In February, Elon Musk and his government’s efficiency notified the country’s public radio network. “Repay the NPR,” he writes to X: “It should survive in its own right,” Musk’s tweet was the latest indication that the Trump administration was going to change the way broadcasters operate. In January, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Kerr released an investigation into the legality of underwriting. This is the equivalent of public media to advertising. Meanwhile, the Department of Defense has ordered the NPR and other press to abandon the Pentagon’s office. Breitbart News takes up space for NPR.
Over the course of its 55-year history, the fear of NPR fundraising came almost on schedule with the decision of the arrival of a new Republican administration (Ronald Reagan, 1981), the right-handed change of Congress (Newt Gingrich, 1995), or the rage of conservatives (commentator Juan Williams, 2010, fired in 2010).
The previous threat was serious, but nothing more serious than what is currently unfolding.
The network is vulnerable. In 2024, Uliberleiner, a former NPR business editor at Free Press Subsactac Site, accusing “racial and identity” of adopting a leftist stance that is “first priority.” NPR has retreated, but the “bias” allegations received extensive compensation. At the same time, the network is losing its audience. It started during the pandemic as commuters who coordinated to “morning edition” and “all things in mind” eliminated abandoned drive time down the hall and headed towards their home office. – An estimated 60 million people in 2020 to 42 million people in 2024.
NPR needs to look back on previous victory and losses in strengthening its defenses.
The worst case occurred much more from the recommendations of the panel appointed to Reagan to cancel the entire budget of Corp. for Public Broadcasting, an agency that oversees both NPR and PBS. Reagan’s budget emperor David Stockman ultimately chose a non-dramatic 25% reduction of 25%, but then NPR president Frank Mankivich saw even the lower amounts as potentially catastrophic.
In 1982, Mankiewicz sought to completely free NPR from government funding by monetizing a system of online delivery of many embryos with beams beams to handheld devices, while sending stock and pricing information to business customers while sending stock and pricing information to their business customers. However, this technology has not yet been fully developed. Within a year, Mankiewicz was gone and NPR was liable to $9.1 million.
The CPB rescued the NPR, but not before extracting concessions. Since the network was established in 1970, I have received grants from agents to pay for programming. Currently, grants are sent to NPR stations where you can continue to buy “morning editions” and “all things that are all considered” from the network, or buy shows such as “Marketplaces” from independent suppliers.
NPR executives lamented the change, but in 1995 the advantage of giving federal money was revealed after the newly elected Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1995. The proposal would have been viewed in the past as a threat to NPR and PBS, but instead was seen as putting a beloved local station in danger. “If you were attacking NPR, the network executive later said, ‘You were attacking your community.’ When an amendment that eliminated CPB funds appeared in the House, they lost by a 2-1 margin.
By 2010, when NPR rejected Williams, the media world had begun to fracture in a way that predicted the current environment, and the firing of conservative commentators had become a litmus test. The rationale for NPR to let go of Williams was that he made what was considered an Islamophobic statement while appearing on Fox News. Fox denounced NPR and handed Williams a $2 million contract. NPR investigated the executive who fired Williams John Stewart on “The Daily Show” with a more gentle reference to public radio commentators.
In 2011, the Republican-controlled House responded to the network, including its consent to publish Sharia Act in response to the fire of Williams and the controversy that followed the NPR executive. However, the Democratic-controlled Senate did not continue. Nevertheless, during a White House correspondent’s dinner that year, President Obama, who signed a bill that kept the money alive, said: ”
The refund efforts that will be formed in 2025 promise a risk that is difficult to joke around. During his first term, Trump said he should pay back the CPB. In his second semester, he unleashes attacks on the very idea of public institutions.
The NPR’s defense means that it is likely that it will not present a threat to the country’s wallet, as it has acquired only 1% of its budget from the government. But it’s not that simple. According to a unique report on “all things considered,” the station actually earns more government money than the NPR itself, but in the end it ends up spending more on the NPR program. With the president who openly disparages mainstream media and all the departments of government under Republican control, the CPB will not come to rescue.
However, there is a reason to hope that NPR will survive. Firstly, regardless of Berliner’s critique, NPR has always been a source of groundbreaking journalistic practices and great reporting. It established a solid foothold in American culture.
In 1972, NPR appointed Susan Sternberg’s “everything is considered” host, making her the first woman in front of a national news show. In 1973, NPR allocated reporter Josh Darussa to the Russell Senate office building, covering Watergate hearings. No other stations had reporters in their rooms every day. In 2003, NPR was the only American broadcasting network to maintain a correspondent (Angarel) in Baghdad during an air attack that launched the Iraq War. NPR’s current efforts are equally powerful whether it is a dispatch by Jerusalem Reporter Daniel Estlin on the Gaza conflict or a threat to NATO by Berlin reporter Robschmitz. Ali Shapiro is currently co-host of “all things with all things in mind” and recently about his reaction to Trump’s stated hopes to regain control of the Panama Canal.
Another reason for hope is that, in contrast to 1995 or even 2011, the American media landscape is very poor and NPR is needed more than ever. Print journalism has collapsed across the country. Commercial television and radio news operations are also declining. NPR may be the sole source of local news, especially in red states. Certainly, people everywhere get information from cable channels, random websites, or social media, but many people want what NPR has to offer.
As Bill Seaming, creator of “Considering Everything,” he put it in the organization’s 1970 mission statement.
“In Journalistic Mode, National Public Radio actively investigates, investigates and interprets national and international import issues. This program allows individuals to better understand themselves, his government, his institutions, and his natural and social environment.”
This is just as good an idea as it was over half a century ago. But today’s political situation is even tougher than that during Richard Nixon’s presidency. In the upcoming battle, NPR doesn’t just need more than a tote bag from David Sedaris’ book. Support must be gathered at the national and local levels. You will need to bring a knife.
Steve Oney is a Los Angeles-based journalist and author of “On Air: The Triumph and Tumult of NPR,” published this week.
