NPR Faces Deep Budget Cuts Due to The Sequester! * [Reader Post]

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* It really didn’t.
This is actually two relatively short related posts rolled into one. Recently Drudge linked to an article over at Fishbowl DC – the site that proclaims itself as “The Place Where Politics and DC Media Mesh”. First off, the site’s tag line gives me pause on its own, especially in a time when there is a disturbingly incestuous relationship between Big Media and the White House and its Big Government agenda. When I hear these stories I am reminded from one of the verses from the classic death metal anthem South of Heaven that was co-written by Tom Araya and the recently departed Jeff Hanneman of Slayer 25 years ago:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/lAf9P5taLAk[/youtube]

Bastard sons begat your c***ing daughters
Promiscuous mothers with your incestuous fathers
Inbred souls condemned for all eternity
Sustained by amoral observance a domineering deity

Although I’m 99 percent sure that the song lyric was meant to portray a none too pleasant vision of Hell, it’s amazing how much that sounds like today’s ruling class and its palace guards here in the nation’s capitol. I may be reading too much into this, as in his analysis Breitbart’s John Nolte explains why these relationships aren’t that big of a deal:

Naturally, the Post, and those in media interviewed for the article, all claim that none of this in any way affects their coverage of the Obama administration.

And you know what — I believe them.

As someone who has been watching the media closely for twenty-years, I can tell you that even without all this incest, the media would still be guarding Obama’s palace just as aggressively as it does now. Family relations have nothing to do with it.

Our media would be just as corrupt, just as unwilling to dig into scandals, just as obsessed with The War On The WomanParts and gay marriage; just as dishonest, partisan, and lazy were no one in any way related to top officials within the Obama administration.

These relations are not the cause of the media’s corruption; they are a symptom of it.

Although this first part wasn’t the reason for writing this post, it needed to be mentioned to provide some context to the second part. And it gave me an excuse to embed a Slayer video. What did get my attention though, was the news that NPR is showing off its new downtown DC 400,000 square foot office. And I have to say, it is an impressive site. Here are two shots that National Review’s Ian Tuttle posted in his writeup:

The new facility will treat its staff to some impressive amenities.

The tour continued through the wellness center, which is capable of simple medical procedures, the fitness center, which is staffed by a trainer, and the cafe, which utilizes the same catering company as Google.

Before you fume too much over how our taxpayer dollars are being spent, Fishbowl did post an addendum to show where NPR gets its funding, and roughly 57% comes from individuals and corporations. But that still leaves around just under one third of its income coming from various government or government related sources, my favorite being the 8% from colleges and universities (Hey newly minted unemployed graduates – look at what your loans are helping to pay for!). The article also mentions that NPR’s 20 year property tax exemption that will cost the city $40 million over its life (Hey DC residents, they next time you blow a tire on an unpaved pothole or get mailed a ticket by one of the city’s many speeding cameras remember this when you hear the city crying about funding shortages!)1

But the exact dollar amount isn’t the point. Whether it’s $200 million (which the story states is the total cost), $20 million or $1 million, the defenders of this opulence are missing the point. I’ve worked for a few organizations that had some cash to throw around, and I’ve never worked in an office even close to what the NPR staff will be enjoying. If NPR were a private company I’d say it’s your business and spend it however you want. But NPR is not. I also understand that buildings don’t go up overnight and this has been planned since 2007, but can’t NPR at least pretend to have some regard for how taxpayer money is being spent? During the 2012 election campaign the notion of cutting off funding for NPR gave us the “Romney wants to kill Big Bird!” punch line, and of course the fact that NPR’s funding amounts to a rounding error in our federal budget.

But that’s not the point. The point is that NPR served a very useful purpose in broadcast media’s earlier days, and biases aside it still provides quality programming. But just because many people like something is not justification for spending government money on it. How can we expect any meaningful reform to the monstrosities that are entitlements when we can’t even cut a simple program like NPR that could most likely survive on its own in the competitive market? And if it couldn’t, so what? There are no shortage of diverse news outlets in this day and age. While NPR’s programming is still quite relevant, the notion that it is deserving of taxpayer subsidy is now quite dated.

Of course, don’t expect this to change any time soon. A government funded news outlet is the perfect marriage of our ruling class and the media that serves as it’s public relations arm. And its new palatial office is just another example of how our nation’s elites view what they are entitled to at the expense of the commoners.

One last note that needed mention – buried in the story was a seemingly throwaway point that is probably one of the most telling:

The almost 800-person staff is extremely diverse, and they all are really glad the be in the new building.

By the media’s definition of “diversity”, I’m guessing that this is defined by having female leftists, black leftists, gay and lesbian leftists, Hispanic leftists, and just for fun some white heterosexual male leftists. I’d be curious to see how far their diversity goes when it comes to political leanings. Sadly, in this world diversity, like beauty, is only skin deep.

Cross posted from Brother Bob’s Blog

1 Yes, I understand the flawed Economics of this argument. Since lefties like to argue that reducing tax rates (not revenue actually collected) on the wealthy equate middle tax increases and that any tax break for a business steals food from the mouths of children they can gag on their own rhetoric for a bit.

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NPR is fairly unwatchable in CA.
Here in Utah it has competition from a couple college stations.
One such has some LDS programming but also has quite a bit of secular programming.
It also has a program from the perspectives of ex-Mormons.
When that channel touts the tastiness of a small farm’s apple cider or cheese, the place sells out of all their product that month.
Later, you can go and get some.
Gosh! Home grown apple cider is great!
One thing to appreciate about these local channels: they tell you what their bias is up front!
You don’t have to guess.
Those with children they want to get even more LDS message can have them watch some of their special children’s programs.
Wouldn’t it be great if NPR admitted; let your child watch this programming and, over time, he will hate private enterprise, white people, Christianity, marriage and so on.
Parents should look for slant in all children’s programming.
It’s almost always there.

well of course the media hearts Obama. The Big Media is owned by the biggest corporations in the USA and THEY have done very well under Obama. The rich have gotten much richer under him, somehow though some idiots think that is SOCIALISM !!! and not capitalism.