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File:Logo npr.gif
NPR logo
NPR redirects here. For other meanings of NPR, see NPR (disambiguation).

National Public Radio (NPR) is an independent, private, not-for-profit membership organization of public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 which established the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and also led to the creation of the Public Broadcasting Service. The network was founded on February 26, 1970, headed by Robert Conley with a partnership of talented journalists, with 30 employees and 90 public radio stations as charter members.

Like its competitors, American Public Media and Public Radio International, NPR produces and distributes news and cultural programming. Its member stations are not required to broadcast all of these programs and most public radio stations broadcast programs from all three providers. Its flagship programs are two drive time news broadcasts, Morning Edition and the afternoon All Things Considered; both are carried by nearly all NPR affiliates and in 2002 were the second- and third-most popular radio programs in the country. Morning Edition has been the network's most popular program since 1979. In a Harris poll conducted in 2005, NPR was voted the most trusted news source in the US.

History

NPR headquarters at 635 Massachusetts Avenue NW in Washington, D.C.

NPR hit the airwaves in April, 1971 with coverage of the United States Senate hearings on the Vietnam War. The next month, All Things Considered debuted, hosted by NPR founder Robert Conley. NPR was merely a production and distribution organization until 1977, when it merged with the Association of Public Radio Stations. As a membership organization, NPR was now charged with providing stations with training, program promotion, and management; representing public radio before Congress; and providing content delivery mechanisms such as satellite delivery.

Governance

NPR is a membership corporation. Member stations are required to be noncommercial or educational radio stations with at least five full time professional employees, operate at least 18 hours per day, and not designed solely to further a religious philosophy or for classroom programming. Each member designates an Authorized Station Representative (A-Rep) to represent them at NPR board meetings. Meetings occur once a year, and each A-Rep, no matter what audience size they represent, has one vote.

To oversee the day to day operations of NPR and prepare its budget, members elect a Board of Directors. On the Board, there are ten A-Reps, five members of the general public, and the chair of the NPR Foundation. Terms are for three years and rotate such that some stand for election every year.

The original "purposes" of NPR, as ratified by the Board of Directors, are the following:

  • Provide an identifiable daily product which is consistent and reflects the highest standards of broadcast journalism.
  • Provide extended coverage of public events, issues and ideas, and to acquire and produce special public affairs programs.
  • Acquire and produce cultural programs which can be scheduled individually by stations.
  • Provide access to the intellectual and cultural resources of cities, universities and rural districts through a system of cooperative program development with member public radio stations.
  • Develop and distribute programs for specific groups (adult education, instruction, modular units for local productions) which may meet needs of individual regions or groups, but may not have general national relevance.
  • Establish liaison with foreign broadcasters for a program exchange service.
  • Produce materials specifically intended to develop the art and technical potential of radio.

Funding

The NPR Web site offers NPR annual reports, 990s, and audited financial statements. According to the most recent 2005 financial statement, currently NPR makes just over half of its money from the fees and dues it charges member stations to receive programming. About 2% of NPR's funding comes from bidding on government grants and programs (chiefly the Corporation for Public Broadcasting); the remainder comes from member station dues, foundation grants, and corporate underwriting. NPR member stations raise money through on-air pledge drives, during which programming is interrupted and listeners are encouraged to donate money to keep the station on the air.

Note that the 2% figure above refers only to money contributed by the federal government directly to NPR. Additional government money makes its way to NPR indirectly. This is because the government (again chiefly the Corporation for Public Broadcasting) provides significant funding to NPR member stations, in addition to the funding provided to NPR itself. Since the government contributes to member stations and member stations in turn contribute to NPR (in the form of dues), it may make sense, in certain contexts, to regard the government's portion of NPR's budget as significantly higher than 2%.

Over the years, the portion of the total NPR budget that comes from government has been decreasing. During the 1970s and early 1980s, the majority of NPR funding came from the government. Steps were being taken during the 1980s to completely wean NPR from government support, but a major funding crisis in 1983, which almost led to the demise of the network, brought about more rapid shifts in NPR's funding setup. More money to fund the NPR network was raised from listeners, charitable foundations and corporations, and less from the government.

