
 |
|
May 25, 2012
Mark Clayton: Is Hillary's State Dept. hacking Al Qaeda? Not quite
Erika Bolstad: Temple cancels Wasserman Schultz speech
The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman: The former president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, whose members included the likes of Julia Child, is back with contemporary Shavous cuisine: Ruby Fruit Soup, Sweet Noodle Kugel with Cheese, Key Lime Curd, Calsone Casserole Frittata with Wild Mushrooms, Sun-dried tomatoes and Olives, Baked Tilapia with Pepper Cheese Cream and Brown Sugar Shortbread
May 24, 2012
Jeff Jacoby: The peace process battered Israel's reputation
Michael Muskal: 'Pro-choice' position hits record low, according to poll
Chris Farrell: Are We in a Tech Bubble?
The Kosher Gourmet by Penelope Wall: PHILLY CHEESE STEAKS --- hold the steak!
May 23, 2012
Tony Pugh: More private colleges offering tuition discounts
Mary Beth Franklin: How to Choose the Right Annuity for You
Tina Susman: The wig wasn't enough: Man gets 13 years for posing as his dead mom
The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen:A simple way to do fish right
May 22, 2012
Warren Richey: Can US group challenge overseas surveillance act? Supreme Court to decide
Thomas M. Anderson: Walking Away From a Mortgage
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: Enjoy a celebration of the most rich and layered flavors: Black bean, sweet potato and quinoa chili
May 21, 2012
Mark Clayton: Cybersecurity: How US utilities passed up chance to protect their networks
Howard LaFranchi: NATO summit: Who will foot the bill for long-term Afghanistan security?
Chris Farrell : Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Stephen Whiteside, Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: Social anxiety disorder --- or just shy?
Guy Jackson : Victim's father regrets death of Lockerbie bomber
The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: Famed chef's veal shoulder farsumagru: A festive meat course for late spring
May 18, 2012
Rabbi Berel Wein: Striving: The People of the Book's Book for (All of) the People
Steven Goldberg: 5 Great Stock Picks and the Exchange-Traded Fund that Owns Them
Mary Pickett, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Don't be forced into gluten-free lifestyle based merely on a doctor's false-positive test
The Kosher Gourmet by Carolyn Malcoun: DIY healthy lunchbox treats: HOMEMADE FRUIT BARS for kids and brown-bagging adults alike
May 17, 2012
Warren Richey: Teacher fired for being unwed and pregnant can sue religious school, court rules
Josh Mitnick: Netanyahu's 'centrist' coalition is already proving it's anything but
Steven Goldberg: Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Amina Khan: Research links coffee to lower death rates
The Kosher Gourmet by Faith Duran : Cheesy Potato Breakfast Casserole with Cheddar and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
May 16, 2012
Carmen Terzic, M.D., Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: A variety of exercises can help improve balance
Melissa Healy: National strategy on Alzheimer's disease aims to halt it by 2025
The Kosher Gourmet by Joyce White : GOODNESS GRACIOUS: GREENS! 4 winning recipes that are no longer just for down-home folks (Includes expert tips & techniques)
May 15, 2012
Kristen Chick: Obama administration resumes arms sales to Bahrain despite serious unresolved human rights issues. Activists feel abandoned
Pat Mertz Esswein: Homes are now affordable again and mortgage rates are low. What you need to know before you buy
Kathy Kristof: Our Practical Investor Fights Inflation with These 6 Investments
Sue Hubbard, M.D.: The Kid's Doctor: Lactose intolerant young child? Check again
The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Hunt: Spread a Little Excitement with EXOTIC CONDIMENTS (4 RECIPES)
May 14, 2012
Lisa Gerstner: How to Protect Your Identity, Finances If You Lose Your Phone
Harvard Health Letters: Heart disease and dementia
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: MANGO COCONUT OAT MORNING MUFFINS are a bright but hearty delight
May 11, 2012
Jessica L. Anderson: Get the Best Deal on a Used Car
Jett Stone: Forget face-lifts and fake knees. Scientists have seen the fountain of youth --- and it's broccoli
The Kosher Gourmet by Chef Mario Batali: The famed chef's vegetable dish that tastes true to the season: FAVAS AND SUGAR SNAP PEAS WITH POTATOES AND TARRAGON
May 10, 2012
Sergei L. Loiko: Putin sends warning to U.S., NATO in Victory Day speech at Red Square
Mary Rourke: How being a 'mentch' got Vidal Sasoon his start and fighting in Israel's War of Independence provided him with confidence and a strong sense of his own identity
Jeff Bertolucci: Get Home Phone Service for Less Than $10 a Month
The Kosher Gourmet by Betty Rosbottom: Gleaming with its golden, crimson, and snowy white hues, this silken smooth and creamy STRAWBERRY ORANGE TRIFLE looks impressive, but is easy to prepare
May 9, 2012
Sharon Palmer, R.D. How you can reduce your risk -- or delay -- chronic diseases associated with aging
|
| |
Jewish World Review
April 13, 2011
/ 9 Nissan, 5771
Cut Off Its Water, Or: It's Time NPR Grew Up and Supported Itself
By
Paul Greenberg
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Let's see if I've got this right. According to NPR's official line, the greatest hope for objective news reporting on the American airwaves will be lost if its federal subsidy is eliminated. And it's quite a bargain for the taxpayers, too, for only 2 percent of its budget is federally funded. But like much of NPR's news, any such claim is incomplete at best, misleading at worse.
