Is NPR a reliable news source?

[hunter]

33. I don't listen to my local public radio station for political news or opinion.

Their coverage of the economy is entirely corporate. They are never going to bite the hands that feed them.

I do support my local public radio station, but sometimes I feel like I'm doing it just to keep the channel clear of non-profit crap I find especially offensive, things like "Christian" radio. (Prosperity gospel Christians are riding a rocket sled to hell. It says so in the Bible.)

Our public radio station has local news done on a very tight budget, but that it exists at all is reason enough to support them. Back in the stone age I remember many local radio stations had their own news people. That was better than silence, even if it was WKRP's Les Nessman.

The larger problem is that broadcast television and radio are obsolete. Radio and television channels have become artificial monopolies. They used to be natural monopolies owing to the limitations of twentieth century technology, but that's no longer the case.

All wide area syndicated content, from NPR to Rush Limbaugh, should be broadcast from space, and all terrestrial radio and television stations should be locally owned and operated, one owner, one station, no more, no less; a single owner responsible for all content broadcast on their single radio or television outlet.

With modern digital broadcasting technology, especially in radio, it ought to be possible for nearly anyone to open a radio station to the extent they are willing to pay for electricity and meet minimal licensing requirements. "Smart" broadcasting equipment and receivers would handle all the other details, from channel settings to power outputs.

We also ought to be striving for universal internet coverage in the same manner we did with rural electrification and telephone service.

In some ways that too would make traditional radio and television broadcasting obsolete. I've noticed my own children are indifferent to radio and traditional television. They listen to their favorite podcasts and music via the internet, and the television they watch is on-demand and streamed over the internet.