National Public Radio (NPR) is a quasi-autonomous, government-funded nonprofit media outlet created by the federal government. Though the organization claims to strive for objectivity, many media watchdogs consider NPR to have a left-of-center bias. ^[1]

NPR’s funding has been a point of controversy since its founding in 1970. NPR is officially a private company, but up until 1983, it received over half of its funding from the federal government through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). In that year, NPR nearly went bankrupt after years of financial mismanagement, and in the subsequent restructuring process, the organization was put under tighter controls by the CPB in exchange for loans. From the late 1980s, NPR generated increasing amounts of its revenue from charitable donations and licensing fees, though a significant portion of the fees come from private local stations which receive funding from CPB and state and local governments. Presently, NPR receives funding for less than 1% of its budget directly from the federal government, but receives almost 10% of its budget from federal, state, and local governments indirectly. ^[2]

NPR is based out of its Washington, D.C. headquarters and maintains a west coast office in Culver City, California. These locations produce radio shows which are then syndicated to over 1,000 local, independently-owned “member stations.” Member stations pay annual fees to NPR, can brand themselves as NPR affiliates, and vote on NPR’s board of directors. Many member stations are partially or entirely financed by local or state governments. Member stations also do local reporting which is sometimes picked up by NPR and distributed nationally. ^[3]

NPR has international offices in 17 locations, including London Beijing, and Dakar. ^[4]

History

Formation

In 1967, Congress passed the Public Broadcasting Act, which formed the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). CPB is an independent, private nonprofit organization which receives most of its funding from the federal government. The Act was promoted by President Lyndon B. Johnson, who envisioned the creation of public media as another stage of his left-wing Great Society initiative. ^[5][6]

CPB was tasked with facilitating the creation of media meant to promote the public good. Originally, the Act was called the Public Television Act and was only targeted toward television. After several last-minute revisions, former U.S Senator Robert Griffin (R-MI) used Scotch tape to add a provision permitting the CPB to expand into radio. Without this addition, NPR could not have been formed. ^[7]

In 1970, CPB formed NPR as a national media outlet overseeing 88 local member stations. NPR was described as a “source of information of consequence” that would create “enlightened participants” in society. NPR began broadcasting its first show, “All Things Considered” in April 1971, when it covered protests against the Vietnam War in Washington, D.C. ^[8]

In 1976, NPR formed the Department of Specialized Audience Programming which was devoted to creating content for “special interest groups.” The Department was formed due to concerns within NPR that its programming wasn’t reaching beyond mainstream America. ^[9]

In 1978, NPR became the first media organization to broadcast from the U.S. Senate floor when it covered debates over the return of control over the Panama Canal to Panama. ^[10]

In 1979, NPR opened its first international office in London. ^[11]

In 1980, NPR finished the construction of its satellite network to improve distribution of its content. By then, NPR was operating 24 hours per day and syndicating “Fresh Air;” “Car Talk;” and “Enfoque Nacional,” its Spanish language program. ^[12]

Funding Crisis

From its founding until the early 1980s, NPR was almost entirely dependent upon funding from the federal government through CPB. NPR steadily expanded its programming, staff, and size throughout the 1970s and 1980s, resulting in rising costs. From 1977 to 1982 alone, NPR’s expenses increased from $7.3 million to $26.7 million. The organization attempted to compensate for the costs through “Project Independence,” an ambitious plan to raise more funds from listener donations and numerous commercial ventures. Even though CPB funding for NPR increased from $6.8 million to $17.4 million between 1977 and 1982, costs outpaced revenue growth at NPR. ^[13]

By the early 1980s, NPR was running an unsustainable budget deficit. In 1983, the U.S. Government Accounting Office (GAO) calculated that NPR was running a $6.4 million deficit on a budget of just over $26 million and would have to borrow from CPB to continue operating. In a congressional report, the GAO criticized NPR for reckless spending, the failure of Project Independence, and general financial mismanagement. ^[14]

In late 1983, CPB imposed reforms on NPR’s financial management in exchange for CPB loans necessary to keep the organization running. A new management team took over NPR, and CPB received power to oversee NPR. CPB imposed new bylaws onto NPR to allow the managing board to have more oversight over discretionary spending. CPB’s also revised its grantmaking structure. Rather than giving the bulk of its financing directly to NPR to be distributed to member stations, CPB began giving directly to member stations to purchase NPR content, a system that has continued to the present day. NPR’s satellite system was spun off as the independently-operated Public Radio Satellite System, which could be leased out to stations outside NPR’s network. NPR’s budget was cut to just under $21 million for 1984, and the organization’s staff was cut from 450 to 288. ^[15][16]

NPR paid off its debt in three years. The organization steadily raised its funding from contributions and commercial deals to close its deficit. Over time, the percentage of NPR revenue derived from CPB declined into the single digits. ^[17][18]

Growth in the 2000s

In 2002, NPR expanded to the West Coast with its secondary headquarters in Culver City, California. ^[19]

