We have been extremely lucky as Americans to have as good a source of news, discussion, and entertainment as public broadcasting. A good government helped to set up a great source of reliable information and educational resources aimed, in particular, at people in rural and underserved areas and then continued to give its support, albeit a small donation, over the years.
NPR got better and better but in case you haven't noticed, the granting agency -- Congress -- got worse and worse. The reason I want to separate public broadcasting from government is not about the money but about an unreliable, political and often vicious source of that money. Public broadcasting's integrity is not improved by its relationship with a Congress that can hardly be accused of having integrity.
So I agree with this trio from Reuters, except I'd just make it divorce, not separation.
The portion of NPR’s budget that comes from Washington is quite small. But that’s hardly the point. Almost any funding source for public broadcasting — taxpayers, corporate underwriting, listener pledges — comes with strings attached. The irony of the current scandal is that the NPR executive involved was caught saying that the broadcaster would be better off without federal funding.
One way to rework NPR’s finances while keeping its appeal would be to set up an endowment like those at big universities. The operation’s latest annual expense tab was $193 million. Suppose it could be slashed to $150 million by consolidating stations and other steps. Assume a 5 percent return on investment, and a $3 billion fund would pay the way.
That may sound like a lot. But if 20 million listeners, who must now endure lengthy and repetitive pleas for donations, kicked in an average of $100 apiece, that alone would come to $2 billion. Companies and wealthy donors could make up the rest.
This simple math doesn’t address potentially complex measures needed to ensure NPR’s continued independence. But those difficulties are surmountable, too. The trouble is, public radio executives and elected officials alike have been too entrenched in politicized positions to bother working out a real financial solution.
The final sentence is important. Public broadcasting's imperfections are to be found not in its broadcasting but in its management. We know about the "entrenched" politicians. We need to know more about the entrenched and seemingly self-congratulatory management of public broadcasting. New management and a reliable source of money coming from the same public and funders who have supported public broadcasting of the years would solve the problem.
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NPR has been checking out investigations of O'Keefe's tape on The Blaze, a website associated with Glenn Beck. Yes, the editing of the video was dishonest and misleading in several respects.
The Blaze wrote Thursday that some things O'Keefe did were "editing tactics that seem designed to intentionally lie or mislead about the material being presented." For instance, The Blaze says that in the edited tape "NPR exec Ron Schiller does describe Tea Party members as 'xenophobic ... seriously racist people.' " But, it notes:
"The clip in the edited video implies Schiller is giving simply his own analysis of the Tea Party. He does do that in part, but the raw video reveals that he is largely recounting the views expressed to him by two top Republicans, one a former ambassador, who admitted to him that they voted for Obama...."
