Markey: Cutting NPR and PBS “is not budget discipline, it’s cultural sabotage.”…
  • hopesdead@startrek.website
    10·
    3 months ago

    Off the top of my head I don’t know if PBS (likely the same as NPR) but NPR is not funded by fucking Congress!!! You fucking idiots don’t know what Congress does or does not fund. NPR gets grants from CPB (Corporation for Public Broadcasting) which was created by the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, which LBJ signed into law. CPB only accounts for 1% of NPR’s annual budget.

    If the dumbass wants something legitimate to complain about, then complain about what CPB gives grants for.

    EDIT: I realize the article mentions CPB, and I clearly wrote this before reading it. My point stands. Congress does not allocate any money directly to either NPR or PBS. If these cultural institutions are going to be attacked by clueless people, someone better be explaining what they got wrong.

    • merc@sh.itjust.works
      10·
      3 months ago

      Funding for NPR comes from dues and fees paid by member stations, underwriting from corporate sponsors, and annual grants from the publicly funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPR

      The CPB’s annual budget is composed almost entirely of an annual appropriation from Congress plus interest on those funds.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation_for_Public_Broadcasting

      The big NPR stations in major cities get almost no money from CPB, but it’s a critical source of funding for rural stations. Sometimes the NPR station is the only source of news available in rural areas.

      If the government cuts funding to CPB, big city NPR stations will be fine, but rural listeners might go from 1 radio station in range to 0 radio stations.

      • hopesdead@startrek.website
        2·
        3 months ago

        Like I said, just 1%. I should have said it wouldn’t be good if CPB grants stopped coming. I’m just more upset that the direct line of attack misunderstands what is really happening. These organizations are very important. To blatantly say Congress funds them isn’t just incorrect but potentially harmful to how other organizations that rely on outside money are treated.