In 2005, NPR became an early producer of podcasts, creating a lineup of 170 programs. ^[20]

In 2008, due to the financial crisis, NPR sustained a major revenue decrease which resulted in a $23 million budget deficit (up from an estimated $2 million). NPR laid off 7% of its workforce and eliminated two shows to cut costs. ^[21]

In 2013, NPR again built up a sizeable budget deficit. Management offered buyouts to 10% of its 840 employees in order to balance the budget. ^[22]

Funding

In 2020, National Public Radio earned $275,424,738 in revenue. ^[23] NPR generates its revenue from a wide variety of sources. In 2017, NPR earned 38% of its revenue from individual contributions; 19% from corporate sponsorship and licensing; 10% from foundation donations; 10% from university licensing and donations; 8% from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; and 4% from federal, state, and local governments via member stations. ^[24]

Despite the minimal contributions to the NPR budget made by state funding, NPR has claimed that “federal funding is essential to public radio’s service to the American public.” NPR’s website especially stresses that local journalism is dependent upon federal funding. ^[25]

Most of this federal funding comes from the CPB which indirectly finances NPR by providing grants to local radio stations which then license content from NPR for broadcasting. Most of the federal, state, and local government funding reaches NPR through the same process. In addition, the CPB and federal, state, and local governments give direct grants to NPR which amount to less than 1% of the organization’s annual budget in an average year. ^[26]

Major Donations

In 2003, NPR received over $200 million from the estate of Joan Kroc, the widow of McDonalds mass franchiser Ray Kroc. Most of the funds were deposited in NPR’s endowment. ^[27]

In 2010, NPR received $1.2 million from George Soros’ Open Society Foundations (OSF) to launch the Impact on Government project, which intended to station two reporters at each state capital to report on state-level government affairs. The donation attracted controversy because of George Soros’s reputation as a left-of-center donor and because it was announced on the same day NPR fired Juan Williams for comments he made on Fox News. Critics accused NPR of demonstrating left-wing bias, despite claiming to be a broadcasting organization for public benefit. ^[28]

Calls to Defund NPR

Right-of-center figures have periodically called to eliminate government funding for NPR almost since its founding. Proponents of the cuts argue that the government should not be funding a media outlet and that NPR tends to have a political bias towards the left. Defenders of NPR have argued that the organization provides an essential service and requires a relatively small annual subsidy from the government to survive. ^[29]

The first major efforts to defund NPR were launched by Republican Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, though NPR’s financial support from the CPB only increased during their presidencies. ^[30] In the mid-1990s, after Republicans regained control of Congress under President Bill Clinton, Republicans proposed a bill to eliminate NPR funding by cutting funding to the CPB, but it was voted down. A similar bill was proposed in the Republican-controlled Congress in 2005, but it also failed. In 2010, another bill was proposed and defeated. ^[31]

In 2017, 2018, and 2019, the Trump administration submitted budget proposals to Congress which would eliminate all funding for CPB and NPR. Congress declined to cease funding for CPB. ^[32]

Accusations of Bias

National Public Radio is often accused of having a left-of-center bias. Critics have been especially watchful of NPR’s bias due to its ongoing government funding. ^[33] NPR has been well aware of these accusations, and in 2000, it hired one left-wing and one right-wing ombudsman to monitor the organization for bias in either direction. ^[34]

The right-of-center Media Research Center (MRC) has said that NPR is “a massive, taxpayer-funded radio network” for “the left.” According to MRC, NPR attempts to hide its left-of-center bias, but slant comes through its editorials and interviews. For instance, in 2003, prominent NPR host Tery Gross gave a softball interview to liberal commentator (and future U.S. Senator) Al Franken followed by a scathing interview of then-Fox News host Bill O’Reilly. Even NPR ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin acknowledged that the different tones of the interviews indicated “liberal media bias.” ^[35]

The left-leaning Knight Foundation has evaluated NPR as attempting to stay unbiased, but representing the interests of “those of the politically correct elite left” consisting of a “coalition of government bureaucrats, academics, entertainers, philanthropists, ethnic group activists, [and] corporate leaders.” ^[36]

In 2014, the Pew Research Center released a survey of the average ideological placement of audiences for major news outlets. NPR’s audience was rated solidly on the left and on the same level of left orientation as the audiences of HuffPost, Buzzfeed, and the Washington Post. The report found that NPR’s audience was more left-leaning than Fox News’s audience was right-leaning. ^[37]

In 2017, former NPR CEO Ken Stern wrote an op-ed for the New York Post in which he described his time at NPR as being influenced by left-of-center bias. Stern wrote, “When you are liberal, and everyone else around you is as well, it is easy to fall into groupthink on what stories are important, what sources are legitimate and what the narrative of the day will be.” ^[38]

Nonetheless, other sources, including media watchdog Allsides, consider NPR to be a left-leaning but ultimately centrist media outlet. ^[39]