My first question is why, if NPR gets only 2 percent of its budget from the feds, or a measly $5 million out of its $145 million in revenues, it couldn't make up that mere 2 percent from private sources -- if its programming is as good as it says it is.
What's more, if NPR chose to support itself instead of depending on government handouts, it would at last be free of the (all too accurate) accusation from pesky types like me that it is propagandizing the American people with our own money.
So why doesn't NPR grow up and support itself?
Because, while NPR's direct subsidy may be only 2 percent of its revenues, the federal government, through its Corporation for Public Broadcasting, funds local public stations, which in turn pay fees to NPR for the programs it produces.
Those fees amount to some $63 million a year, or 43 percent of NPR's budget. That's quite a difference from the official claim of only 2 percent. And only too typical of the gap between NPR's political reporting and reality.
Other public funds flow to NPR via grants from the selfsame Corporation for Public Broadcasting and federal agencies like the National Endowment for the Arts, which kick in still another 3 percent of NPR's revenues. Then there are all the grants to public stations from state and local governments, public universities and federal agencies like the Energy Department.
Talk about corporate welfare: NPR may speak of itself as a grass-roots organization designed for the little old lady in Peoria, but that's just its public line. When it talks to its advertisers -- excuse us, its underwriters, as they are known in NPRspeak -- it takes a different line. It flaunts demographic studies that paint a different picture of its average listener, who is described as a 50-year-old male with a managerial or professional job and a household income of $90,000 a year. Mr. Average NPR Listener is three times as likely as the average American to have attended college, and four times as likely to have gone to graduate school.
To quote Glenn Garvin of the Miami Herald, who dug up these figures, the average NPR listener is "a lot more likely to be from Boston or San Francisco than Peoria or Topeka."
The roundabout way NPR collects its public funds doesn't mean it's any less dependent on the taxpayers. Just less than candid about it.
When it does a decent investigative job on its own funding, and levels with the American people about it, maybe NPR will have backed up its claim to offering objective news.
Until then, as with much of its reporting, there's a lot that NPR isn't telling us. Turns out, it's about as objective as Fox News. But that may be an unfair comparison. There's a big difference: Fox pays its own way. Glenn Beck might still be on the air if all of us were taxed to support his show. There is something salutary about making news outlets support themselves. It helps keep them in touch with reality.
NPR's disingenuousness, like its political prejudices, would be easier to take if We the People weren't paying for it. Those prejudices have been vividly illustrated of late by its treatment of Juan Williams, whom it dropped as a commentator for daring to comment, and its having to drop a couple of its top executives after their political biases were revealed on tape.
The folks who run NPR have every right to express their biases -- this is a free country, at least so far -- but they have no right, Fellow Americans, to use our own tax money to softsoap us. The case for cutting off its water is as simple as that. Let NPR earn its keep, like the rest of us inky wretches.
This is not to say that I haven't heard some good reporting and news analysis on NPR. I have. I've also been enlightened by some voices on Fox News. But that doesn't make Fox any less a generally right-wing outfit -- or NPR less a shill for left-wing (excuse me, progressive) causes. But Fox pays its own way -- and should.
Once upon a more thoughtful time, Americans recognized that government shouldn't be controlling news outlets. At the height of the Cold War, when it was imperative that America join the fight to combat Communist propaganda in Europe and around the world, outfits like the Voice of America were explicitly prohibited from directing their broadcasts to a domestic audience.
One of the most thoughtful voices for freedom in that struggle, Encounter magazine, was founded by the poet Stephen Spender and the godfather of American neoconservatism, Irving Kristol. Both those good men had come to realize that now was the time to come to the aid of their country and the West in general. Just as one of George Orwell's last decisions as the Cold War was beginning was to cooperate with British intelligence by drawing up a list of Communists, crypto-Communists and just fellow travelers whom he thought would bear watching in the event of a confrontation with the Soviet Union.
Encounter magazine, it turned out, was secretly funded by the Central Intelligence Agency -- good for the CIA! -- but it had to be aimed primarily at foreign readers and the source of its funds kept secret. Why? Because at the time it was still understood that an American government shouldn't be funding political news and comment for domestic consumption. It's just a matter of common sense -- a prudent safeguard against being brainwashed by our own government.
But like so many other fine qualities, common sense seems to have been eclipsed in these times.
Paul Greenberg Archives
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Paul Greenberg, editorial page editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, has won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. Send your comments by clicking here.
include "/usr/web/jewishworldreview.com/t-ssi/jwr_squaread_300x250.php";
if (strpos(, "printer_friendly") === 0)
{}
else {
=<<
© 2010 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Alan Douglas
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
Marybeth Hicks
A. Barton Hinkle
David Horowitz
Jeff Jacoby
Renee James
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ed Koch
Ch. Krauthammer
Michael Ledeen
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Pat Sajak
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Ben Wattenberg
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
Lisa Benson
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Jack Ohman
Michael Ramirez
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Ed Stein
Danna Summers
John Trever
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Dan Wasserman

Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
Tech Maven
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|