Mischief’s Genius Ads for NPR Provoke Urgent Questions About the Right to Information

In mid-2025, the Trump administration rescinded $9 billion in public media funding and foreign aid, including $1.1 billion slated for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CBP). CBP, in turn, was responsible for distributing funding to organizations like National Public Radio (NPR), Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), and their member stations across the nation. The corporation was established following a 1967 law called the Public Broadcasting Act, but just like that, when the funds were no longer there, CBP voted to dissolve. What did NPR have to say about that? Its “mission will continue, unchanged.”

NPR aims “to create a more informed public—one challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of events, ideas, and cultures.” While CBP-allocated funding amounted to only about one percent of the broadcaster’s annual funding, there’s a bit of a trickle-down effect. NPR relies heavily on fees from its member stations, plus endowments, cash contributions, and other revenues. And while one percent doesn’t seem like a lot, member stations—many of which are in rural areas—often depended on about 13 percent of their revenue from CBP, making them much more vulnerable to the cuts.

Reporting continues with vigor at NPR, despite some inevitable challenges, and the organization has doubled down on its mission to approach stories and news through the lens of curiosity and understanding. In collaboration with New York-based ad agency Mischief, a new campaign reimagines NPR’s logo into prompts aiming to ignite inquiry and investigation.

Mischief “creates work that makes a stir, because the riskiest thing a brand can do is be ignorable.” The campaign, titled For your right to be curious, is conceived as a way for NPR to “stand up for the public’s right to ask hard questions,” the agency says in a statement. Across a range of formats, from merchandise and the sign on NPR’s headquarters to billboards and ad screens on the New York City subway, the recognizable block letters transform into urgent and timely questions—many that listeners around the country are asking. “How does AI affect my electric bill?” “Why are groceries still so expensive?” “How is my farm going to survive?”

“Curiosity is the fuel of a functioning democracy,” says Mishka Pitter-Armand, NPR’s chief marketing officer. “NPR is essential civic infrastructure built to protect the right to inquiry. As a cornerstone of American life for over 50 years, this work is our pledge to the public: we will continue to provide the trusted context you need to explore the world, encouraging every American to keep listening and asking the hard questions.”

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