Bias Against Israel

NPR has been repeatedly accused of demonstrating bias against Israel in support of the Palestinian territories. The pro-Israel Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) considers NPR to be the most anti-Israel mainstream news outlet in the United States. ^[40]

In 2014, NPR ombudsman Edward Schumacher-Matos reviewed NPR’s coverage of the dispute between Israel and the Palestinian authorities and determined that NPR had been unbiased in its reporting. ^[41]

Controversies

Firing of Juan Williams

In 2010, NPR terminated its contract with pundit Juan Williams after he made allegedly anti-Muslim comments on “The O’Reilly Factor,” a Fox News show. When asked if he blamed Muslims for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Williams responded by claiming to be a civil rights advocate. Williams went on to claim though, “When I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.” ^[42]

Williams responded to NPR by accusing the organization of being ideologically intolerant and ignoring the viewpoints of a substantial portion of Americans, particularly non-white Americans who agreed with him. ^[43]

Ron Schiller Tape

In 2011, NPR vice president of fundraising Ron Schiller was secretly recorded by two conservative activists posing as members of the fictitious Muslim Education Action Center Trust. During a closed-door meeting, Schiller stated that the Tea Party faction of the Republican Party was fanatical, “Islamophobic,” “xenophobic,” a “weird evangelical” movement, and “seriously racist.” He also expressed support for eliminating NPR’s federal funding, and when told that the fictitious organization was connected to the Muslim Brotherhood, a violent extremist organization, Schiller expressed no reservations about working with the Center. Schiller was widely criticized, and critics alleged that his responses exposed NPR’s left-of-center bias. NPR’s management quickly disavowed Schiller and fired him. ^[44]

Resignation of Vivian Schiller

Later in 2011, NPR’s board voted to remove CEO and president Vivian Schiller from office. The board stated that Schiller had mishandled the Juan Williams and Ron Schiller (who is of no relation to Vivian Schiller) scandals, both of which had occurred within six months. ^[45]

Sexual Harassment Allegations Against Michael Oreskes

In 2017, NPR senior vice president of news and editing Michael Oreskes was accused of sexual harassment of young women at his previous job with the New York Times and during his tenure at NPR. Oreskes was put on administrative leave, and then a day later he was asked to resign. CNN later reported that many NPR staffers were unhappy with how slowly NPR’s management acted against Oreskes after years of private accusations against him. ^[46]

Temporary Workers

In 2018, the Washington Post reported that at least 20% of NPR’s staff consisted of temporary workers who received low pay and few or no benefits. At the time, the average for-profit television station consisted of only 5% temporary workers. NPR’s temporary workers did reporting, editing, and interviews, and they were involved in nearly all stages of the content production process. Some temporary workers interviewed by the Washington Post complained about work conditions and an extremely competitive work environment in which many low-cost, temporary workers were forced to compete for a few, full-time employment spots. ^[47]

Mike Pompeo Interview

In January 2020, NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly interviewed then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Kelly asked Secretary Pompeo why he had not supported U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch during the scandal in which former President Donald Trump allegedly attempted to coerce Ukraine into supporting his presidential re-election. Ambassador Yovanovitch, who supported the allegations against President Trump, then became the target of a smear campaign led by President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. Secretary Pompeo claimed he had supported Ambassador Yovanovitch and had always supported all State Department employees but failed to provide examples in aggressive follow-up questioning from Kelly. ^[48]

After the interview, Secretary Pompeo took Kelly into a private room and reportedly screamed at her. Pompeo attempted to belittle Kelly by asking her to identify Ukraine on a map; Kelly claims she correctly pointed to the country while Secretary Pompeo claims she pointed to Bangladesh. ^[49]

Afterward, Kelly was denied a seat aboard Secretary Pompeo’s flight, which the State Department Correspondents’ Association claimed was an act of retaliation. ^[50]

Lobbying

Since 1998, NPR has spent $8,209,115 on lobbying, according to OpenSecrets. Annual lobbying expenditures mostly stayed around $100,000 until 2007, when NPR spent $437,000. After that year, lobbying expenditure stayed between $411,000 and $677,000 annually. ^[51]

Criticism

NPR has been criticized for using taxpayer funds to lobby the government for benefits. In 2020, NPR spent $639,000. The organization targeted the House and Senate versions of the Local News and Emergency Information Act, which proposed to expand the Payment Protection Program (PPP) for media outlets to the benefit NPR-affiliated stations. NPR also lobbied for the House and Senate versions of a bill which would create a “Public Radio Music Day” to celebrate public radio music stations. ^[52]

In 2011, the Washington Times criticized NPR for lobbying against Republican efforts to cut government funding to the organization. ^[53]

Political Contributions

Since 1990, employees of NPR have given $48,489 in political contributions. The vast majority of recipients have been Democrats. In the 2020 election cycle, NPR employees gave almost $13,000, with 92% going to Democrats. Recipients included President Joe Biden, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and failed U.S. House of Representatives candidate Claire Russo. ^[54]