the publicly sponsored network's airwaves. Here's an incomplete list of questionable and controversial content that has aired on NPR or has been uttered by its employees: -- In June, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) said it was easy to see why some refer to NPR as "National Palestine Radio" following a June 2 segment hosted by Tom Ashbrook on the Gaza flotilla incident. The segment featured five guests -- none of whom defended Israel's actions. Among the five guests, Janine Zacharia, a Middle East correspondent for The Washington Post, was the only one who did not overtly criticize Israel. She also did not defend its actions, CAMERA officials said. "So there you have it -- five perspectives and not one voice to present the mainstream Israeli perspective," they said in a June 17 press release. "That's Ashbrook's and NPR's version of a balanced discussion on Israel." Last week, Newsbusters, a conservative media watchdog group, claimed that NPR's "Fresh Air" spent most of its hour insinuating that the Republican Party was dangerously infested with extremists. NPR's Terry Gross hosted Princeton professor Sean Wilentz, who has written that President George W. Bush practiced "a radicalized version of Reaganism," Newsbusters' Tom Graham wrote. "Can you think of another time in American history when there have been as many people running for Congress who seem to be on the extreme?" Gross asked, according to Graham. "Not running for Congress, no," Wilentz replied. "I mean even back in the '50s." -- NPR issued an apology in 2005 for a commentator's remark on the return of Christ following a complaint by the Christian Coalition that the comment was anti-Christian. On "All Things Considered," the network's afternoon drive-time program, humorist Andrei Codrescu said that the "evaporation of 4 million [people] who believe" in the doctrine of Rapture "would leave the world a better place." Codrescu, who was on contract with NPR but not a full-time employee, later told The Associated Press he was sorry for the language, but "not for what [he] said." NPR apologized for the comment, saying, it "crossed a line of taste and tolerance" and was an inappropriate attempt at humor. -- Also in 2005, NPR apologized to Mark Levin, author of "Men in Black: How the Supreme Court is Destroying America," after a broadcast of its program "Day to Day" falsely accused him of advocating violence against judges. Levin accepted the apology, but said the broadcast was "illustrative of a smear campaign launched by the Left to try and silence" his criticisms of judicial activism. -- In 2002, the head of NPR issued an apology six months after a report linking anthrax-laced letters to a Christian conservative organization. -- Also in 2002, during an interview with the Philadelphia City Paper, NPR host Tavis Smiley said he strived to do a show that is "authentically black," but not "too black." -- In 1995, Nina Totenberg, NPR's award-winning legal affairs correspondent, was allowed to keep her job after telling the host of PBS' "Inside Washington" that if there was "retributive justice" in the world, former North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms would "get AIDS from a transfusion, or one of his grandchildren will get it." So nice to know that a Tax-payer Funded News Organization is so 'Neutral' in their leaning, and commentary. | ||
| Sifo |
-- In June, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) said it was easy to see why some refer to NPR as "National Palestine Radio" following a June 2 segment hosted by Tom Ashbrook on the Gaza flotilla incident. The segment featured five guests -- none of whom defended Israel's actions. You have to admit that with five guests all beating the same drum, they are certainly doing in depth coverage, at least on one side of the issue. Defunding NPR is pretty small potatoes, but given the out of control government spending we are looking at right now this one should be a given. If NPR had a spine at all they would just stop taking public funding and be proud that they can stand on their own. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Public funding provides the aire of legitimacy. | ||
| Sifo |
Like welfare does? | ||
| Cityxslicker |
welfare should be defunded too. along with medicare, medicaid, social security, IRS, NEA, .... What do you mean to starve and cut the income of millions?....yep. Think about it. If you had the 25-28% of your pay that taxes, medicare, medicaid, social security steals from your paycheck that your life would not improve dramatically? And over the course of a working career 20 years, and a lifetime of say 40 to 50 years you could not manage to better plan and predict your future needs better than the government?!?!? the people that brought you squirrel highways, monkey cocaine testing, and native ant studies ? REALLY. Get the F*ck out of my pocket. Silly liberal pay checks are for workers. as far as NPR goes. I listen to them to know what the wind is and where liberals are coming from. Because if you cant recognize the stench, it is hard to pin down the cow that is droppin em. You want to defund them? Keep a list of their advertisers, dont buy any of their products. Send them a nice personal note to let them know that you and your friends (or social network) will be avoiding their family of products as well. and if they are doing such a good job why are they always on the telecenter asking for donations ?.... defund them with the power of the wallet. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Welfare is charity without the obligation of guilt. | ||
| Strokizator |
Defunding NPR is pretty small potatoes "A billion here, a billion there and pretty soon you're talking about some real money" - Sen Everett Dirksen | ||
