Norah's New Math Grossly Understates NPR's Fed Funding
Trying to write off calls—in reaction to the Juan Williams firing fiasco—for the federal defunding of NPR as mere right-wing electoral politics and "cable catnip," Norah O'Donnell has grossly understated the proportion of its budget that NPR obtains from the feds.
Aided and abetted by Chuck Todd, Norah offered her misleading math on today's Daily Rundown on MSNBC. O'Donnell claimed that only 1-3% of NPR's budget is derived from federal funding. But as you'll see, the real number is at least double that.
View video after the jump.
Norah's 1-3% claim is based on the percentage of its budget that NPR receives in direct federal grants. But O'Donnell conveniently forgot to mention that about 40% of NPR's budget comes from payments from its affiliate stations. And as MRC's Tim Graham detailed here, those stations derive about 13% of their budgets from the feds. Getting a bit down in the weeds, that means that in addition to the 1-3% in direct funding, NPR is getting about 5% of its budget from federal funds directed to the affiliates and then funneled back to the NPR mothership.
So . . . total percentage of NPR's budget flowing from the feds is 6-8%, or at least double what Norah claimed.
Watch O'Donnell and Todd play fast and loose with the numbers.
CHUCK TODD: NPR says the feelings Williams expressed were not compatible with his job as a news analyst, and that's drawn fire from the right, including calls to cut NPR's limited amount of federal funding. Norah O'Donnell is MSNBC's chief Washington correspondent. So Norah, how real are these threats about seeing its federal funding, and how much money, what percentage of NPR's budget is federal funds, taxpayer money?
NORAH O'DONNELL: It's about 1-3% that NPR receives in some taxpayer money. Most of NPR is funded through their local stations, through corporations, through the people who like NPR, private donations. They apply for grants and then, to the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, and some of that is federal money [try virtually all], so 1-3% is what they say.
TODD: But a very small amount.
O'DONNELL: It's a very small amount. So cutting their funding won't really cripple NPR. But it sure does make for good TV, and it sure does make for probably good politics for those on the right, and that's why the right has now declared war on NPR. The right's long accused NPR of its liberal bias and so there's nothing like some cable catnip, like a media-on-media war, and so that's why they're flogging this.
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Comments
Well, if Federal funding of NPR is so small . . .
Submitted by Galvanic on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 10:04am.
. . . they won't miss it when it's cut off.
Exactlty what I was
Submitted by mattm on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 10:36am.
Exactlty what I was thinking.... (Man, you're smart!)
Me Too
Submitted by Jerry Mack on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 3:47pm.
What irritates me is when people say that it is only 1 or 2 %.
0% is a much nicer number.
Norah has a rival in terms of
Submitted by Andrew H. on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 10:11am.
Norah has a rival in terms of intelligence running NPR.
The so-called mainstream media is the propaganda arm of the criminal DNC.
Time to defund NPR, PBS and CPB.
Submitted by c5then on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 10:13am.
Even CAIR who called for Williams' firing (and NPR meekly obliged an unindicted co-conspiritor of terrorists), said that NPR has a liberal bias.
No one's taxes should have to pay for broadcasting a viewpoint that they disagree with. I don't care if you are liberal, conservative or martian.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting should go away and the NPR and PBS stations stand or fold on their own merrits.
Madison and Jefferson and Franklin built a Republic - Roberts killed it!
don't forget to include Pacifica Radio
Submitted by mom_rox on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 10:37am.
Yes, it was thanks to NewsBusters that I learned the CPB gave grants to Pacifica Radio, which is even further left than NPR.
Listening to NPR this morning
Submitted by inquiringmind on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 10:14am.
Listening to NPR this morning they did a report on this very topic and they also claimed 2.5% federal funding.
Shocking, I know, I listen to NPR!.
Shut up, Norah. Idiot.
Submitted by Martin2717 on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 10:43am.
Shut up, Norah. Idiot. When Comcast completely takes over NBC, I hope they clean house starting with the likes of you. Then you can go work at NPR. I'm sure you'd fit right in. They need more propagandists like you to fill their airwaves. Who knows, by then when funding is cut off..... they'll go the way of Air America. That'll be awesome.
