The reason for this is not the money NPR receives from the government but the colophon of authority that federal subsidy confers.

FORBES: Unparalleled authority.

This comprised one city each on the islands of Chios and Samos and ten on the mainland of Asia Minor opposite, namely, Phocaea, Clazomenae, Erythrae, Teos, Lebedus, Colophon, Ephesus, Priene, Myus, and Miletus.

WSJ: 'Aladdin's Lamp'