I'm not sure how you get an insult out of this. The concept that NPR still relies upon the majority of their funding from the government is crapola and some idiot's talking points. The same idiots who claim NPR is a "liberal" network. Do you actually ever listen to NPR to get an opinion about this? What NPR program have you ever listened to? How have you formed your opinion on NPR's current programming? I am more than happy to debunk these myths because I hate to see you or anyone else be uninformed about Public Radio and I hope you go back to the source of your opinions and ask for some real facts. Even better, check out your own local public station. Since they are nonprofits, their income statements should be public record.
You've got a bit of a dilemma. If you think NPR is liberal, how do you know? Do you listen? Why do you listen? If you don't listen, where is your opinion on this topic coming from?
This is last year's NPR financial statement and you're going to see the same thing I am seeing. You are going to see that their largest source of income is from member stations. Their second is grants, contributions and scholarships.
http://www.npr.org/about/statements/fy2008/fy08consolidatedreport.pdf
NPR was totally funded from government as a startup. That was decades ago. What you are ignoring is that NPR basically changed to find other ways of funding to become more (and the key is "more") self sustaining. It is a demonstration of what Waxman is talking about. NPR still gets some tax money. Lots of people get tax money. But what NPR has done is change the way they get most of their funding. This represents a model for how a media outlet can exist and have high quality programming. A democracy benefits when it is better educated and has a quality source of news.
Not everything is better when it is market driven. If you considered "market driven" news, think of 24 hour coverage of Michael Jackson that went on and on. The "majority" wanted to hear about Jackson (for better or worse) so all other news wasn't covered. Tabloid journalism does well in the market, but it doesn't lead to a more educated electorate.
Here is NPR's comment about funding by its member stations. (note: these stations are not "owned" by NPR, they are independent)