NPR President Makes Public Plea Not To Have Federal Funds Cut

WASHINGTON -- In a rare move, National Public Radio President and CEO Vivian Schiller appeared at the National Press Club on Monday to make a public case against Republican efforts to cut federal funding for public broadcasting.

The NPR chief executive not only argued that her outlet fills a void left by a wave of cuts to private media companies, she claimed that public-radio listeners in rural areas would have no other access to news if their stations stopped broadcasts.

As for the bottom line, Schiller noted that while government funding is just one source of revenue -- approximately 10 percent, she said -- it is a “critical cornerstone” and its removal would seriously hamper the outlet’s operations.

"We take this very, very seriously, it would have a profound impact, we believe, on our ability … to deliver news and information," she said during a question and answer session following her prepared remarks. "If in fact federal funding were cut … then we would be going backwards and retreating on this 44-year investment that the American people have made in this incredible institution."

During her prepared remarks, Schiller discussed in more detail how cuts could particularly hurt rural listeners:

Their government funding is a larger share of revenue -- 30 percent, 40 percent, 50 percent or more. These are areas where listeners may have no other access to free over-the-air news and information.

Modest as it is -- government funding is critical because it allows taxpayers to leverage a small investment into a very large one. It is seed money. Station managers tell me that 10 percent plays a critical role in generating the other 90 percent that makes their broadcasts possible.

The fact that we have four sources of revenue -- listeners, philanthropy, corporate and government -- helps ensure that public media is not beholden to any one source of revenue. Indeed it is through this diversity of funding that we are able to maintain our journalistic independence.

The idea that government funding is essential for NPR to maintain its journalistic independence may be a bit hard for conservatives to swallow, wary as they are of even remote media reliance on the government they cover.

But as Schiller noted, total federal expenditures aren't exactly a huge share of the federal budget. The House continuing resolution, which passed the lower chamber on Feb. 25, cuts funding by $86 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, only a portion of which goes to NPR. And polls have shown that the public supports sending taxpayer money NPR's way.

Last week, two Republican senators introduced another bill to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. President Barack Obama had set aside $451 million for public media in his proposed budget for fiscal year 2012.

Schiller’s prepared remarks for the Press Club event appear below:

Schiller

Comments

[Quasi Libertarian]

07:14 AM on 03/10/2011

How many billions of dollars globally does the Corporation for public broadcasting make around the world selling Elmo, Big Bird and other stuff from Sesame Street and the other kids programming?...

[ldmason45]

08:50 PM on 03/09/2011

I'm so happy that NPR doesn't really need the pesky millions of dollars of hard earned taxpayer money. End of discussion !!! Perhaps their peers of like-minded white liberal elitest could donate money to keep them in business. I suspect that NPR will soon go the way of Air America.

[zstardust]

12:32 PM on 03/10/2011

Yes, let's vote for taxpayers to give billions of dollars to corporations like Shell and Gulf who make profits in the trillions each year, but give nothing to other corporations like the one for Public Broadcasting who can barely stay afloat. That makes so much sense.

[Downrivers]

11:40 AM on 03/09/2011

kill taxpayer funded subsidies for PBS................. But don't stop there, kill 'em for all corporatio­ns. Otherwise, ..........­.you are simply Hypocrites­

[Dunkleberger Karl]

09:52 AM on 03/09/2011

TiMe for NPR to realize that  the Majority of peple who dont watch you are not into you!
 
NPR NEEDS TO Start screaming at the Wright to shut Up and get out of the way!
If you go to prison for murder! any you aint getting any compensation!
you Take that compensation! You open up a can of whoopass!
        After drinking a 16oz bottle of Tiggers blood!               
    When You are tired of all the Pooh! Tiggers Blood!

[Cape Coral]

09:15 AM on 03/09/2011

In case someone claims that the NPR does publish their current payroll and salaries, we could only find salaries from 2007, none recent...use the link below to educate yourself on this LEFT wing tool of the Liberal Party.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to many executives on their payroll, and WHY?
A half million dollars to one executive for only 7 months work...and this was back in 2007.
C'mon, this is insane.
Check out this link.

http://joshgerstein.blogspot.com/2008/12/npr-salaries-raw-data.html

[WoodyCPM]

10:18 AM on 03/09/2011

Media executives of private radio networks easily make four or five times what those at NPR make. The people at NRP are just as experienced and just as qualified. It's because they're committed to a project of bringing news, information and quality entertainment from local to global sources to millions of people who otherwise would be stuck listening to uninterrupted preachers and country and rap music stations the only other voices available to them in rural areas. These executives and hosts could make a lot more money working for other networks.

