"Yesterday's House vote to defund NPR wasn't remarkable for the fact that it passed—highly embarrassing videotapes of NPR's top fundraiser saying the network would be better off in the long run without federal funding were only released last week. What was remarkable was the closeness of the vote—228 to 192.
At a time of trillion dollar deficits, every Democrat voted to continue funding the network even though the sum total of public radio's budget that comes from government sources amounts to only 10%. Interestingly, seven Republicans voted to support NPR, most of them from tony suburbs of Seattle, Atlanta and New York City where NPR is popular with chablis-and-brie listeners of all parties.
The NPR vote came just hours after the Daily Caller revealed how much NPR gets from key liberal donors, and how much it strives to make sure that isn't well known. In the third tape that video provocateur James O'Keefe made of conversations with top NPR executives, its director of institutional giving revealed that left-wing
- billionaire George Soros had made
significant donations to the organization before his controversial $1.8 million gift last year, which went to support NPR reporting in state capitals.
Ms. Lilley explained to an associate of Mr. O'Keefe's, who was masquerading as a potential donor from a Muslim group, that Mr. Soros had decided he didn't want on-air publicity about his grant. "George Soros and the Open Society Institute gave us $1.8 million, and they have decided not to use on-air credits because of what's happening in Congress (with attacks on NPR)," Ms. Lilley said.
She also noted that Mr. Soros's foundation first contributed to NPR in 2000 and that some of the money went to fund a documentary critical of the death penalty as it's employed in Texas. It aired on October 12, 2000, a day after then-Texas Governor George W. Bush was questioned about the death penalty
- in a debate with Democratic candidate Al Gore.
Two things are abundantly clear from the NPR tapes and the recent scrutiny the network has come under. Its agenda and choice of stories is thoroughly politicized, and there is abundant evidence
- there are more than enough wealthy liberal donors and foundations to keep that agenda intact
without compelling taxpayers to fund views many of them disagree with."
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Reference: 3/17/11, "New O'Keefe audio shows George Soros donated more to NPR than previously known," Daily Caller, Matthew Boyle
via Big Journalism
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