General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHOW did corporate caving work out for NPR and PBS?
I have been listening to and supporting NPR and PBS since their inception. I will continue to do so, however, I noticed over the years that the amount of corporate funding seemed to have an influence on the stories they neglected to tell. Two examples. When Scott Walker was destroying the government, workers unions in the state of Wisconsin NPR ran a lengthy piece on how much money unions were pouring into that state. Every word of that report was true. What they did not mention in that lengthy piece was that the unions were being out spent by a 7 to 1 ratio. I even called the ombudsman at NPR about that. NPR no longer has an ombudsman. This past election cycle everyone knew how important project 25 was .The news hour on PBS did one, Ill repeat that the news hour onPBS did one story on project 25. I want PBS and NPR to thrive and will continue to support them , however, the stories that they stopped covering correlated with the amount of corporate funding that they were accepting. There are not two sides to a fact and what the Republicans and fascist hate are facts. Reporting facts is not liberal. Reporting facts is news. I sure hope NPR and PBS survive and get back to sticking to reporting facts and not worrying about who is going to be offended by the facts.

rurallib
(63,934 posts)No doubt one response to the recession will be to appeal to more corporate sponsorship. That will have consequences.
tonkatoy8888
(126 posts)I discovered NPR in the mid 1970's as a high school student and was immediately hooked. I loved the news and particularly enjoyed the long form articles they presented. In a pre-internet world I felt that NPR and the BBC World Service kept me aware and informed about the world around me.
Around the time of the Bush/Clinton era I found myself more and more yelling at the radio, "no. no. that's not right. You didn't mention" whatever pertinent facts they had omitted, glossed over, or drew the incorrect inference from. As the years rolled by NPR moved from being my default source of news and information to being a last resort.
My anger with NPR is the same type of anger I have with close friends and relatives who are doing stupid shit; Stop. Just stop. Please. You know better and I expect more from you.
Apparently, my yelling at the radio has as much effect as suggesting to a friend or relative that they take a close look at the situation and stop doing stupid shit.
And don't even get me started on when NPR reports on the Trump administration's clearly illegal and/or unconstitutional policies and passes it off as something that every previous administration has done. Just another day in paradise. Have another cup of coffee.