Wasn’t National Public Radio always NPR?

The Washington Post reports that National Public Radio is changing its name to NPR. John Miller snarks:

Kentucky Fried Chicken changed its name to KFC and now National Public Radio is changing its name to NPR. I just wish the hosts and correspondents would refer to it "taxpayer-funded NPR."

I completely understand the argument against using tax dollars to fund news media. There is a very good, very sensible case against mixing the state and the free press. I also understand that there is a certain expected bias when the government is funding a media organization. The party against that sort of thing is likely to be viewed a little less favorably by the employees who work there. That bias is likely to translate into a certain amount of slant in the day-to-day reporting.

But – and here’s the catch for me at least – I also think that NPR does a pretty damn fine job at producing the news. Maybe that’s just a taste thing. But I enjoy having a radio station that isn’t devoted to shouting matches or extremely partisan and that isn’t littered with obnoxious commercials. I enjoy the level, sober reporting and analysis you get at NPR. I realize all of this is made possible by tax dollars, but a big part of me doesn’t care.

The arguments against state-run media are good ones, but I worry that we’d lose a very good source of news if we got rid of NPR. That would be a shame no matter how you spin it.

[update]

Nob Akitimo and James Joyner both point out that most of NPR’s funding does not come from taxes but from corporate underwriting and donations. Here’s the revenue breakdown according to NPR:

On average, public radio stations (including NPR Member stations) receive the largest percentage of their annual operating revenue (32.1%) from listener support. For FY08, the most recent data available, the average station’s revenues came from the following sources:

• 32.1% from listeners in the form of pledges, memberships, and other donations
• 21.1% from businesses via corporate underwriting
• 10.1% from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which is federally funded*
• 13.6% from licensee support (including colleges and universities)
• 9.6% from foundations and major gifts
• 5.8% from federal, state, and local governments
• 7.6% from all other sources.

*A note on CPB funding: There are 434 stations in 47 states and territories (including Guam and Puerto Rico) that specifically serve rural and minority communities; the latter includes numerous African-American, Native American, Latino, and multicultural licensees. In many cases, they are the sole local broadcasting service available. These stations receive significantly higher funding from CPB – in some cases, as much as two-thirds of their budgets – since many of their listeners simply don’t have the financial resources to provide support.