Everyone Loves NPR

Not everyone's listening to Rush these days: NPR is having a banner year, offering some hope to a media industry in shambles. At least 20.9 million listeners tuned in to NPR every week this year, a 9 percent increase over the previous year. Its ratings have risen since Sept. 11, 2001, and—this is slightly shocking (and reassuring)—the audience for Morning Edition is 60 percent larger than the one tuning in for Good Morning America and one-third larger than devotees of The Today Show. Boffo ratings may be small consolation for the 7 percent of staff fired in December due to budget constraints, but the whispery news juggernaut still operates with an $8 million deficit.