I disagree with Hightower.

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Thursday, March 10, 2011

NPR again

.
I contribute annually to NPR.

NPR, NEH etc should really be supported by endowments so they can be independent. As long as they are supported by the government they are going to have a bias.

If NPR would drop the 10% of its budget that comes from the government and move more toward the center, then I would increase my contribution by $100 per year.

Some of you think I should state what I think are centrist positions. This is one.
Posted by Unknown at 9:32 AM
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2 comments:

  1. KWMarch 15, 2011 at 10:37 AM

    Wayne, I am not sure what you mean by the sentence: "As long as they are supported by the government, they are going to have a bias." There are things that are supported by the government that do not seem to have a bias [most programs of the Dept. of Agriculture, for example]and there are things that are not supported by the government that have a very strong bias [Rush Limbaugh, Rachel Maddow]. Can you 'splain?

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  2. UnknownMarch 15, 2011 at 9:46 PM

    Well to take the second part first. To say that “government supported things have a bias” does not in any way imply the inverse - that nongovernment things do not have a bias. In fact it says nothing at all about nongovernmental things.

    I think that the Agriculture Dept does have a bias. Its bias is (theoretically) in support of the “family farm,” but I think that most of the money goes to large agribusiness enterprises. I do not believe that it is being spent for the well being of the larger American community.

    As to the question of what did I mean by: "As long as they are supported by the government, they are going to have a bias." The short answer can be expressed by a proverb: He who pays the piper calls the tune.

    More specifically in this case the “they” referred to a broadcasting company. So in particular, suppose there is a large broadcasting company receiving substantial support from the government and there are two political parties: one supports this public expenditure and the other party wants to cease providing public funds for that organization. I do not believe that it would be reasonable to expect that organization to treat those parties equally.

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