| Sifo |
Defunding NPR is pretty small potatoes "A billion here, a billion there and pretty soon you're talking about some real money" - Sen Everett Dirksen Compared to the waste that is the Department of Education and the Department of Energy, neither of which seems to have delivered anything beneficial at all, yes, the funding of NPR really is small potatoes. Still it should be defunded ASAP, along with the Departments of Education and Energy. | ||
| Buellkowski |
How about defunding the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives while we're at it? Aren't faith-based organizations already tax-free nonprofit orgs? They've gotten billions in tax funds and I don't doubt that they have "agendas". | ||
| Hootowl |
The "fourth branch of government" should not take money from the other three. How can we claim to have an independent press if the government is funding it? Iran and Russia have state funded news organizations. Why do we? | ||
| Moxnix |
National Propaganda Radio Narodny Pravda Radio No Pragmatic Reasoning Nationalsocialist Power Radio Nonsense Propounding Radio et cetera, | ||
| Court |
I like the idea of cutting something additional each week. NPR, current scandal aside, has no business being funded by the government anymore. When Nixon did it . . there was a reason. Today it's akin to putting a spark advance lever on the left side of the steering column. | ||
| Hootowl |
And while we're at it, defund NEA. I am tired of paying for piss christ et al. | ||
| Reindog |
Attaboy Buellkowski! We need to get in the spirit of reducing the size of this Wonderful Government. You are in favor of pulling taxpayer funding for NPR, right Kowski?  Or were you simply obfuscating the issue? | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Article 1, Section 8. Defund EVERYTHING not enumerated. | ||
| Sayitaintso |
Defund EVERYTHING not enumerated. And reduce the funding of many of the things that are enumerated, starting with the common defense. Its too damn big and expensive, we shouldn't be the worlds policeman. Being somewhat of a realist since I dont see "public broadcasting" being defunded..... I wish there was a "conservative" version of NPR. Biases are going to slip into any organization like what NPR is no matter how hard people try to keep them out. They will permeate the entire organization to the point where the folks running it dont even see it. A second NPR right of center would be a good counterpoint to the current one that is left of center. | ||
| Azxb9r |
Contrary to what people seem to believe, NPR is not funded by the taxpayers. It is funded by donations, membership fees, and sponsorships. The only govt. assistance they get is that they are listed as a non=profit, so they don't pay taxes. If you do not want to support NPR, don't send them a donation. | ||
| Sifo |
Contrary to what people seem to believe, NPR is not funded by the taxpayers. It is funded by donations, membership fees, and sponsorships. The only govt. assistance they get is that they are listed as a non=profit, so they don't pay taxes. If you do not want to support NPR, don't send them a donation. http://www.npr.org/blogs/ombudsman/2008/01/frequen tly_asked_questions_1.html
That's kind of like saying milk doesn't come from a cow, it comes from the store. | ||
| Hootowl |
So they are not funded by our tax dollars, they are "sponsored" by our tax dollars. I get it now. | ||
| Azxb9r |
Less than two percent of the budget is derived from competitive grants from federally funded organizations such as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Science Foundation, and National Endowment for the Arts. If you are splitting hairs, this does come from taxpayers, but it is a very small portion of their budget...I doubt it would have any effect if they were to lose it. The point I was trying to make is that people act like NPR is completely funded by taxes, which it is not. | ||
| Sifo |
If you are splitting hairs, this does come from taxpayers, but it is a very small portion of their budget...I doubt it would have any effect if they were to lose it. The point I was trying to make is that people act like NPR is completely funded by taxes, which it is not. You haven't read this thread have you? | ||
| Blake |
Their radio stations are govt funded too. Those stations pay to run NPR programming. That funding too needs to end. If as you claim the govt funding is negligible, then there should be no objection, even from NPR supporting liberals, to defunding it all. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
NPR is funded, in majority, from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The 2009 Federal appropriation for CPB was $400,000,000. Of that, $90,500,000 was devoted to NPR radio programming. 2009 CPB Budget NPR's 2009 budget was $166,000,000. | ||
| Court |
NPR is not being very honest in this matter . . .it appears. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Big shock. | ||
| Sayitaintso |
Its hard to really make any conclusions from the information presented in the CPB budget about NPR funding. For all we know $89,000,000 could be going to local stations and to the various programs. I'm not saying that the conclusions most people would draw from the data are wrong, just that its too "broad" to really know. I (and probably all of us here) have no idea what "direct radio grants" are or what the "radio program fund" is. I still say cut it all though. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
One thing that might help. Where is PBS radio programming aired that is NOT on an NPR affiliate? If there is none, then every dollar of radio programming paid by CPB is going to NPR. |
