Ways NPR Wastes Money

[MattParker]

A a comment in the Juan Williams thread got me thinking about ways in which NPR wastes the donors and taxpayers money. (They also waste corporate sponsors' money but I don't care about that.)

Here's my list of money-wasters that come to mind. Feel free to add your's:

• Big bucks to celebrity journalists who work for other networks (like Juan Williams and Cokie Roberts).
• NPR West. They wanted to duplicate NPR's main facility in case terrorists wipe out DC. So they built another NPR in the vicinity of an earthquake fault.
• Satellite feeds from a studio when Skype from a guest's home or office would do nicely. NPR often does interviews (via satellite) from a member station or some independent studio with an uplink. Sometimes, however, they do interviews via Skype (and Skype gets on-air credit). Skype sounds almost as good as the uplink. Why pay for satellite and studio time?
• Throwing out and adding stories from Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Frequently, NPR scraps a story after the East coast feed and does new stories for the left coast. Those stories are already being covered in the on the hour and half hour newscasts. NPR's forte is not breaking news; it's in-depth stories, analysis and features you can't hear anyplace else. But they dump good stuff and to put on a padded version of a story already being broadcast by the newscast unit.
• Host trips: Sending hosts overseas at considerable expense on the dubious assumption they can drop in and cover something better than reporters who work there full time.
• Morning Edition Business News. Hardly any stations carry it. Virtually all member stations drop out for APM's Marketplace Morning Report. A classic example of a tree in an empty forest.

 

[aaronread]

Again, what part of NPR DOES NOT GET ANY TAXPAYER DOLLARS don't you people understand?!?!? Argh. I hate feeding the trolls but I'm annoyed enough to indulge...

NPR West was built for many reasons. One of the big ones was a direct response that NPR was too East-Coast / non-minority-focused in its outlook and programming. Unfortunately, the Great Recession came along and nuked two really excellent shows produced there (Day2Day and News & Notes) so currently it does seem like NPR West is underutilized. But sooner or later the economy will improve and then NPR West will be a much more visibly valuable asset. While the redundancy of NPR West is admittedly useful in the sense that if Washington DC gets nuked, NPR has a fully-functional facility out in LA to work with...but that's a fringe bonus. The main backup system is not run by NPR, it's run by APM in St. Paul, Minnesota. That's where the entire Backup NOC (Network Operations Center) for the Public Radio Satellite System is located. The Twin Cities are rather lower on the "to be nuked" list of cities than Los Angeles is, and APM has a far more advanced facility than NPR West.

If you think Skype is comparable to a satellite feed in terms of reliability and audio fidelity you have ably demonstrated that you don't know squat about radio production or about cascading algorithms. Apologies for the rudeness but when you're shoving your foot in your mouth that hard, it's difficult not to laugh. :

Your fourth point completely contradicts itself. That's exactly why they add new stories for the West Coast rollovers; to give more time to those stories; 5 to 12 minutes instead of 20-40 seconds in a newscast.

What host trips are you talking about? I'm not aware of any cases where NPR sends a stateside anchor to temporarily replace a field reporter unless there's a specific reason for it...like the field reporter is sick, on leave, or otherwise unable to do the job. NPR sends reporters to places where they don't have a reporter all the time, of course. That's what a field reporter DOES.

Wow. One can argue the merits and quality of NPR's Business News during M.E., but to say that "nobody carries it" is so flamingly wrong I don't know where to begin. True, many stations carry Marketplace Morning Report, but a great many do not because while the MMR is free, being an APM member station is not. Also, I know several stations that intentionally schedule the MMR so it covers the E SEG during the hour of ME that doesn't have the Business News...thus airing both.

 

[ajc_trw]

Again, what part of NPR DOES NOT GET ANY TAXPAYER DOLLARS don't you people understand?!?!?

The part where CPB receives 100% of its funding from the federal government, and NPR receives about 6% of its funding from CPB.

Thanks for the link, the comments within tell more of the story.

BTW: Does this mean beer with <6% alcohol can be bought and consumed by people under 21 as it DOES NOT HAVE ANY ALCOHOL?

 

[MattParker]

Sorry to disagree Aaron:

(1) I've heard the Skype interviews and I've heard the satellite interviews. Skype sounds fine to me. Since most interviews are pre-recorded, "reliability" does not seem like much of an issue. I am not engineer. I do not know about cascading algorithms. Neither do I care.

