NPR given record donation ($200 million)

[Newsjock]

Edits to add link, change title to conform
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6973-2003Nov6.html

By Paul Farhi and Reilly Capps
(c) 2003, The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — National Public Radio will announce Thursday the largest donation in its history, a cash bequest from the will of the late philanthropist Joan Kroc of about $200 million.

The bequest from the wife of the founder of the McDonald's fast-food chain both shocked and delighted people at NPR's headquarters in Washington Wednesday. It amounts to almost twice NPR's annual operating budget. ``No one saw this coming,'' said one person.

The nonprofit organization, which will disclose details of the bequest at a news conference Thursday afternoon, called the donation the ``largest monetary gift ever received by an American cultural institution'' in a brief announcement to its staff Wednesday.

The gift was such a surprise to NPR officials that they were uncertain what the money would be used for. The organization's board is expected to meet in the next few weeks to decide what to do with the windfall. An NPR spokesperson declined to comment Wednesday.

more

[La_Serpiente]

1. YEAHHHHHH

Screw you Bill O'Reilly.

If I was rich, I would give a lot of my money to NPR.

[Barad Simith]

9. yup

you just know this is giving him heartburn

[Cat Atomic]

Wow- very cool.

:)

[WillyBrandt]

2. Huzzah!

NPR is not perfect, but it's often very good. For all the right-wingery that sometimes creeps into it, there's a good reason why the Right hates NPR.

Because NPR is good.

[Atman]

3. No idea what to do with $$? How about...

...regaining an independant voice! At least for two years...that would be long enough to give the pendulum a nice, healthy shove back in the correct direction.

[david_vincent]

4. Makes me wanna actually eat a crapburger!

[g_philli]

7. Please don't

I'm sure Joan Kroc hadn't in years.

[trogdor]

11. Hell, I might.

As long as I get to tell the management how much I appreciate Joan Kroc's philanthropy.

Quarter Pounder with Cheese, here I come!

[fishnfla]

5. WOW!! for real?

Joan Kroc? This aint a hoax is it?

[MidwestTransplant]

10. Ha Ha I get it!

[janx]

6. Thank God!

!

[RandomKoolzip]

8. Right fuckin' on! Now maybe they'll cut out pandering to the right

and get back to being sane. THey won't have the excuse that they get too much money from conservative groups when they shill for the right anymore. Please oh please, NPR, be our voice of sanity again!

[kath]

13. I dunno,

i worry that NPR is already too far gone. (i wish I could be more optimistic)

BTW-- were the Krocs Dems or rePugs?

[Atlant]

30. Old man Ray was a hard-right character. She wasn't. (NT)

[jayfish]

16. My Thoughts Exactly. -NT-

Jay

[burrowowl]

12. Will

Ronald Mc become the main advertiser instead of AMD? Will Genenetically Modified MACs be promoted?
Are there strings attached, like the omnibusman telling Fresh Air's Terri to apologize to O'Lielly?
I hope not.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. Joan Kroc was a staunch Democrat

Her bequest to NPR may have been designed precisely to give them some editorial independence.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

15. She was!!!! Her husband was a big-time Nixon fan!

Suprised to hear this!

[BiggJawn]

28. "this segment underwitten by a grant from Joan Kroc..."

"who reminds you that you deserve a break today amd yeah, she's cool with that..."(or whatever that new "hip" slogan is)
Tag that on to a segment about how some guru someplace has ruled that Mickey-Dee's beef tallow-fried spuds are now cool for Hindus to eat...

[grannylib]

17. PBS deserves a break today....YAY for Mrs Kroc!

:toast:

[smallprint]

18. More independent? Yeah, right.

NPR's budget is paid for by a combination of big corporations (ADM for instance) and listener donations. Now, the listener donations are irrelevant. So NPR has even LESS responsibility to their listeners!

This is a power play... I'm not sure what the reason for it is, but you can bet it is part of a bigger plan...

