NPR receives a small percentage of its funding directly from the federal government. But there are many back doors. A good portion of NPR funding comes ultimately from the federal government. For instance, a station may be given a grant to carry public-interest programming. NPR content qualifies. Check.

NPR content is generally high quality, but it does tend to the left in its outlook, and if the federal government didn’t have many spigots flowing into many pots of money that then can spill into NPR’s coffers, NPR would have a lot less to spend.

That 2 percent figure is true but only technically. NPR does get substantial support from contributions from its viewers, but not the other 98%.