National Public Radio left Twitter recently because it says the social media company’s decision to label it as “state-affiliated media” hurts its “credibility” and unfairly questions its editorial independence.
As much as this appears to be a tempest in a social media teapot, the question about the state media label Elon Musk’s private company attached to NPR comes down to money:
Twitter…revised its label on NPR’s account to “government-funded media.” The news organization says that is inaccurate and misleading, given that NPR is a private, nonprofit company with editorial independence. It receives less than 1 percent of its $300 million annual budget from the federally funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
So 99 percent of its funding is from private sources. That’s good. NPR could avoid the government-funded label entirely if it decided to drop that one percent and go completely private.
It wouldn’t be easy – giving up a big funder is never easy for a nonprofit organization, media, arts or otherwise.
But it would make NPR genuinely, wholly, and completely independent of any strictures government may decide to impose on its contribution. After all, taking even a small amount of government money comes with enormous strings. NPR, of all organizations, should understand this.
And if they don’t, then they could just as easily interview Twitter owner Elon Musk, whose various businesses, not the least of which are Tesla and SpaceX, are creatures of government handouts:
SpaceX is, after all, primarily a government contractor, racking up $15.3 billion in awarded contracts since 2003, according to US government records. Its most important businesses are launching astronauts and scientific missions for NASA, and flying satellites for the US military.
Musk may quibble that payments for goods and services aren’t government subsidies but he owes the existence of the company to NASA. If the US space agency hadn’t backed the rocket-maker with a critical contract in 2008, the company likely would have failed.
As for Tesla, government grants, subsidies and tax breaks have long been a part of its bottom line. The company devotes a lot of digital ink to explaining how potential electric car buyers can get federal, state and local tax incentives for their purchases.
Of course, Musk and his companies are hardly the only private entities reliant on government largesse. That list is long and growing.
But few have called them “government-funded enterprises.” At least so far. The more common terms are “crony capitalists” who get “corporate welfare” to feed their bottom lines. All thanks to taxpayers, who have little to no choice in the matter.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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I was Controller of a Municipal Corporation that was funded by Local, State, and Federal tax revenues. If only $1of the funding is Federal, it is labeled Federally funded. PERIOD.
I don’t believe the numbers this article quotes. The % of NPR funding is closer to 15% than 1%. I wonder if NPR is playing a “hide the pea under the walnut shell” game with the numbers? Sort of like Planned Parenthood claims it doesn’t use taxpayer subsidies for abortions, maybe?
The point with NPR is that when they present an opinion it is good to know about their government funding. They present viewpoints as a news and opinion organization, therefore the labeling is relevant. And “handouts” is an inaccurate term for the money Musk’s companies have received from the government. They provided products and services to the government for compensation. This is quite different from NPR, which provides propaganda for bigger government and for a variety of liberal causes.
I don’t see the connection.
NPR is a media voice. NPR is branding it self as an independent source of news (and entertainment).
Tesla is a car manufacturer . The difference is vast.
I’m no Tesla fan, and I object to Tesla receiving taxpayer dollars to produce a product. But to conflate NPR and Tesla seems a bit of a stretch.
so YOU object to all fed tax dollars spent on any and all what the government likes to call it, green energy “‘investment”.
I do strongly agree with you. Conflating the two is a long stretch.
‘State-affiliated?’ I believe it’s ‘Pravda Light’ – Deep State propaganda reminiscent of the Soviet Union. [Apologies to Generation Z…that’s the old Communist Russian empire based on the perverted doctrines of Karl Marx, responsible for the deaths of millions.]
How much money does the govt spend on ads with the major media outlets?
And there is a big difference between govt contractors making stuff that the govt needs to buy – and is going to buy anyway – and govt media sources spewing what the govt wants people to think.
EVERYONE who acts differently than they otherwise would because of govt tax policies is a “hypocrite” according to the strict definition being appled to Musk here. Try again when Twitter is caught doing what the govt says in the way of taking down speech that the govt objects to.
Come on now Norman. If the government funds NPR 1%, then it’s a government-funded organization – the government is not purchasing goods or services. I think it’s in the best interest of NPR to ditch that 1% if they truly wish to be independent and unbiased, as you suggest, but do they? Regarding Elon’s businesses, the government is a customer, not a donor. The government is purchasing goods and services. Big difference. I see your spin, but not buying it. Why is NASA using SpaceX instead of doing their own thing? I would say that SpaceX probably does it better in most every way. Government should use more public businesses where appropriate to increase the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of Government as a whole, and decrease the bloated Government payroll, transferring the jobs to the private sector.
WHERE WOULD NASA BE WITHOUT MUSK?
NPR mission statement is “to create a more informed public.” The statement makes it clear that NPR is all about the empowerment of the audience through verified information. so much false info in that statement.
to start any person or business uses the term “empowerment” already says you a lot about them.
verified info? how much “verified info” they parroted about the virus also says a lot.
fact. Elon Musk businesses are no where near comparable to what NPR. musk is actually proving a service (Space X) with the govt.
fact. NPR is only a cheerleader for a political party. here is a hint. it is not the Republicans.
Is that why Telsa is so crappy IE Full service drive, hacking, others since
NOT addressed .
Gonna cost sales