NPR and the Media Meltdown
SBINSIDER NEWS\ANALYSIS| March 29th, 2025
National Public Radio\TV was funded by Congress in the 60’s for the purpose of providing radio and TV programming that was not commercially motivated. The premise was and is that any program by a for-profit network could not be trusted to deliver “truthful” news-Walter Cronkite notwithstanding.
As the Federal government has slowly reduced its funding, more and more of its money for its programming comes from “do-good” non-profits such as the Annenberg Foundation The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, Inc., R.S. Evans Foundation, Inc., The Glenmede Trust Company, N.A., Martin London, Esq., and MRB Foundation, and many, many more. Most of these foundations are run by left-wing political actors who took over the boards long after the people who actually made the money are long gone. It is unlikely that those who endowed the foundations with their capitalist earnings would have been inclined to support trans-genderism or government enforced diversity, equality and inclusion.
To its credit, PBS has produced programming that would not have made the commercial airwaves. On TV, Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers were non-ideological programming for kids in front of which parents could safely park their children; Masterpiece Theater and Firing Line with the conservative host William F. Buckley. On radio, who didn’t like Car Talk or even with the leftish leaning of host Garrison Keillor, A Prairie Home Companion, was a well produced throw-back radio show.
The for-profits also got into the game in order to burnish their public virtue by running ads that ostensibly are not “advertising” but anyone listening or watching gets a clear message to support Microsoft or whatever.
Starting with President Nixon, Republicans have attacked the premise that government should use taxpayer dollars to support any form of media, the 1st amendment being very clear in this respect. So, here it is 50 plus years later and no one watching or listening to their programming can honestly say that the bias to the Left is not self-evident. Their website is nearly indistinguishable from the Democrat National Committee. But, enough moderate Senate Republicans always joined the Democrats in keeping the money flowing.
This week, Jim Jordan and his fellow House Republicans took their run at the PBS edifice by interviewing the CEO of the organization Katherine Maher. She did her best to defend the indefensible and in the process, reflected the liberal elite mentality that informs the ruling class in this country. She was visibly indignant that anyone, certainly not lowly members of Congress, should dare to question the integrity and value of PBS! She was remarkably self-righteous.
Alternative Media
The tremendous growth of alternative media outlets like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Substack and X, proves that taxpayer funded media is no longer needed to provide media to compete with the old media oligopoly. The old dominant outlets, NBC, CBS, ABC, NY Times, Washington Post are as outdated and superfluous as PBS and NPR. Adios.
Best guess is that the House budget (should they ever pass one via Regular Order) will be sent over to the Senate and there some amount of funding will be protected by Republicans.
