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Twitter CEO Elon Musk acknowledged a change in NPR’s standing on the social media platform he owns that now designates the information outlet as “state-affiliated media.”
Screenshot by NPR
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Screenshot by NPR
Twitter CEO Elon Musk acknowledged a change in NPR’s standing on the social media platform he owns that now designates the information outlet as “state-affiliated media.”
Screenshot by NPR
Twitter added a “state-affiliated media” tag to NPR’s important account on Tuesday, making use of the identical label to the nonprofit media firm that Twitter makes use of to designate official state mouthpieces and propaganda retailers in international locations corresponding to Russia and China.
NPR operates independently of the U.S. authorities. And whereas federal cash is essential to the general public media system, NPR will get lower than 1% of its annual finances, on common, from federal sources.
Noting the thousands and thousands of listeners who assist and rely on NPR for “unbiased, fact-based journalism,” NPR CEO John Lansing said, “NPR stands for freedom of speech and holding the highly effective accountable. It’s unacceptable for Twitter to label us this fashion. A vigorous, vibrant free press is crucial to the well being of our democracy.”
NPR officers have requested Twitter to take away the label. They initially assumed it was utilized by mistake, NPR spokesperson Isabel Lara stated. “We weren’t warned. It occurred fairly out of the blue final night time,” Lara stated.
In response to an NPR e-mail for this story in search of remark and requesting particulars about what specifically may need led to the brand new designation, the corporate’s press account auto-replied with a poop emoji — a message it has been sending to journalists for weeks.
‘Appears correct,’ Musk says of state-affiliated label
Twitter’s proprietor and CEO, Elon Musk, has acknowledged the brand new tag was utilized to NPR. Responding to a tweet concerning the shift, Musk posted a picture of a screenshot exhibiting Twitter’s coverage defining state-affiliated media, with a brief message: “Seems accurate.”
Twitter’s coverage describes state-affiliated media as “retailers the place the state workout routines management over editorial content material by means of monetary sources, direct or oblique political pressures, and/or management over manufacturing and distribution.”
As not too long ago as Tuesday, it said explicitly that NPR wouldn’t be included on this label.
“State-financed media organizations with editorial independence, just like the BBC within the UK or NPR within the US for instance, usually are not outlined as state-affiliated media for the needs of this coverage,” the document said, earlier than it was altered to take away NPR.
That language echoes an evidence that Twitter gave in 2020, when it introduced the state-affiliated media label. A minimum of one web page on the Twitter website still listed NPR as an exception as of late morning Wednesday.
Greater than 99% of NPR’s funds don’t come from federal sources
NPR is an unbiased, non-profit media group that will get the majority of its direct monetary assist from two sources: sponsorships and costs paid by a whole lot of member stations, as its web site states.
NPR receives federal funds not directly as a result of they play an important function in supporting member stations by means of annual grants from the Company for Public Broadcasting. However these stations additionally depend on viewers donations and different income — they usually buy packages and content material from throughout the general public media ecosystem, not solely from NPR.
A really restricted portion of NPR’s finances comes from direct federal sources. “On common, lower than 1% of NPR’s annual working finances comes within the type of grants from CPB and federal companies and departments,” in response to NPR’s web site.
Critics cite erosion of Twitter’s relationship with information retailers
The abrupt look of the identical label affixed to recognized propaganda retailers corresponding to Russia’s Tass and China’s Folks’s Day by day set off a spread of reactions, from reward to outrage. Critics of the transfer noticed it as one other signal of Twitter’s troubled relationship with the media, which has deteriorated since billionaire Elon Musk purchased Twitter final 12 months.
Caroline Orr Bueno, a behavioral scientist who research disinformation on the College of Maryland, warned that Twitter’s transfer may muddy the water in a information atmosphere the place it is already troublesome to decipher which retailers are dependable and have editorial independence.
“That is ridiculous and solely helps precise propaganda retailers mix in with reliable information retailers,” she stated via Twitter.
Twitter has additionally repeatedly stated it’ll remake its panorama of verified and trusted accounts, as a part of its push to get customers to pay to have blue checkmarks on the platform. Consultants have warned the initiative would give new standing to misinformation peddlers — and issues deepened earlier this month, when Twitter revoked the verified test mark on The New York Times‘ account.
As of Wednesday morning, Twitter had not utilized the “state-affiliated” label to different retailers that instantly or not directly obtain any public funds, corresponding to PBS.
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