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NPR vs. Elon Musk

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Scout, Apr 7, 2023.

  1. Scout

    Scout Well-Known Member

    Still cannot link NPR here.

    Basically, Musk labels NPR as state-run media.

    NPR lays out why and pretty much shows with solid reporting that Musk as a petulant child when making decisions.

    NPR did jab at him with the art. I’m not so crazy about that.
     
  2. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    NPR gets virtually no money from the government.

    So maybe it’s time NPR gets out of government money business altogether and joins the many left-leaning non-profit journalism engines that do terrific work without having some funding from the government.

    Beyond that why does NPR care? Musk is wrong, of course he is, but it’s Twitter. How much traffic does NPR derive from Twitter? Very little? Almost none?

    The journalists who work at these places care too much about Twitter. It gives Musk media cultural power he hasn’t earned.
     
  3. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

    Oy.

    "left leaning"

    Compared to what?
     
    OscarMadison likes this.
  4. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    NPR goes to great lengths to tell people that it isn't state-run media. But NPR itself was created by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, whose Board of Directors is appointed by the president and are confirmed by the Senate. And while NPR receives only about 1 percent of its direct funding from the CPB (i.e. -- the Federal government), its member stations (whose dues account for a much more substantial portion of NPR's funding) receive more substantial amounts of funding from CPB (i.e. -- the Federal government) and state governments.

    I always find the whole "1 percent" point dishonest. When your member stations pay you dues and THEY can be receiving 10 or 15 percent of their funding from government, it's the same as you receiving that funding.

    That's why it isn't as simple as "get out of the government money business altogether." For one, they only exist because of the CPB (the government). And even if you broke it off from the CPB, its member stations need the CPB (Federal goverment) money, as well as state funding many of them are subsidized by. Some of the larger stations, like in New York, D.C., San Francisco would be able to operate independently, but in more rural places the government funding is the only thing keeping those stations on the air.

    The rest. ... is you doing a narrative again. They actually are probably a lot less "left leaning" than many media organizations because the CPB is pressured by the politicians (who come in all stripes) who sit over it to be "balanced" and prove it with regular reports. The narrative is particularly funny, because there was one point when Bush the second was president where they were being accused of being too "conservative," to which they responded that they were actually just seeking balance.

    Also, that's a pretty sweeping statement about what the journalists who work at NPR care about.
     
    Liut likes this.
  5. Oggiedoggie

    Oggiedoggie Well-Known Member

    The Muskallonge takes in far more tax money through direct and indirect payments than NPR.
     
  6. garrow

    garrow Well-Known Member

    NPR is made possible by the Scotts Corporation, a grant from the Helena Rubinstein Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and listeners like you. Thank you.
     
  7. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    First thing I think when I see these stories.

    That guy has benefited from more subsidization (and not in the way people misuse the term; the amount of direct money-for-nothing his companies have received is in the billions of dollars) than any human who has ever lived. No hyperbole. If that is a standard for Twitter labelling accounts, he should be flagging Tesla, SpaceX's, etc. company feeds, too, at the least.
     
  8. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    Compared to not leaning left?

    ABC leans left. NBC leans left. CBS leans left. CNN leans left. ProPublica leans left. Why couldn't NPR be ProPublica?
     
  9. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    Being accused of conservatism is not actually evidence of consistent conservatism. There are people who think the NYT is a mendacious, almost-right-wing house organ.

    Addendum: Consider me surprised you think there should be a government-funded media organization.
     
  10. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

    Again.

    "lean left" compared to what?

    Where's your example of a "center"?
     
  11. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    I try to imagine what the center is in my own mind, and go from that. NPR sits to the left of that.

    But, probably what ABC Radio News used to be. Perhaps even what NPR used to be. It isn't that now.
     
  12. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    1) Pretty true. And being labeled as "left leaning" by you isn't actual evidence of it.
    2) I never said I think the U.S. should have government-funded media organizations. I think the exact opposite of that.
     
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