The new Twitter—that of Elon Musk—has variably labeled National Public Radio (NPR) as state-affiliated media, government-funded media, and publicly-funded media. None is felt to be accurate, prompting NPR to stop posting its content on the social media platform (as of this writing). And that warrants the question: How exactly is NPR funded?
What Is NPR?
NPR is an American private, nonprofit organization comprised of over 1,000 member radio stations.
Created in 1970 after Congress passed the 1967 Public Broadcasting Act—the same one that resulted in the creation of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)—NPR produces and distributes news and other programming to its member stations. (These member stations can, of course, also receive programming from other public radio networks such as American Public Media and Public Radio Exchange.)
Headquarters are in Washington, DC, with so-called NPR West located in Culver City, California.
How Is NPR Funded?
Of an annual budget in the $300 million range, less than 1% comes from grants through the federally funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
The vast majority of revenue comes from corporate sponsorships (often in the form of underwriting), private grants, donations, and fees/dues from member stations. With regards to the last revenue stream, member stations themselves receive funding from state and federal government sources, accounting for about 13% of their respective budgets.
Most important, all programming is editorially independent, with those providing funding having no say in content production. (Of course, nothing in this world is pure, but you get the general idea.)
The Labels
Given the above, using the label state-affiliated—as in fully state-funded and state-censored—cannot be defended.
On the other hand, government-funded and publicly-funded are not inaccurate, though they are misleading in that they don’t paint a full picture. Similarly, if NPR is required to carry this tag, then all entities—media or other—that receive any sort of public funding should be required to carry the label to avoid uneven enforcement.
Regardless, it seems that Musk is more competent at disrupting the automotive industry and sending rockets to space than he is at slapping designations on those against whom he has a personal vendetta. Of course, as Twitter is his private company, he is as editorially independent as those he claims are not.
