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Podcast sponsorship revenue continues to fuel NPR’s financial growth

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Re: Podcast sponsorship revenue continues to fuel NPR’s financial growth

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who only vaguely remembers NPR from their childhood, my primary association of NPR is with their podcasts. And those things are full of ads. So I initially found this post very confusing. I guess in the past there might have been something called NPR which did not have ads?

NPR was initially funded by the government. I would much rather any media be ad supported than government supported. Given a choice between dealing with business motives and government motives, I trust government a lot less.

You should really distrust them equally. They're effectively one in the same in our current society. Who do you think is paying the government representatives to make business friendly choices that enrich their friends?

Re: Podcast sponsorship revenue continues to fuel NPR’s financial growth

#112
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can be argued that large majority of Americans have liberal values. Many of them have non-liberal identity that makes them think they are non-liberal. For example: 61 percent of Americans, 42 percent of Republicans, approve of labor unions 66 percent of Americans think money and wealth should be distributed more evenly. 80 percent of Americans think some corporations don’t pay their fair share of taxes. 78 percent…

Amazingly, when voting time comes, the country tends to appear center right. Could there polls be wrong?

Much of the country is gerrymandered. The popular vote skews less center right than the outcome of the election suggests. And only about half the country votes in the first place.

If you look at where the newly appearing votes went in big wave elections (notably Obama) a big chunk of those votes are left leaning.

Re: Podcast sponsorship revenue continues to fuel NPR’s financial growth

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NPR was initially funded by the government. I would much rather any media be ad supported than government supported. Given a choice between dealing with business motives and government motives, I trust government a lot less.

You should really distrust them equally. They're effectively one in the same in our current society. Who do you think is paying the government representatives to make business friendly choices that enrich their friends?

The difference is that I trust businesses whose motive is purely logical - make money - a lot more than I trust government run by people who either have “cultural interests” that are directly opposed to my views and very existence.

Business doesn’t have the power to take money, property, liberty, or my life.

Re: Podcast sponsorship revenue continues to fuel NPR’s financial growth

#114
post #4

I love NPR. I'm glad they're doing well, and hope they will continue to make quality programs. But one of the major advantages which has set them apart for me is that they aren't as advertising dependent as so many of their alternatives. Avoiding ads makes it easier for them to be independent, and able to report without fear of corporations withdrawing their support. It's also just much more pleasant to listen to. I…

> I try to avoid advertising as much as possible, and it's sad that they are one more place it's invading. It's unfortunate that internet people have been falsely conditioned to believe the people who create the media we consume shouldn't be paid. Oh, but you will gladly pay for quality, ad-free content, you say? Unfortunately, based on the numbers I've seen at media companies I've freelanced for, this only works out…

Wouldn't Patreon's success be a counterpoint ?

The vast majority of people don't pay, but there seem to be enough people paying that it at least balances the ad dependency of a number of creators. I might be biased, but most of the content I really didn't want to go away or bend backward to get sponsors seem to have successful followings (99pi, the whole radiotopia rooster, Hello Internet, CGP Grey, a few minor ones like rebuild.fm)

I think more and more the creative process could start by kickstarting the project and gauge how much of a public there is willing to pay for it, before going full steam ahead.

Re: Podcast sponsorship revenue continues to fuel NPR’s financial growth

#115
post #25
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NPR is not perfect - in particular, I have some issues with the artifical equivalency between our two major parties implied by NPR interview programs. With that being said, your claim is 100% complete and utter bullshit, unsupported by even your own source.

I don't think you're disagreeing that it's state media, so at worst I'm at 50%. BBC, RT, France24, Deutsche Welle, PressTV, and Telesur all exist to promote a state interest. How are NPR and APM different? https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/10/25/npr-the-cia-and-corp...

Comparing the BBC to RT demonstrates the complete emptiness of your claims. Certainly, publicly funded media sources can be expected to have inbuilt biases, but to pretend that institutions with editorial independence should be compared to actual propaganda outlets which have actively participated in centrally orchestrated and well documented disinformation campaigns is ridiculous.

Re: Podcast sponsorship revenue continues to fuel NPR’s financial growth

#116
post #4

I love NPR. I'm glad they're doing well, and hope they will continue to make quality programs. But one of the major advantages which has set them apart for me is that they aren't as advertising dependent as so many of their alternatives. Avoiding ads makes it easier for them to be independent, and able to report without fear of corporations withdrawing their support. It's also just much more pleasant to listen to. I…

They're government funded, aren't they? Doesn't that mean people playing politics with that funding, pressure to appoint connected people, and editorializing stories that might reflect badly on Congressional members of their oversight committee and budget? Even on the charitable side, aren't a few of their donors largely outsizing most others? Are their workers unionized? I don't think being ad free or nearly so is a…

NPR mostly has gotten is funding through payments by public radio stations, who mostly get their funding through pledge drives. There is a little funding that comes from the government.

Re: Podcast sponsorship revenue continues to fuel NPR’s financial growth

#117
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can be argued that large majority of Americans have liberal values. Many of them have non-liberal identity that makes them think they are non-liberal. For example: 61 percent of Americans, 42 percent of Republicans, approve of labor unions 66 percent of Americans think money and wealth should be distributed more evenly. 80 percent of Americans think some corporations don’t pay their fair share of taxes. 78 percent…

Why do Americans use liberal to mean left?

Because Democrats were the liberal party a very long time ago, in the 1800s and early 1900s.

Americans continue to use Democrats and liberal interchangeably, even though Democrats are no longer liberal on most issues.

Re: Podcast sponsorship revenue continues to fuel NPR’s financial growth

#118
post #4

I love NPR. I'm glad they're doing well, and hope they will continue to make quality programs. But one of the major advantages which has set them apart for me is that they aren't as advertising dependent as so many of their alternatives. Avoiding ads makes it easier for them to be independent, and able to report without fear of corporations withdrawing their support. It's also just much more pleasant to listen to. I…

They're government funded, aren't they? Doesn't that mean people playing politics with that funding, pressure to appoint connected people, and editorializing stories that might reflect badly on Congressional members of their oversight committee and budget? Even on the charitable side, aren't a few of their donors largely outsizing most others? Are their workers unionized? I don't think being ad free or nearly so is a…

About 15% of NPR funding comes from government grants.

Re: Podcast sponsorship revenue continues to fuel NPR’s financial growth

#120
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can be argued that large majority of Americans have liberal values. Many of them have non-liberal identity that makes them think they are non-liberal. For example: 61 percent of Americans, 42 percent of Republicans, approve of labor unions 66 percent of Americans think money and wealth should be distributed more evenly. 80 percent of Americans think some corporations don’t pay their fair share of taxes. 78 percent…

Amazingly, when voting time comes, the country tends to appear center right. Could there polls be wrong?

The USA appears to be more than "center" right, but that's beside the point. People weigh certain issues more heavily than others. So while someone might be pro union, they might vote for an anti-union candidate because of another stance they are more passionate about.
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