Responsive structure: design principles and applications

National Public Radio is the noncommercial news, talk, and entertainment programming producer known both nationally and internationally for its strength and profusion. It is a not-for-profit, membership organization that operates on massive private support, local fund drives, and federal assistance. It supports an audience of over 26 contributing Americans, though it estimates that not even half of its listeners are either able to or do financially assist the organization. A national organization, it is structured like an umbrella, with over 280 independently operated public radio stations as well as a producing headquarters in D.C. It also maintains an operable affiliation with other public broadcasting associations, like the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, American Public Media, The BBC, and Public Radio International. Every member station delivers to its local base a collection of national and local programming, weekly hourly newscasts, and a verity of unique shows, from the popular social-farce and upcoming movie Prairie Home Companion to the much acclaimed All Things Considered news show.

According to NPR, its organization's mission statement is to "work in partnership with member stations to create a more informed public - one challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of events, ideas, and cultures." Its organization is specifically designed to serve that purpose; because each demographic brings a new set of interests to the table, all of which, for the purpose of maintaining a well-served public, need to be sufficiently individually addressed, the national headquarters maintains a balanced relationship with its local offices. Like other major non-cable news sources, it reaches its audience through both national shows, with All Things Considered parallel to CBS's World News Tonight, and local news supporting, but instead of segmenting the two world into separate time frames, NPR operates on a more inclusive clock that, in the thirty-minute drive home from work or while doing the dishes, can provide its listener with a two-hour news clock that incorporates both local, national, international, business, and entertainment news sewn together with new music, book readings, and philosophical debate. Its unique organization propels its listeners to maintain faithful support despite the rise of the major cable news networks, relying not on action shots and expressive pictures, but instead thick stories rich with important news that spurs thought and keeps the listener returning.

Despite its dedication to producing and acquiring journalism and creative expression of the highest standards, National Public Radio is an organization at risk. It is renown for its excellent production and coverage, yet its financial set up is not nearly as well-coordinated and powerful in the face of competition as its journalistic design. While the umbrella organization provides good press coverage, it does not provide financial security. Because it has no commercial base, it is easy to maintain its journalistic integrity in reporting, never avoiding certain topics out of respect or necessity; to the contrary, it is forced to rely on the generosity and the government for its funding. Listener support is valued at 34% of its total operating budget, but 6% of its funding comes from local and state funding, as well as 13% from Corporation for Public Broadcasting allocations.

Never has this organizational pique been more at risk than it was this summer, when at the President's urging, a House subcommittee voted to sharply reduce the government's support for CPB and NPR, reducing the organization's operating budget from $400 million to $300 million. Such drastic measures put the whole NPR scheme at risk; should the Congress not have rallied last minute at the fervent cries of its constituents, many public radio supporters would have lost their home stations to the rising prices in operating budgets. Such support from the government is put further more at risk in changing political times, when the noteworthy competition might be more sympathetic to the government like Fox News. "Expressing alarm, public broadcasters and their supports in Congress interpreted the move as an escalation of a Republican-led campaign against the perceived liberal bias in their programming," wrote one Washington Post reporter.