(2) I actually prefer Morning Edition's business segment to Marketplace, which is a little too investment oriented for me. None of the stations I usually listen to carries Morning Edition's business segment, so I went searching for stations (with audio streams) that do. Some West Coast stations which start running Morning Edition in the overnight period carry it then and then go to Marketplace in morning drive. A few other stations I found also carry it, but very few. So few that Morning Edition's business segment becomes a questionable expense.

(3) For instance, a couple of weeks ago Morning Edition's female co-host spent a week doing pieces from Afghanistan. A few weeks before that, the male co-host went to New Orleans. This was not filling in for a local or beat reporter. This was stunting.

(4) ME and ATC are not headline shows. A breaking story can be covered in the newscast. The story can get the coverage it deserves that afternoon or the next morning. These is no need to waste money chasing sirens.

(5) NPR does get taxpayer dollars. CPB gives money to stations and stations use the money to buy programming from NPR. NPR may not get tax dollars directly but tax dollars do find their way to NPR. NPR did receive money from CPB directly and this was changed to give stations more leverage. From all I've seen, CPB gives money to stations with the expectation that much of it will be used to buy programming (most of which, for most public radio stations, comes from NPR). I think you're splitting hairs on this one.

(6) I would agree that NPR often shows too much of an inside-the-beltway mindset. I think a case can be made for moving NPR's main operations out of DC (except for a news bureau) and originating its news programs elsewhere - even Culver City. I do not think there is a need for two redundant headquarters operations (in case one of them gets nuked). NPR has well equipped bureaus and member stations in most major cities which could function in an emergency. NPR could have developed lower cost contingency plans.

 

[aaronread]

For instance, a couple of weeks ago Morning Edition's female co-host spent a week doing pieces from Afghanistan. A few weeks before that, the male co-host went to New Orleans. This was not filling in for a local or beat reporter. This was stunting.

I stand corrected, although I would counterpoint that one man's stunt is another man's in-depth series of reporting.

I do not know about cascading algorithms. Neither do I care.

Well NPR does and NPR has to. Their audio has to survive from the field to the studio (preferably uncompressed), from the studio to the satellite uplink (usually uncompressed), from the uplink through the ContentDepot system (256kbps MPEG1 Layer II compression), into a station's automation system (may use compression), through a station's STL (again, may use compression), and on their airwaves (HDC codec if HD Radio is in use). Each time there is compression, you have a cascading algorithm; each time it gets compressed it can "damage" the audio product that much more. So as a network provider...whose charter specifically cites a commitment to audio quality...you have to preserve the audio as much as possible by avoiding lossy compression like Skype.

NPR may not get tax dollars directly but tax dollars do find their way to NPR.

Tax dollars find their way to virtually every non-profit and for-profit organization in the country by that logic. Are y'all those folks that scream about keeping the government's hands off their Medicare?

NPR has well equipped bureaus and member stations in most major cities which could function in an emergency. NPR could have developed lower cost contingency plans.

I'd love to see your credentials for making that assessment. I've helped build some of those member stations' facilities, and even at some of the best of them...they can't hold a candle to NPR's capabilities and needs.

 

[Silkie]

One way NPR wastes money is by keeping Vivian Schiller on.

 

[DonTheTrucker]

BTW: Does this mean beer with <6% alcohol can be bought and consumed by people under 21 as it DOES NOT HAVE ANY ALCOHOL?

That's a pretty good way to put it. Of course NPR gets tax dollars. The CPB thing is just a filter to give the appearance of being a private sector entity. There can be a good argument made that giving tax dollars to some stations isn't such a bad thing, but I'll leave that for others.

There are several reasons that defunding the CPB makes sense. First, is that we really can't afford it. Secondly, they can survive. They only get 10% of their money from CPB, and the people who support NPR are pretty gung-ho about it. They'd maybe have to cut some staff, but they'd survive and they'd be free to pursue whatever agenda they want in their broadcasting.

 

[Talk_Dude]

Again, what part of NPR DOES NOT GET ANY TAXPAYER DOLLARS don't you people understand?!?!? Argh. I hate feeding the trolls but I'm annoyed enough to indulge...

What part of, "the Federal government 'launders' the money it gives NPR by filtering it through intermediaries", do you not get?

 

[SeanMGilbow]

Again, what part of NPR DOES NOT GET ANY TAXPAYER DOLLARS don't you people understand?!?!? Argh. I hate feeding the trolls but I'm annoyed enough to indulge...

What part of, "the Federal government 'launders' the money it gives NPR by filtering it through intermediaries", do you not get?

