NPR, PBS, and others need the support of everyone now more than ever.
While the OMNIBUS funding bill the President, and Congress just passed does include funding for the Corporation of public broadcasting, Public Radio, and Television stations across the nation still need every hand in the fight they can get, and here's why.
As reported by Variety "The spending bill also retains the $445 million in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps fund public TV and radio stations."
However, for Public Radio, and Television stations in areas like Fayetteville, or cities with a substantial listening population, the majority of the funding comes directly from listener's support.
As a whole NPR reports public radio stations only receive about 9% of their funding from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting.https://www.npr.org/about-npr/178660742/public-radio-finances
They (NPR) also report that the majority of funding for Public Radio Stations comes from listener support. About 37% of funding.
Since the new tax bill was passed, the standard deduction was reduced. As reported by Forbes, there are four critical issues that are facing Public Broadcasting stations now due to the new Tax bill that has passed. "It lowers individual income tax rates, thus reducing the value of all tax deductions." This means that people will be less incentivized to give if they receive less from donating their gift. "It also caps the state and local tax deduction at $10,000 and increases the standard deduction to $12,000 for singles and $24,000 for couples—two steps that will significantly reduce the number of itemizers."
This issue exacerbates the last one, as people will do their best to maximize their deductions through state and local deductions in other means that maximize the amount of money they see back on their taxes. The individual marginal income tax for charitable deductions shrinks from 20.7 percent to 15.2 percent under the new tax code, which to reiterate my point, means people get less for their gifts. On top of this, the non-partisan think-tank, The Tax Policy Center reports that around 21 million people will stop giving, or itemize deductions for charitable giving. Here's their report.
All this talk about taxes, but why should we give back?
In short, the kind of journalism, and reporting that is necessary to maintain a fair, and non-biased environment of this news climate in the last safe havens of public broadcasting journalism. While that is the central driving force for the need for Public broadcasting to have help from listener support, there are a plethora of other reasons why we should give back.
We should all contribute because it's the local NPR station in your area that informs you of the local news around you in the most intimate manner. It's the local NPR station that will inform you of the local event your charities, and non-profits are hosting. Y
our local NPR station is where local bands, businesses, and people of interest go to be interviewed, provide a context of their mission, and give you direct access anywhere and any time of what's going on in your community. If this still isn't enough to convince you, let me offer this; give a listen to your local NPR station during the drive to work in the morning, or home at night. You can find out what station is closest to you here.
I hope that in doing so you can see why I advocate so strongly for everyone to contribute, whether that be in listening, volunteering, or making a gift. The focus of Public Broadcasting stations is to constantly improve the way journalists report the news, and to focus on providing the entire context of a story in the most objective manner as possible. Listener support not only makes this happen, but it also improves the overall quality of reporting too.
While I have hammered home on the News aspect of Public Broadcasting stations, specifically in National Public Radio stations, I can't stress the importance of the entirety of what Public Broadcasting provides in one thousand words or less. Listener support comes from everyone, including me, and you.
