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Twitter labels NPR's account as 'state-affiliated media', which is untrue

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Re: Twitter labels NPR's account as 'state-affiliated media', which is untrue

#21

Post by TheCoelacanth »

nyerp wrote: post #15

The article states "More than 99% of NPR's funds do not come from federal sources" and yet elaborates "NPR ... gets the bulk of its direct financial support from two sources: sponsorships and fees paid by hundreds of member stations." How are those member stations funded? Through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which receives a $465 million federal appropration each year. So can the Federal Government exert…

31% of revenue comes from member station fees and 13% of member station fees comes from government funding, so that would mean 13% of 31% or 4% of the total comes from government sources.

"State-affiliated" still seems highly inaccurate. Tesla get 3% of its revenue from government carbon credits. Are they labeling Tesla as state-affiliated?

Re: Twitter labels NPR's account as 'state-affiliated media', which is untrue

#22

Post by kevincrane »

2022-11-07 wrote: post #16

This is not a very convincing defense. Most foreign outlets Twitter and US media label state-affiliated are not directly controlled by the state. It's more like, hey, this institution gets a lot of its funding from, or has close ties to, the state, so just watch out for that which is 100% true here. NPR was literally created by an act of congress. You can't be honest and say in good faith it's not state affiliated.

Except when you read the article, you saw a description from Twitter and link saying:

> State-financed media organizations with editorial independence, like the BBC in the UK or NPR in the US for example, are not defined as state-affiliated media for the purposes of this policy.

https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/state-affilia...

Re: Twitter labels NPR's account as 'state-affiliated media', which is untrue

#24

Post by Dudelander »

nyerp wrote: post #15

The article states "More than 99% of NPR's funds do not come from federal sources" and yet elaborates "NPR ... gets the bulk of its direct financial support from two sources: sponsorships and fees paid by hundreds of member stations." How are those member stations funded? Through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which receives a $465 million federal appropration each year. So can the Federal Government exert…

The source you cite points out that only 8% of public radio's funding comes from federal funding, and less than 1% of NPR's budget comes from federal funding. The federal government does not exercise any editorial control over NPR other than by the mechanisms that apply to Fox, CNN, Newsmax, or any other "private" media organization.

Re: Twitter labels NPR's account as 'state-affiliated media', which is untrue

#25

Post by rcktmrtn »

nyerp wrote: post #15

The article states "More than 99% of NPR's funds do not come from federal sources" and yet elaborates "NPR ... gets the bulk of its direct financial support from two sources: sponsorships and fees paid by hundreds of member stations." How are those member stations funded? Through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which receives a $465 million federal appropration each year. So can the Federal Government exert…

> How are those member stations funded?

A case quick case study on this for Wisconsin I did recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35294972&p=2#35295817

... in summary, our station seems to be about 1/3 funded directly by the the government (state+federal). It's obviously simpleminded to claim that NPR is directly and obviously a stooge of the federal government, but trying to deflect the question with the "99% non-federal funds" doesn't convince me of anything.

Re: Twitter labels NPR's account as 'state-affiliated media', which is untrue

#26

Post by Dudelander »

2022-11-07 wrote: post #16

This is not a very convincing defense. Most foreign outlets Twitter and US media label state-affiliated are not directly controlled by the state. It's more like, hey, this institution gets a lot of its funding from, or has close ties to, the state, so just watch out for that which is 100% true here. NPR was literally created by an act of congress. You can't be honest and say in good faith it's not state affiliated.

It does not get a lot of funding from the state. And every competent media outlet has contacts in government.

Re: Twitter labels NPR's account as 'state-affiliated media', which is untrue

#27

Post by cool_dude85 »

TheCoelacanth wrote: post #21
nyerp wrote: post #15

The article states "More than 99% of NPR's funds do not come from federal sources" and yet elaborates "NPR ... gets the bulk of its direct financial support from two sources: sponsorships and fees paid by hundreds of member stations." How are those member stations funded? Through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which receives a $465 million federal appropration each year. So can the Federal Government exert…

31% of revenue comes from member station fees and 13% of member station fees comes from government funding, so that would mean 13% of 31% or 4% of the total comes from government sources. "State-affiliated" still seems highly inaccurate. Tesla get 3% of its revenue from government carbon credits. Are they labeling Tesla as state-affiliated?

But if the CPB stations didn't exist, who would be trying to advertise, excuse me, become a corporate sponsor, with NPR? The network of stations that NPR sells its material to would likely not exist without Federal funding.

Re: Twitter labels NPR's account as 'state-affiliated media', which is untrue

#28

Post by vuln »

Dudelander wrote: post #24
nyerp wrote: post #15

The article states "More than 99% of NPR's funds do not come from federal sources" and yet elaborates "NPR ... gets the bulk of its direct financial support from two sources: sponsorships and fees paid by hundreds of member stations." How are those member stations funded? Through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which receives a $465 million federal appropration each year. So can the Federal Government exert…

The source you cite points out that only 8% of public radio's funding comes from federal funding, and less than 1% of NPR's budget comes from federal funding. The federal government does not exercise any editorial control over NPR other than by the mechanisms that apply to Fox, CNN, Newsmax, or any other "private" media organization.

> The federal government does not exercise any editorial control over NPR other than by the mechanisms that apply to Fox, CNN, Newsmax, or any other "private" media organization.

So NPR hires former IC members and then utilizes them to downplay or hype a story? I mean “give an analysis”…

Re: Twitter labels NPR's account as 'state-affiliated media', which is untrue

#30

Post by sometimesjerks »

nyerp wrote: post #15

The article states "More than 99% of NPR's funds do not come from federal sources" and yet elaborates "NPR ... gets the bulk of its direct financial support from two sources: sponsorships and fees paid by hundreds of member stations." How are those member stations funded? Through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which receives a $465 million federal appropration each year. So can the Federal Government exert…

I've seen a lot of misunderstanding about how NPR's funding works, and a claim that NPR/NPR affiliated stations receive $465M.

First, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) receives ~$128M for "Public Radio Station and Programming Grants", not NPR or NPR affiliated stations [1].

Second, CPB uses that money for grants to local stations, which then license content from NPR. This model was a direct result of NPR's funding crisis in the 1980's. Additionally, the amount a local station gets from the CPB depends on how large it is, with the average station only receiving 7.2% percent of its annual revenue from CPB grants [1]. Small rural stations get a much larger percent -- and most probably wouldn't be able to function without it hence NPR's "Federal funding is essential to public radio's service" statement.

[1]: https://cpb.org/funding

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