Comment by abtinf
21 hours ago
Whenever the question of federal funding for public broadcasting has come up in the past, a small army of commenters would always claim that less then 1% of the funding for public media comes from the government.
Turns out that was perhaps an incomplete argument.
For NPR 1-2% of their budget came directly from the federal government mostly through the CPB. That's where the 1% number some quote comes from.
However, NPR also receives funding from member station fees, and those member stations typically get about 13% of their budgets from the federal government.
Putting it all together about 10% of NPR's budget comes from the federal government.
For PBS about 15% of their budget comes from the federal government. Some local PBS affiliates, especially in rural areas, get up to 60% of their budgets from the federal government.
Certainly an incomplete picture. NPR its self may only get a small percentage of its total pie from CPB, but member stations (that license NPR content and what not) that exist all over the country use various amounts. The result will likely be that many small, local, already underfunded local stations will cease to function in their current capacity.
It's 15% for PBS, and CPB != PBS and CPB != NPR.