In 1995, two "well-meaning but misguided students" (in the official words of the University of Northern Colorado) started an e-mail petition claiming that " NPR's Morning Edition, Nina Tottenberg (sic) said that if the Supreme Court supports Congress , it will, in effect, be the end of the National Public Radio (NPR)..." Although the funding crisis passed, the chain letter continues to circulate on the Internet. (See NPR's statement on the petition.)

In contrast to commercial radio, NPR does not carry traditional commercials, but has advertising in the form of brief statements from major donors, such as Wal-Mart, Merck and Archer Daniels Midland. These statements are called underwriting spots, not commercials, and are bound by FCC restrictions unlike commercials; they cannot advocate a product or contain any "call to action." Critics of NPR have complained that describing public radio as "commercial free" is "transparently false". In 2005 corporate sponsorship made up 23% of the NPR budget. Since NPR is not as dependent on advertising revenue as commercial stations, its programming decisions may be less ratings-driven. Some listeners have stopped listening to NPR member stations due to NPR underwriting statements.

On November 6, 2003, NPR was given over $225 million from the estate of the late Joan B. Kroc, the widow of Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald's Corporation. This was a record—the largest monetary gift ever to a cultural institution. In 2003 the annual budget of NPR was $101 million. In 2004 that number increased by over 50% to $153 million due to the Kroc gift, as the bequest required that $34 million be spent to shore up operating reserves. NPR has dedicated the earnings from the remainder of the bequest to expanding its news staff and reducing some member stations' fees. The 2005 budget was about $120 million.

Production facilities and listenership

NPR's major production facilities have been based in Washington, D.C. since its creation. On November 2, 2002, a West Coast production facility, dubbed NPR West, opened in Culver City, California. NPR opened NPR West to improve its coverage of the western United States, to expand its production capabilities (shows produced there include News & Notes with Ed Gordon and Day to Day), and to create a fully functional backup production facility capable of keeping NPR on the air in the event of a catastrophe in Washington, D.C.

According to a 2003 Washington Monthly story, about 20 million listeners tune into NPR each week. On average they are 50 years old and earn an annual income of $78,000. Its audience is predominantly white; only about 10% are either African American or Hispanic. Many of its listeners consider NPR to be at the apex of journalistic integrity, while critics argue that it is not fully representative of the nation's diversity. While Arbitron does track public radio listenership, they do not include public radio in their published rankings of radio stations.

From 1999 through 2004, listenership has increased by about 66%. This increase may have been the result of one of a number of factors, including audience interest in coverage of the September 11 attacks and the subsequent military actions, a general lack of interest in other terrestrial radio outlets, and an increase in NPR news and talk programming (instead of jazz music). NPR attracted these new listeners at the same time that the size of the overall radio audience in the United States was decreasing rapidly as people abandoned the medium in favor of mp3 players and satellite radio.

In recent years, NPR has made some changes to appeal to younger listeners and to minority groups. From 2002 until 2004, Tavis Smiley hosted a show targeted towards African Americans, but left the network, claiming that the organization did not provide enough support to make his production truly successful. NPR stations have long been known for carrying classical music, but the amount of classical programming carried on NPR stations and other public radio outlets in the U.S. has been declining. Many stations have shifted toward carrying more news, while others have shifted to feature more contemporary music that attracts a younger audience.

Programming

Programs produced by NPR

News and public affairs programs

File:Nprnews.gif
NPR News.

NPR produces a morning and an afternoon news program, both of which also have weekend editions with different hosts. It also produces hourly news briefs around the clock. NPR formerly distributed the World Radio Network, a daily compilation of news reports from international radio news, but no longer does so.

Cultural programming

Programs distributed by NPR

News and public affairs programs

Cultural programming

Public radio programs not affiliated with NPR

Individual NPR stations can broadcast programming from sources that have no formal affiliation with NPR.

