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Who should pay for public radio?
How do you think public media should be funded? Commentator Tucker Carlson says cut federal funding and let the listeners pitch in.
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One of the on-again off-again debates in Washington is who ought to pay for public broadcasting: The government, which helps support hundreds of public radio stations across the country, or us, listeners, who give millions of dollars every year that help shows like this one get on the air.
Commentator Tucker Carlson says listeners could -- and should -- pay more.
Tucker Carlson: I love public radio. I listen to it every day. But sometimes, as I drive to my white-collar job in my expensive foreign car, surrounded by fellow public radio listeners driving to their white-collar jobs in their expensive foreign cars, I feel a little guilty. All of us are pretty affluent, I think to myself. Do we really need a federal subsidy?
I live in Washington, D.C., but the scene would be familiar to anyone who lives in Winnetka, Ill., the North Shore of Boston or the westside of L.A.: In general, the richer the zip code, the more people tune into public radio. Public radio listeners tend to have a household income more than $30,000 above the national average. They're also whiter, better educated and more than twice as likely as ordinary Americans to work in top management. Not the profile of your average welfare recipient.
Yet that's in effect what we are. Public radio receives more than $100 million a year in tax dollars. Teenaged shift workers at McDonald's, every harried single moms emptying wastebaskets at a law firm, lettuce pickers in California are laboring so that you and I -- you in your Prius, me in my Saab -- can listen to a certain sort of educated news and opinion as we cruise in air conditioned comfort to the office each day. Has there ever been a more unfair tax?
Every few years somebody in Congress tries to kill it. Public radio executives never quite defend their subsidy -- that would be impossible to do with a straight face -- but instead they respond by pointing out that lots of people really, really like public radio. That's true. Of course you could say the same thing about the Rush Limbaugh Show. And that's the point: When people like something, they'll pay for it. Public radio listeners could certainly pay the whole tab for public radio. They just don't want to. Maybe, just to be decent, we should start.
Tucker Carlson is the editor-in-chief of The Daily Caller and a member of Maine Public Broadcasting.
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Mr. Carlson's opinions left me so irate, I felt compelled to sign in and leave my very first comment. Imagine my relief when I found so many of my intelligent fellow NPR listeners had already responded with the same disgust that I felt. Thank you! Marketplace, you would have done better to interview any one of these commenters.
Tucker Carlson forgot those of us who drive in Honda Civics. Public radio listeners include a more diverse audience than Mr. Carlson alludes to. We are students, teachers, social workers, writers, actors, and countless others who don't fit into the category that he depicts, with a sprinkle of white guilt and a handful of arrogance. We do our part by buying membership when we can.
I am proud to live in a country where our government can afford a bit of their budget to support the arts and education. I would be even prouder if it did yet more.
Mr. Carlson might like to know that not all "white collar" jobs are 6 figure ones, and not all foreign cars are high end. If my taxes (and I'm fine with paying taxes, ) go to programs, projects, and subsidies that I neither receive benefit from nor always approve of, it's nice to know that some of them go to things I do consider necessary and important, like NPR.
If we can subsidize big oil, corn for ethanol, auto makers, the financial systems and Wall Street. It's nice to have NPR and Marketplace around to help us understand where else our money is going.
But by all means, Mr. Carlson, let me encourage you to donate to NPR *more*.
This is my first comment I have ever made. But wow, after driving home from my job as a first grade public school teacher in my 1999 camry, I just couldn't resist. I agree with all of those above who have pointed out how Tucker is completely missing the point. My advice to him would be to get out of his air conditioned Saab and try working in the public sector for a day. Yes, we should pay more. And by we, I mean the real people, as public radio should be of the people, by the people and for the people. If you don't understand that Tucker, I would rather you not contribute. What is civilized is not owning a Saab and driving to your office every day in A.C., but rather offering everything in your power to create a society more civilized for everyone, including single women and cabbage pickers, and not out of pity, but knowing that not every body had their hair combed and a red bow tie put on by their CEO daddy as a child.
I enjoy public radio and I am a long time member. Not every listener can be a member but certainly, if the percentages of members to listeners that are given out during Houston pledge drives are accurate, a lot more should be. If there were no public financing, congressmen who try to withhold financing everytime they hear something they don't like would be out of luck. It is a shame that more people won't help pay for shows they enjoy and quote. I am surprised that the commentaries here are so one sided against the idea. There is no shortage of activities for the government to support. Listeners should help public radio stand on its own.
"Teenage shift workers, harried single moms and lettuce pickers" do not pay taxes, you nincompoop. They pay social security, and little more. If my tax dollars (and I pay lots), go to subsidize a national resource that I listen to, and that surveys say the non-tax-paying public does not listen to in appreciable numbers, well who cares? Why not close down the national parks as well? Teenage shift workers, harried single moms and lettuce pickers don't visit Yellowstone either. I think the well-to-do should pay more taxes, and when we do, we should get better programming from public radio!
What is the intention of the commentary? Perhaps it's to remind those of us who have struggled to put two dimes together our entire lives that the air up there is so rarified we can't aspire to breath it. Once the subsidies are gone, the rich folks (Tucker and his friends) will gladly pay so that we peasants can eat a few crumbs that fall from the table.
Please remember that there are interested listeners that fall below the average income level. Those who may not be able to make charitable contributions should still have an outlet to become informed on the world's happenings. NPR is a beacon that should remain a publicly supported platform for rational discussion and news regardless of the car you drive... or in my proud case, a bicycle.
Tucker Carlson, please! Why does anyone pay him anything for the shark chum he doles out? It's as if he thinks he and his cute little bow tie actually have some experience of real life. Tucker, there is a whole world of working class people out there in the world between the Saab-driving trust funders who marry trust funders that inhabit your world and the people who actually work for a living inhabit mine. My household income is less than $100k per year, both my husband and I have masters degrees and ride the bus or bike to work. We listen to NPR every day. We contribute when we can. So does my retired schoolteacher father and my mother who doesn't have a college education. The government supports lots of things that are good for everyone but are much more often used by the educated, and thus more highly paid members of our society--libraries, universities, museums, national parks, etc. If the more affluent should pay for what they use, let them start by paying their taxes and give me a break.
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