Note about NPR

Are you a fan of National Public Radio? Do you appreciate NPR’s news coverage and such award-winning shows as This American Life and Fresh Air? Or perhaps you are a commuter who would commit highway hara-kiri without Morning Edition and All Things Considered? If so, we’d like to introduce you to two local congressmen—Dan Lungren and Tom McClintock—who recently joined the House Republican majority in voting to cut all federal funding for NPR.

This comes at a time when the noncommercial network is more popular than ever, reaching an impressive 27 million listeners a week. Unfortunately, management is not doing so well. Its chief fundraiser recently got caught in a maliciously edited right-wing sting video making disparaging remarks about the tea party. The network botched its response to this and, for some reason, felt forced to give up on a talented CEO in the balance.

Republicans in the House, who somehow see NPR’s rigorous journalism and balance as “left-leaning,” have always wanted to pull the plug on the federal funding that makes up 15 percent of NPR’s budget, much of which goes to rural affiliates. They got closer to their desire to do so a few weeks back with the congressional vote. There’s slim chance the Senate will do likewise, thankfully, so NPR seems safe for now. But we thought we’d take the opportunity anyway to bring up the fact that two of our local reps—Lungren and McClintock—actually desire to dismantle the valuable public resource that is NPR.