Many shows produced or distributed by Public Radio International, such as This American Life and Whad'Ya Know?, are broadcast by NPR member stations, although the shows are not affiliated with NPR. Other popular shows, like A Prairie Home Companion and Marketplace, are produced by American Public Media, long known as Minnesota Public Radio. The Pacifica Radio Network also provides some programming to some NPR affiliates, notably the news program Democracy Now!.

Podcasts

Many NPR affiliates offer the programs they produce as podcasts.

alt.NPR is a series of podcast-only programs distributed by NPR, such as On Gambling with Mike Pesca, Groove Salad, and Youthcast. They are designed to appeal to a younger and more eclectic audience.

Criticism

Many conservative Republicans have alleged that the network tailors its content to the preferences of an audience drawn from a liberal white "educated elite." While members of NPR's audience are more likely to be white and college educated than those who listen to other radio outlets, the liberal Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, a media watchdog group, disputes the claim of a liberal bias. (See .) Conservative media watchdog groups such as the Media Research Center document examples of what they contend is liberal bias by NPR and NPR personnel.

Left-wing activists have alleged that NPR caters to its corporate funders and shies away from controversial topics. Many believe that NPR avoids the sort of journalism that would embarrass the likes of Monsanto, Archer Daniels Midland, or Wal-Mart, since these companies are among the largest single private donors to NPR programming. According to these critics, examples of articles that would embarrass funders could include problems with genetically modified organisms, the politics of food production and farming, labor union activism in Wal-Mart stores and urban sprawl.

African-American community activists have criticized NPR for not being responsive to their interests and those of other minority ethnic groups. Tavis Smiley, a well-known black talk show host, resigned from NPR claiming that NPR did not effectively promote his daily program to minority communities. In addition, he received complaints from listeners stating that his sound was too harsh and grating for public radio. In 2005, Smiley returned to public radio with a weekly program distributed by Public Radio International.

American pop culture is fond of referring to the allegedly dull nature of public radio shows. For example, The Simpsons parodied Garrison Keillor's comedic monologues on his American Public Media show A Prairie Home Companion, with a character who dressed in a bow tie, spoke at length in a monotone and expected the audience to laugh at jokes that were not funny. Saturday Night Live had a recurring segment called The Delicious Dish, a parody of public radio weekend programs. The hosts (played by Ana Gasteyer and Molly Shannon) speak in saccharine, hushed tones about their favorite recipes.

Another common criticism of public broadcasting, including NPR, is the frequency of pledge drives. Individual contributions through pledge drives and other fundraising account for the majority of station revenue at most NPR member stations. For many years, most public radio stations did two one-week pledge drives per year. To the dismay of listeners and staffers alike, some stations now hold pledge drives quarterly. Some listeners feel that there is a connection between pledge drives and programming, and are upset when programming on member stations that they pledged for is cut, which is what happened recently at WDET.

Unlike other radio networks, such as CBC/Radio-Canada, NPR does not produce local or regional content. Instead, each member station must create local news and other programming. This approach means that there is a great variety in the format of member station broadcasts. While this variety may reflect the diversity of the communities in which NPR stations are found, it may come at a sacrifice to uniform quality across the network.

In 2003, some critics accused NPR of being duplicitously pro invasion of Iraq.

A 2004 FAIR study concluded that "NPR’s guestlist shows the radio service relies on the same elite and influential sources that dominate mainstream commercial news, and falls short of reflecting the diversity of the American public".

Supporters contend that NPR does its job remarkably well. A study, conducted in 2003 by the polling firm Knowledge Networks and the University of Maryland’s Program on International Policy Attitudes, showed that those who get their news and information from public broadcasting (NPR and PBS) are better informed than those whose information comes from other media outlets, including cable and broadcast TV networks and the print media. In particular, 80% of Fox News viewers held one of three common misperceptions about the Iraq War; only 23% of NPR listeners /PBS viewers were similarly misinformed.,

See also

References

  1. How NPR Works: NPR's Mission Statement

External links

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