Again, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the money it gets from foreign companies.

 

[Talk_Dude]

Again, what part of NPR DOES NOT GET ANY TAXPAYER DOLLARS don't you people understand?!?!? Argh. I hate feeding the trolls but I'm annoyed enough to indulge...

What part of, "the Federal government 'launders' the money it gives NPR by filtering it through intermediaries", do you not get?

Again, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the money it gets from foreign companies.

Correctamundo!

 

[MattParker]

Update: This morning the Washington Post, in a story headlined, "Amid anger, regret over Williams's firing, NPR staffers fear financial backlash," reports the following:

While NPR receives only about 2 percent of its $154 million annual budget from federal sources, including the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and National Endowment for the Arts, its 800-plus member stations are much more reliant on tax subsidies. Some smaller stations receive as much as a third of their operating revenue from federal sources.

Apparently, this figure does not include federal funds which member stations use to pay for NPR programs. Nor does it include state and local tax dollars which some stations receive (and use to buy programming). Some stations are owned and operated by state supported colleges and universities and some of those stations are not completely self-supporting but receive funding from their parent schools. Likewise, some state-owned networks receive public funding (i.e., NJN).

Aaron, on what basis do you claim that "NPR DOES NOT GET ANY TAXPAYER DOLLARS?" Can you cite sources for such statements? The Washington Post is generally regarded as a liberal paper and not a news organization hostile to public radio.

 

[JimmyJames]

Defund CPB and let rural public stations that got licensed in the 07 window lose potential construction funding during a recession?

Let's make all those evil community and tribal broadcasters who want to provide local programming of interest suffer because of NPR firing one person.

That's a brilliant policy.

A lot of community broadcasters are in no way even affiliated with the perceived politics of NPR, and defunding CPB causes a significant struggle for these outlets often in rural markets or markets where the bulk of commercial radio is off a hard drive or dish and not responsive to the community interest.

You do remember that little phrase right? In the public interest?

Rural public radio lives it, every day, without the posh budgets and arrogance many of you want to pin on public broadcasting. Perhaps you should get to know a bit more about the broader picture of non commercial radio.

 

[johnbasalla]

I appreciate what Mr. James said about rural stations, but it does bother me that I've heard the big shots in DC want to take away some of those station's freedom to serve their communities by not allowing certain types of programming, such as Sunday morning religious services which may be of real value to a community.

 

[Silkie]

I appreciate what Mr. James said about rural stations, but it does bother me that I've heard the big shots in DC want to take away some of those station's freedom to serve their communities by not allowing certain types of programming, such as Sunday morning religious services which may be of real value to a community.

Under the guise of separation of church and state, which is a red herring.

 

[DonTheTrucker]

Defund CPB and let rural public stations that got licensed in the 07 window lose potential construction funding during a recession?

How about those stations get the money NPR gets now? I wouldn't have any problem with that.

 

[JimmyJames]

My concern (as someone who has worked in public radio) is they won't stop with NPR.

The next thing they will go after is PTFP. They've already tried to zero it out multiple times.

PTFP is a strictly facility based program that handles new constructions and upgrades (for example, translators, HDTV equipment, etc.) for existing public radio and television stations.

Since there's very little funding going to NPR, the real target is PTFP and the CPB. Both of which do a lot of aiding of noncommercial radio completely unrelated to NPR.

 

[TheBigA]

If they go after PTFP, it's another situation of the government working against itself. The Congress is looking to expand LPFM, and the only way to do that is to help with funding. The money has to come from somewhere.

 

[JimmyJames]

However, they keep putting a hold on the LPFM bill despite bi-partisan support. Currently the hold rests with Wyoming's John Barasso.

Depending on what happens November 2nd, there could be more waiting ahead for LPFM.

 

[Talk_Dude]

If they go after PTFP, it's another situation of the government working against itself. The Congress is looking to expand LPFM, and the only way to do that is to help with funding. The money has to come from somewhere.

So by all means, let the Robin Hoods in Washington DC rob from whoever has it to give it to whoever needs it! Redistribute the wealth to achieve Utopia!

If a local community needs an LPFM radio, then the "somewhere" that the money should come from is the local community.

 

[TheBigA]

If a local community needs an LPFM radio, then the "somewhere" that the money should come from is the local community.

First of all, it's a drop in the bucket. Second of all, LPFM is a federal law, not a local one. It's being debated in Congress, not locally, and will be regulated federally.