NPR has received two of the largest gifts in the public media network’s existence, totaling $113 million.
They will go toward fueling innovation in NPR’s use of digital technology, increasing its connection with audiences, and ensuring the viability of public radio stations after Congress eliminated all federal funding for public media.
NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher said the gifts would help to set up the network and its stations for the next 50 years, beyond the radio network infrastructure that sprang up in 1970 from a coalition of community and university-owned public radio stations across the country.
One good thing came out of all this—these stations/museums/whatever are now free to say what they want, without fear of losing government funding.