Well well well… What do we have here?
April 8, 2009:
How will NPR support itself? How do you keep it sustainable? Do you foresee any more layoffs?
We have multiple revenue streams: Sixty percent of our revenue comes from stations, and stations are struggling, though interestingly revenue from our pledge drives is up. Then we get approximately 20 percent from underwriting, and we also get money from foundations and philanthropy and gifts, all of which are struggling in this economy. We get less than one percent from government-supported entities. We also get some from earnings from our endowment which, like everyone else’s investments, are down. We are not immune to it; we are hurting in this economy. Everyone in media is — I’m not just saying woe is me. So what do we do about it? I think we have to be really clear about our message and about why we add value. We need to do a better job of working with the system of raising money together. And we need to have our audience up, so that the underwriting and advertising continues to come into us. And we have to tighten our belt. I think it’s inevitable that there will be more cuts, which doesn’t necessarily mean there will be more layoffs — I really want to differentiate between the two. There’s no big sweeping announcement coming.
Did you get that? Less than 1% from the government.
Let’s pretend for a moment that NPR operates in the real world and that they’re a company that has to succeed and needs to, on occasion, make a tough decision or two. How much would a 1% cut annually affect your family or business? Or, to put it the opposite way, if your company’s profits increased 1%, would you be hanging out a banner with the news?
So if that’s the case, why is that 1% such a painful loss for NPR?
Schiller defiantly talked about the supposedly small kick-in the federal government makes to NPR when, after the firing of Juan Williams, those on the right urged the defunding of NPR altogether. Schiller, citing a number at the time of 10%, had a different story recently at a speaking engagement at the National Press Club.
Though taxpayer dollars represent on average 10 percent of NPR’s budget, Schiller estimated, she said it plays “a critical role in generating the other 90 percent (from listeners, philanthropy and corporate) that make their broadcast possible.”
“If federal dollars went away, the impact on our ability to serve the public … then we would be going backward and retreating on this 44-year investment the American people have made,” Schiller maintained. “The small amount of money that goes for public broadcasting … is too critical to give up, I believe.”
Too critical to give up? Yeah, I don’t think so.
Here’s the problem I have with funding NPR and PBS. As far as programming goes, I honestly don’t care what they say. I’ve come to the conclusion that I will never be happy with what comes out of the mouth of pretty much anyone on the air on any side of an issue anyway, so this is certainly not an ideological thing.
The problem for me is that PBS and NPR are creating a mindset that says they can’t survive unless they’re propped up by taxpayers. That, my friends, I have a problem with. If your business can’t succeed but for the grace of taxpayer funds taken at gunpoint (and make no mistake; any taxes you pay are taken at gunpoint; if you don’t agree, don’t pay ‘em and see what happens to you) then your business is a failure. End of story.
Once companies get comfortable with governments propping them up, they stop competing because they don’t have to. NPR and PBS don’t compete because they don’t need to, not because they can’t. They know that if they don’t make it, the government will back them up until they do.
If you have to coerce people to give you money to float your business model, your business model is broken. If you don’t collect enough money on your pledge drives, then people don’t want to pay for you. To normal businesses, that’s a sign. To NPR, that’s an indication that the plebes don’t understand the value they’re being given, and the reason they see it that way is that they don’t think they’re in the entertainment business; they think they’re a public service.
That mindset corrupts, and the evidence is obvious.