Michigan commentator says conservatives "should be asking for their place" in pubradio

Charles Brown is an attorney from Livonia, Mich., and a new commentator/blogger for Michigan Public Radio. He is also a self-professed "NPR conservative."

"Conservatives who criticize NPR," he writes in an opinion piece on the station's website, "often make the mistake of mixing up the different functions of NPR news production, the independent public radio producers, and the operations of their local public radio stations. Conservatives who make that mistake are as wrong as someone who mixes up the functions of the federal government and your neighborhood community association."

"Conservatives should not be talking about de-funding public radio," Brown writes. "Conservatives should be asking for their place within public radio. And local stations in particular, more closely aligned with their markets and listenership than 'NPR,' ought to be the first to be making that space."