The assertions that NPR is a "left" or "liberal" network are made by people who never listen to NPR and who don't know the difference between "left" / "liberal" and a chicken wing.

[Steve1976]

11:51 AM on 03/10/2011

NPR employees are going to have to work for someone else. The problem is MSNBC is not a radio network.

[kkdkdkdkdk]

05:27 AM on 03/10/2011

Contribute to NPR by firing an NPR executive until they've made up the money lost from the government (tax payers). If Clinton had her way we'd give money to
al Jezeera. There should not only be a separation of church and state there should be a separation between media and state. How and why did this happen in the first place? I'm not familiar with the history of this subsidy.

[Pilsner Panther]

06:12 AM on 03/09/2011

I'm about as liberal or progressive as anyone can get, but it seems to me that something is wrong with federally funded children's TV programming. I just saw (completely by accident), an "educational" public television show that featured a commercial for Chuck E. Cheese restaurants.

Pulling the money for something that's already so corrupt doesn't seem like such a bad idea, really.

[Tquin]

11:25 PM on 03/08/2011

Lets just defund this thing and see how it does. According to NPR the funds really aren't needed. I know of some private stations having to compete with taxpayer funded NPR.

[glenhilda]

09:02 PM on 03/08/2011

Hypocrisy, thy name is Schiller

[Blackdogsailing]

09:24 PM on 03/08/2011

Unless the name is proximate to Gingrich, Boehner, Mitchel, Walker, Palin, McCain and myriad other politicians who redefine hypocrisy almost daily.

[Steve1976]

11:53 AM on 03/10/2011

Don't forget Pelosi, Reid, Frank and Obama.

[Dunkleberger Karl]

09:53 AM on 03/09/2011

Tea baggers=racists? and this made the news?

[J David Auner]

05:39 PM on 03/09/2011

Talking to the Muslim Brotherhood without getting a few million up front (which they don't have) was worth a firing. Correct tea-thug statements or honest fears stated previously are apparently not tolerated any more at NPR. Tea baggers seem to always have racist messages so far. It is up to the baggers to upgrade their own image if they have been misrepresented.

[Dunkleberger Karl]

01:30 AM on 03/10/2011

Actually the fake Billionairs with bags of cash seemed to be doing all the talking!
the other 2 (NPR folks) seemed to be nodding and laughing alot!
Non commital! and what they said not offensive to anyone who aint a fascist neo-con
closet ,Budda head! Who massages his neither region with butter, to images,
found in Boys life , and Blue BOY! Followed by "Moon shots" to prove their Manhood!
Offended by this and not the daily lies and 4500 dead americans thanks to Bush Cheney
and the curveball exspess!
 

[Osapient1]

07:52 PM on 03/08/2011

Ron Schiller, on tape, points out "that very little of our funding comes from the government" despite claims to the contrary. He adds that "in the long run we would be better off without federal funding."

Let us grant him that wish...

[AlexNYC]

04:40 PM on 03/08/2011

The Republicans want to eliminate the voice of the people through the few remaining government assisted media outlets such as NPR and PBS. Obama will no doubt go along with their demands, because that is what he does.

[DLB]

09:56 PM on 03/08/2011

The voice of the people can be heard on the radio airwaves every day without listening to npr. It's just a voice that you don't agree with.

npr and pbs don't need taxpayer funding. There millions of rich liberals that can donate their money to keep them funded.

[rfshunt]

06:19 PM on 03/09/2011

"The voice of the people can be heard on the radio airwaves every day"

And by people, you mean paid actors calling in.

[Johnathan Lemons]

01:48 PM on 03/08/2011

The only major player of any kind that I hear as a voice of reason on all these budget cuts has been Colin Powell.

[LawrenceRoth]

12:48 PM on 03/08/2011

"A man who appears to be a National Public Radio senior executive, Ron Schiller, has been captured on camera savaging conservatives and the Tea Party movement."

