NPR Has Allowed ‘Liberal Donors to Buy Desired News Coverage’

NPR acknowledges that “programming fees from these stations represent a significant portion of NPR’s largest source of revenue,” and that the loss of federal funding “will be a major blow to our organization.” [from CPB] “It would undermine broadcasters’ ability to pay NPR for programming.” NPR claims it is “not a government-funded media outlet,” but the hidden drain of taxpayer money shows otherwise.

The Commerce Committee memo also detailed how NPR gives private donors “what they pay for,” including:

• “In November 2023, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation donated $4 million to support NPR’s continued coverage of global health and development issues and data infrastructure, stating that ‘all countries need to undertake urgent and critical development and growth transitions to adapt to the ongoing impacts of climate change and rapidly advance the transition to a green economy.'” Two months later, NPR Published an article He highlighted “buzzwords in the world of global health and development” such as “climate mobility” and quoted Bill Gates as saying that the 2024 election will be “a tipping point for both health and climate.”
• In January 2023, the Carnegie Endowment of New York donated $1 million to NPR, claiming that the organization was working to “strengthen” elections because of “growing barriers to voting.” The following year, NPR gave “counter[ing] False election claims” and “The Republican goal is[ing] Banning foreigners from voting in federal elections.”
• In 2022, the Rockefeller Foundation donated $500,000 to NPR to help cover costs “to build capacity to report on energy, environmental and climate change news to advance public knowledge and understanding, hold the public accountable, and help communities take action to protect the planet.” NPR responded by saying,A new climate reality checkHollywood blockbuster moviesThere’s a surprising link between climate change, student debt and lower lifetime earnings.”
• In 2022, the Catena Foundation, which aims to donate to “left-of-center nonprofits in the Western states,” donated $600,000 to NPR for “NPR and TX Public Radio’s immigration coverage.” NPR subsequently The podcast was published “US immigration policy” is deliberately[ing] “Exploiting” Texas desert to increase migrant death toll Attacking the Republican Party The reason given was “unprecedented anti-immigrant rhetoric.”
• In 2022, the MacArthur Foundation, which promotes DEI and works to end “philanthropy’s complicity in anti-Blackness,” donated $500,000 “to support NPR’s race and identity beat and podcasts: Code Switch and Throughline.” NPR has published the Code Switch podcast, which explores how “systemic racism” Affecting the US tax system and”Inherit[ing] Whiteness.”
• In 2023, the Jacob and Valeria Langeros Foundation, which seeks to “change the nature and role of our current justice system,” donated $100,000 to NPR to “report on criminal justice and reform efforts at the state and federal levels.” “Issues of social and racial justice will continue to feature throughout NPR’s coverage, informing the public about the realities of the nation’s criminal justice system.” In the following months, NPR Published Articles About the “role of state politics” in “racially motivated mass shootings” in states like Florida.
• In November 2023, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation donated $2.75 million to NPR for the purpose of “building racial bridges,” stating in its “2020 Reckoning on Race” that “health should be a right, not a privilege” and that “structural racism” is “one of the greatest barriers to health in America.”[ing] Bridging the gap between individual, public and community health, particularly the social determinants of health;[ing] “The Radical Inequities in Health and Medical Care in America” ​​A few months later, NPR Racism in healthcare One interviewee said the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decisions “will have long-term effects on the health of black people.” A podcast was broadcast He criticizes “race-based diagnosis” because “biological race is not real.”
• In June 2023, the Melville Charitable Trust donated $250,000 to NPR to “support national coverage of issues related to poverty and homelessness.”[s]These include “racist housing, zoning and land use policies.” Shortly after, NPR The interview was published We hear from former Housing Secretary Marcia Fudge about how she’s taking on a “racist” system.