How is an NPR executive like a Nazi?

By M.S.

ROGER AILES says of NPR executives:

They are, of course, Nazis. They have a kind of Nazi attitude. They are the left wing of Nazism.

This is a repulsive thing to say, but I actually have no idea what it's supposed to mean. Not a clue. What is clear is that it's part of an ongoing campaign by Fox News and various like-minded folks on the right to get the government to stop funding NPR. And I have to say, I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I love NPR. I think it should get all the money it can, from whatever sources available.

On the other hand, it seems to me that NPR is one of the few journalistic organisations in the world that actually has a sound revenue model at the moment, with or without government support. Because it has been operating in the free-media environment of non-profit radio for decades, NPR has mastered the skill of getting its listeners to send it money voluntarily. Now, in the internet age, almost every other journalistic outfit is playing catch-up, trying to figure out how to persuade their audience base to pay for essentially free stuff. Meanwhile, over the past decade, conservatives have launched explicit campaigns to exert political influence on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. George Bush appointedright-wing political allies to CPB's board, one of whom proceeded to launch a politically motivated investigation into Bill Moyers's programming and ensure the appointment of a former Republican National Committee co-chair as CEO. This all came to a head with the then-secretary of education, Margaret Spelling, personally intervening to scratch an episode of "Postcards from Buster" in which the friendly animated rabbit visited a Vermont maple-syrup farm that was run by a farming couple who happened to both be ladies. If the CPB is going to be vulnerable to this sort of nonsense, NPR may be better off without their money.

Anyway, the point is, almost none of NPR's budget comes directly from federal funding—perhaps 1%, according to NPR head Vivian Schiller. A significant chunk comes from membership fees paid by local public-radio stations, but they get on average 10% of their funding from CPB, so the percentage filtering through to NPR is still very low; and for CPB to fund such local stations and then dictate that they cannot subscribe to NPR would itself be an act of political censorship. It seems to me that decoupling NPR from government funding might have little budgetary effect, while removing potential political interference in its programming. It might not, however, make Roger Ailes happy. If the current version of NPR is capable of making steam shoot out of Mr Ailes's ears, I imagine the programming one might get from a financially healthy NPR that was free to cater more fully to the ideological inclinations of its listener base wouldn't calm him down any.