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/03/08/npr-executives-caught-on-tape-bashing-conservatives-and-tea-party-touting-liberals/#ixzz1G1zjaEY6

Oh, darn! Well cut their funding then, because someone who appears to be NPR executive said some very, very bad things about Republicans, Evangelicals, and Conservatives on a tape, but not on the air at NPR.

Let's face it, if your Liberal, you don't have any godd*mn rights to say what you believe.

Republicans, Evangelicals, and Conservatives need to be criticized for the bogus they spew forth, and when some good guy Liberal confronts, or criticize them the Conservatives cry about it, like they are babies being mistreated.

[marshhen]

01:22 PM on 03/08/2011

Yet JuanW. gets fired for it. LOL

[dkinton49]

02:38 PM on 03/08/2011

Learn English please. Your sentence that begins, "Let's face it, if your Liberal, you" should read, "Let's face it, if you're Liberal, you." 'Your' implies ownership and is not appropriate in this sentence.

[LawrenceRoth]

03:15 PM on 03/08/2011

Thanks for Engleesh lesson. It's so refreshing to know that komments must use perfect grammur.

[Cyprus Johnson]

09:50 AM on 03/09/2011

Ditto; your sentence which begins "Your sentence that begins" should read "Your sentence which begins."

[longnow]

12:37 PM on 03/08/2011

Investigate what, Natural Gas fracting? Nat'l Gas water pollution?
The Koch Bros? Scott Walker? The fraud that is the republican
party and Fox "News"?

(thanks to Vinnster for the info)
Why don't we ask Patricia Stacy Harrison, President and CEO
of the Corporation Of Public Broadcasting which contributes
to NPR and PBS. She was co-chair of the RNC in 1997.
Per Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Harrison

$ quote:
"Harrison's PR skills were called upon to help with the U.S. government's
public diplomacy program during the Iraq war." She and her husband
run a PR firm E Bruce Harrison Company.

Just down the block from PBS in the NYC Lincoln Center complex is the
NYC Opera and Ballet building which has been named after
David H Koch for some time. He contributed 100 million to
Lincoln Center over 10 years and will have his name on the
building for 50 years.

I think it's great that Koch is so interested in the arts.
We all know what a fine conservative fellow David Koch is
and what he does with his money (for cancer he'll have you know)
and what he does for conservative causes like the Tea Party. His
father financed the John Birch Society in 1958.
This is how you buy respectability and legacy...
at least a better legacy than the Birchers.
That's why I think the name Tea Bircher is kinda fitting.

Where's ma chalk board.

[AlexNYC]

04:37 PM on 03/08/2011

The Koches basically do the same thing families like the Rockerfellers have done. They support the destruction of the unions and the middle class, but then contribute a few million to charity to make it appear as through they are philanthropists, when they are in reality sociopaths.

[Cbrown90]

07:35 PM on 03/08/2011

Or you can be a good Democrat like booze running Joe Kennedy and support the Nazi's in their aggresive moves on the Jews.

The Kennedy's have lots of buildings with their names on it and they didn't give ANY money to make that happen! They let others pay for it!

[Cbrown90]

12:24 PM on 03/08/2011

These NPR salaries seem to be just like other greedy rich CEO's!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703559604576176663789314074.html

[Johnathan Lemons]

12:51 PM on 03/08/2011

Already debunked this one. The 1.3 million was a contract buy out. Check NPR's 9099 tax statements yourself.

[Cbrown90]

01:54 PM on 03/08/2011

And then there is this!

http://joshgerstein.blogspot.com/2008/12/npr-salaries-raw-data.html

There is no way that you will be able to convince tax payers that the NPR guys do not make salaries right up there with the greedy CEO's that the left complains about so much.

Ridiculous salaries are OK for the left as long as it is the "right knid" of people getting it!

Matt Damon makes MILLIONS for each movie, but I don't hear the left complaining about his salary. Yet he complains about tax cuts for the rich when he could EASILY donate all the money he wants to government because he thinks it is such a good use of money!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/08/matt-damon-obama-has-roll_n_832795.html

[fishy2]

12:06 PM on 03/08/2011

For research of what actually goes on the air at NPR with regard to issues like Palestine/Israel, or coverage of Islam generally, see:
http://nprcheck.blogspot.com/search/label/Palestine