National Petroleum Radio will now be renamed Big McNews...

[lostnfound]

19. Too bad it wasn't for Pacifica n/t

[Voltaire99]

23. Yep - NPR's doing just fine by pandering

The US public is hardly starved for the status quo commentary found on NPR. Giving the money to an alternative, progressive voice would have helped underwrite real diversity of opinion - the very thing missing from public discourse at a time when we are taking strides toward conformity and silence.

[LiberalTexan]

20. NPR

is the closest thing to progressive that we've got on the airwaves in North Texas....I'll take it!

[truthisfreedom]

21. incredible and wonderful, and a giant fist in the face of the rethugs.

they are going to HATE this... it's as much as bush*s war chest is expected to be.

woohoo for NPR! i love those guys! 8^)

[frank frankly]

22. Thanks, NPR, for being part of the resistance

Now step it up and fight better and harder.

It is make or break time for us mammals.

Big History Time, NPR. Now you've got the resources to expose some things. We need you to expose some things.

May I suggest 9/11?

[Voltaire99]

25. Conservatives sit on the CPB board...

making what you are asking for an impossibility.

NPR isn't a part of any resistance, except, of course, for its petty lobbying to prevent community radio stations from increasing their broadcasting range.

You're asking a corporatized, conservatively managed network to do aggressive journalism; good luck.

[SoCalDem]

26. Sad, but true

PBS is the same.. There was a time when you did not see "ads" on it, and now there they are.. They used to announce the "sponsorship" after the program, and now the have full scale ads.. If you write down the "foundations" and then google them, you will be amazed at the right wing influence..

It's time we all face facts..

The rightwiingers have "infiltrated" all of the venues that we once considered to be unbiased or even "ours".. They overwhelm every market with their filth and then buy their way into our bastions of sanity and bring the filth with them..

They are like a clogged grease trap, through which every piece of entertainment or information, must flow.. Lots of "good bits" get caught up in their sludge, and never make it to the public..

[ozone_man]

34. That's why I don't contribute to either NPR or PBS anymore.

They've been taken over by corporate control.

[SoCalDem]

24. Now... watch the congressional weasels use this as an excuse

to CUT their funding..... I can hear Ricky Santorum now.."They don't "neeeeeed" our money, they're RICH "... Blecccch

[AP]

27. This is the second HUGE donation NPR has received this year. The day...

...the first big donation was announced ($100 mil???) NPR actually turned into a decent non-whore media source for ONE DAY ONLY. It was like they were all saying, "look what might happen if he didn't need corporate money."

It didn't last very long, but it was like a shot accross the bow of their corproate interests. I don't know if it was like a "we're free" shot, or a "pony up" shot.

[susu369]

29. Guessing Ann Coulter

will not be goin' down for any more French fries....

[bif]

31. They should use it to start an endowment fund

n/t

[Democat]

32. Thank you Joan, wherever you are

Too bad there aren't more like her.

[0007]

33. Fantastic

One of the better radio programs. Not perfect, but I like 'em.

[xultar]

35. O'Lielly EAT 200million pounds of shit!

I'll start....:hurts:

[VolcanoJen]

36. Kick!!

:dem:

[Zhade]

37. I'm shocked -- SHOCKED -- that National Petroleum Radio is corrupt!

Shocked, rather, that anyone is surprised over this.

EDIT: I misread the article - I thought it was money from the CURRENT owners of McDonald's Corp. Oops! My bad. Still, NPR is NOT the angel many think it is.

[shirlden]

38. Heard this on car radio today.

I almost stopped at a McD for a burger. But decided I wasn't that happy over the announcement. I did take a personal vow not to disparage the slop they serve for a whole week..You know.....if you can't say something good......say nothing at all.

Thank you Mrs. Kroc
(Do you all suppose this might have been a little slap at her RW hubby?? Hmmmmmmmm???)

:kick: