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Comment by coliveira | Hacker News Reader

I 100% agree, but need to add that npr also has financial ties to very powerful oligarchs that need to be disclosed. For example, here is what I get when researching the largest donors to npr: "NPR's largest single donor was the estate of Joan B. Kroc, who left a bequest of over $200 million in 2003. Other major donors include foundations like the Rockefeller Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which have contributed millions to specific projects, as well as the Gates Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation"

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Donations from multiple foundations, most of which were created by people long dead, are hardly comparable to ownership by a wealthy, living business magnate.

While the original owners are dead, this doesn't mean the foundation can do whatever "good" you imagine. These foundations are vehicles to keep doing the political bidding of these families and they still operate according to the wishes of the original donors, which are all oriented towards major industries. Or do you really believe people give millions of dollars to whatever cause with zero strings attached?

Yes, they do. Billions per year across a wide variety of organizations.

You just don't understand how money works. Foundations are as political as any other organization in the capitalist world.

No. I think you don’t understand. I talking to my own first-hand experience. In my area of work I’ve met these foundations, organizations, and various NGOs. I’ve seen how grant programs etc. operate. There are outliers but in the whole it works.

Joan Kroc's donation had zero strings attached.

They do disclose them when they are relevant to a story. For example, https://www.npr.org/2025/10/08/nx-s1-5564684/macarthur-overd... and https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2025/04/15/nx-s1.... They also mention them very frequently on air, anybody who has listened to NPR for more than like ten minutes probably heard them mention the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

You can see a full list of donors in their latest annual report: https://media.npr.org/documents/about/annualreports/2024%20A...

I don't listen to NPR, but when I watch PBS Newshour they announce all their sponsors at the beginning of every program and mention the fact of their sponsorship again when there's any connection to an individual report. A recent example that springs to mind if the train derailment and subsequent pollution problems in East Palestine, Ohio; the rail firm BNSF sponsors the newshour but this didn't seem to have any impact on the volume or tone of coverage.

NPR does the same.

And they constantly mention those donors during their news programs!

The issue is that donors don't have a _controlling interest_ in the organization.

Having said that, I would expect NPR to disclose, if editorializing a piece on Ms Kroc, the donation that Ms Kroc made to NPR (and they likely do that already).

They don't have control, but these foundations certainly have influence. Similarly for major advertisers, which also have influence in what is aired since editors don't want to anything that will alienate major sources of funding.

Estate bequeathals and foundation grants are a far cry from direct ownership and editorial control by a single oligarch.

Far cry or not, they're also funded by oligarchs as well.

It sounds to me like they're funded by estates and foundations, not directly by oligarchs. (In fact, most of the names in your comment are long dead.) And in any case, there's no evidence that any of these organizations are reaching in and demanding direct control over NPR's editorial direction.

You are attempting to draw a parallel where there simply is none.

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