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Outlet profile

MPR News

U.S. center-left (mainstream public media)

Owned byOwned by Minnesota Public Radio, a nonprofit. Minnesota Public Radio is part of American Public Media Group (APMG), a nonprofit that also runs national programming such as Marketplace and Classical MPR. It has no shareholders or billionaire owner.
FundingMostly listener and member donations, along with corporate underwriting, major gifts and foundation grants. It also receives smaller amounts from state grants such as Minnesota Legacy funds. It used to receive federal money through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), roughly $5 million a year. Congress cut that funding in 2025 and CPB wound down. MPR and APMG have since cut staff to close a budget gap of about $6 million.
On the administrationmostly neutral

Background

Minnesota Public Radio began on January 22, 1967, when station KSJR went on the air from Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota. Bill Kling, then a student and later the organization's leader, helped found it. MPR was a charter member of National Public Radio in 1971 and had helped lay the groundwork for NPR in 1969 and 1970. Kling led MPR for 44 years and retired in 2011. Under him it grew into a large regional network of stations covering news and classical music. In 2004 it created American Public Media as its national production and distribution arm, and the parent group is now called American Public Media Group. MPR News is known for statewide and regional reporting, talk programs and its Minnesota coverage. Like most public media outlets, it is generally seen as leaning center-left, and its editorial standards stress sourcing and balance. In 2025, Congress rescinded about $1.1 billion in funding for CPB, ending annual federal support for public media. In response, MPR lost about $5 million a year, and its parent company announced layoffs of roughly 5% to 8% of staff. MPR publicly campaigned against the cuts, so on that one issue it is a party to the debate as well as a reporter on it.

Sources

  1. About MPR
  2. Minnesota Public Radio (Wikipedia)
  3. MPR's parent company announces layoffs after Congress cuts public media funding (Star Tribune)
  4. MPR rises to the challenge of $6M cut in state and federal funding (Villager)
  5. #ProtectMyPublicMedia (MPR)
  6. Bill Kling (Pavek Museum)

Profile compiled 2026-10-15; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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