National Public Radio

When I was in middle school my dad used to drive the kids and me to school every morning. I remember I was always so bored when he turned the music off to listen to his news radio station. “This is NOT cool,” I would think to myself. I remember that I was so embarrassed about listening to this station that every time we got to school I would lower the volume or open and close the car doors super quickly so my friends wouldn’t hear. Around the sixth or seventh grade I picked up that what my dad was listening to was NPR (National Public Radio) News. Still, this station was not cool and I could barely stand to listen to these dreary voices.

When I entered into high school and became more susceptible to current events, I was able to understand that my father was listening to an independent public radio station with reliable sources and trusted content. Today, I use NPR, just like my father, because I believe that I am receiving truthful information and hear news from the real “public.”

NPR is a highly recognized multimedia news organization and radio program producer. There are 17 domestic bureaus and 17 foreign bureaus in areas such as Kabul, Beijing, New York, and California. With 26.4 million viewers per week, NPR is the number one provider of public radio content and programming (npr.org).

Generally, NPR supplies in depth, quality news. They show no advertisements, only credits going out to organizations that fund them. Their main goal is public service. I believe this is very important because the public feel a sense of security that they are not being forced or encouraged to say or speak a certain way. 

NPR allows a sense of credibility because it is a source that the people can feel they are being heard. NPR’s Jeffrey A. Dvorkin writes, “With the word "public" right there in the name, listeners feels they are entitled to hear their point of view on the radio,” (Dvorkin, npr.org).

NPR’s success has shown that it is a trusted news source.  NPR has won hundreds of awards. To name a few, awards from: the White House News Photographers Association, Overseas Press Club of America, DuPont- Columbia University, Webby, Alfred I, and George Foster Peabody (npr.org).

NPR is legally, a privately funded, non-profit organization that receives the majority of their money from their stations and their listeners. But they admit that they are not a government broadcaster and, “just because you feel you pay for NPR, doesn't mean it will, or should, reinforce your ideas at all times,” (Dvorkin, npr.org).

I believe NPR is a more reliable news source than other mainstream sources because it does not have the pressures of government funding or conglomerate ownerships.. they don’t have to cater to anybody and I like that I can sense an attempt to keep their news balanced for the people. 

I am now appreciative of my father's refusal to change the radio station to a more appealing tune because then I wouldn't know NPR the way I do now.