NPR consistently plays the middle ground. They're threading a needle. Their audience is largely left-of-center college-educated middle class & upper middle. The

NPR consistently plays the middle ground. They're threading a needle. Their audience is largely left-of-center college-educated middle class & upper middle. Their public funding is at the mercy of Republicans. As a result, they're very centrist and will frequently pull their punches in controversial situations. Despite NPR's reputation, many on the left are increasingly distrustful and critical of them, while many listeners on the right seem to prefer their talk shows to be full of yelling. I'm not sure the relentlessly centrist strategy is working for them. And in some ways, it's unnecessary. Thanks to endowments and listener contributions, NPR could drop government money without major impact. Public funding is a small part of their budget.