Billionaire Connie Ballmer just donated $80 million to support NPR after Trump cut $1.1 billion from public broadcasting

After an exceptionally tough year for public media, Connie Ballmer, billionaire philanthropist and wife of former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, donated $80 million to support NPR’s future. 

“We need fact-based journalism, and we need local journalism,” Ballmer told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published Saturday. Ballmer is an avid NPR listener and said she listens to shows such as Morning Edition and All Things Considered while she walks, drives, and works. 

The donation comes at a critical moment for public broadcasting after the Trump administration pressured Congress to slash about $1.1 billion in already approved funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes funding for public radio and television. 

The gift makes Ballmer the largest living donor ever to NPR. An anonymous donor also gifted the organization $33 million to strengthen NPR’s network of more than 240 local member stations, many of whom were affected by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. NPR president and CEO Katherine Maher said that together the gifts “provide catalytic support” to the network and its stations and set them up for the...