More than Awesome
Submitted by daveinboca on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 11:59am.
Norah O'Donnell has a sore throat from screeching "racist" every time ANYONE criticizes BHusseinO's Ca-raaaaaazy Deficit Spending or any other of his chronic errors of judgment and rational thinking...
NPR would be just the place for a defeathered carrion eating vulture like Norah, whose morals are right there in the sewer next to BHusseinO's ethics...!
She won't make it on NPR
Submitted by Galvanic on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 1:53pm.
Norah O'Donnell got where she is on her looks. You can't see her on radio. Ipso factor, dear Norah won't cut it on NPR.
Check the reverse. Do you think that Nina Totenberg would have any high-visibility job on MSM network news?
Even if it's only 1 to 3
Submitted by IgnatzJFahrquar on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 10:37am.
Even if it's only 1 to 3 dollars, it should be cut off.
NPR has McDonald's money too.
Submitted by Red Jeep on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 11:12am.
The late widow of Ray Kroc, the founder of the McDonald's Corporation, left NPR a bequest of 225 million dollars in 2003.
NPR doesn't need or deserve any government funding.
Guess I'll go to Burger King from now on.
Money
Submitted by seven on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 11:15am.
I was a sponsor on Cartalk. Never again.
If the fed money is so low, Soros will make it up to them. We are good.
Oh and individual contributions are deductible. Lets take tax deductyions awy since they have a political agenda.
Seven, I hadn't considered
Submitted by texasborngranny on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 1:24pm.
the deduction angle.
You are absolutely. They have a political agenda = contributions non-deductible.
THX!
CPB's actual funding
Submitted by JohnK on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 11:19am.
To see the REAL amount of CPB's funding, all you have to do is look at their own document -
http://www.cpb.org/aboutcpb/financials/appropriation/justification_11-13...
Hmmmmm
Submitted by Red Jeep on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 11:29am.
From page 6 of JohnK's link"
"...state government support, which provided the system with $336.8 million, or 11.8 percent of its revenue, in FY 2008."Missed by that much
Submitted by Tomorama on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 12:29pm.
If this dim bulb had ANY credibilty, she would report this debacle straight down the middle and just report and not DISTORT the facts, but she needs to make a snide remark about Fox (you know it is Fox she is talking about).
See honey, this would have been the time to gain SOME credibility and point out that NPR IS BIASED and has no Conservatives on or ANY people of color - NONE.
But it is just catnip and other childish ways you are describing this to a fraud like you?
If she were not remotely attractive, SHE WOULD NOT HAVE A JOB, no matter how they make her appear to actual have a working brain stem.
Mika is Mensa candidate compared to her.
So they claim it's only about
Submitted by Rusty Shackleford on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 2:39pm.
So they claim it's only about 2.5%? If that's the case then NPR should have no problem whatsoever detaching itself from the government's teet. The next time someone proposes abolishing funding for NPR tell them to stop complaining. Remind them that they themselves have boasted how insignificant the money is.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris Matthews: The Joy Behar of MSNBC.
Bill Maher: The Joy Behar of HBO.
Paul Krugman: The Joy Behar of The New York Times.
Jam it PBS/NPR
Submitted by okiehawk44 on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 2:50pm.
I wonder how many poor hungry children this "pittance" to support ballet for the super wealthy would feed?
I say remove all funding and
Submitted by ninerdog on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 4:26pm.
I say remove all funding and treat them as any other corp. and remove there tax exempt status so they will have to pay the taxes on their new building and all materials and payroll. I would then audit there I-9’s just to be a dick!
Don't sit around waiting for politicians to defund NPR.
Submitted by CT on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 5:03pm.
All those that claim to be upset with NPR need to personally take action. NPR and the stations that broadcast NPR are dependent on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and local periodic telephone fund drives for their financing. What would happen if the idea spread across the country for independent thinkers to call in on the fund drives and offer their two cents, often, over and over again, frequently, constantly. Do you think George Soros could make up the difference?
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