Trump Wants to End Funding for NPR, but How Much Funding Does It Actually Receive?

For decades, National Public Radio, which is more commonly known as NPR, has been a source of information and news for people across the country. For just as long, it's been a buggaboo for conservatives who don't like the idea that NPR, which they see as left-leaning even though it works strenuously to avoid partisanship, receives money from the federal government.

Now, Donald Trump has signed an executive order (which probably isn't legal) revoking funding from both NPR and PBS. This led many to wonder how much money each of these news organizations actually gets from the federal government. Here's what we know.

NPR claims that it only receives about 1 percent of its federal funding directly from the federal government, although it might receive more indirectly. The radio organization also has member stations that receive between 8 and 10 percent of their funding from the federal government. That funding comes through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which is funded through an act of Congress and has a budget of $535 million.

In an interview with All Things Considered, NPR CEO Katherine Maher explained what the funding goes toward.

"It goes to support things like body armor for journalists covering conflict overseas, extra support for our presidential national elections, all the sorts of things that we want to invest in to ensure that we're able to report on issues that matter to the public," she said.

She also explained that most of the money required to run NPR comes from other sources.

"But generally speaking, most of our operating budget comes from our membership fees, and that's what allows our members to be able to receive programming. It comes from underwriting support. It comes from private donations, individual audience member donations. And that same thing is true for member stations, except federal funding makes a much bigger percentage of their total budget," she explained.

Because radio is cheaper to produce than TV (you don't need cameras, among other things), PBS draws a bigger percentage of its budget from the federal government. NPR has reported that about 15 percent of PBS's budget comes from federal funding, with the rest coming through similar sources as NPR, like grants and member donations.

In spite of Trump's claims that he will withhold federal funding for these organizations, he does not have the legal authority to do so.

"CPB is not a federal executive agency subject to the President's authority," the corporation wrote in a statement issued Friday morning. "Congress directly authorized and funded CPB to be a private nonprofit corporation wholly independent of the federal government."

This battle is likely to be long and protracted, but it's important to remember that just because Trump signed an executive order does not mean that anything necessarily changes. NPR might be able to survive with federal funding, but the bigger question is whether it will have to.