Last week, Twitter branded National Public Radio (NPR) as a “US state-affiliated media.” However, the label attracted backlash, prompting Twitter to change the organization’s tag to “Government Funded Media.” However, the tags have led to criticism of Elon Musk over his failure to differentiate between public and state-controlled media.
Twitter changes NPR’s tag to “Government Funded Media”
Musk has expanded his feud with the media after labeling NPR, BBC, Voice of America, and PBS “Government Funded Media.”. The billionaire has also publicly endorsed the new tags in a recent tweet, saying that BBC had no ground to claim zero influence from the government.
We need to add more granularity to editorial influence, as it varies greatly. I don’t actually think the BBC is as biased as some other government-funded media, but it is silly of the BBC to claim zero influence.
Minor government influence in their case would be accurate.
— Harry Bōlz (@elonmusk) April 10, 2023
Twitter removed the “US state-affiliated media” from NPR after much backlash claiming that Musk did not understand Twitter’s policy on state-affiliated media organizations. The tag is used on organizations such as RT and Xinhua, labeled “Russia state-affiliated media” and “China state-affiliated media, respectively.
So Elon Musk apparently decided to apply the state-affiliated label to NPR’s Twitter account before even bothering to learn the difference between public media and state-controlled media. Yes, really.
This one is a doozy, even for him:https://t.co/nBA5rn5dIw pic.twitter.com/m1HCinW9fd
— Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D (@RVAwonk) April 9, 2023
NPR reporter Bobby Allyn exchanged an email conversation with Musk on the matter. Allyn said that from the conversation, it was evident that Musk could not distinguish between state-controlled and public media. In the conversations, Musk asked about NPR’s annual funding and how leadership at the organization was appointed.
… And after doing so, he is just now asking for the basic facts. This is not exactly how most CEOs in America operate. Anyway, I answered his questions. About 1 percent of NPR’s budget is from federal grants, and an independent board appoints NPR’s CEO, who picks the leadership.
Musk under criticism
The information that Musk requested from the NPR reporter Allyn could have easily been obtained from the organization’s website showing that less than 1% of NPR’s annual funding was obtained from Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), federal agencies, and departments. Most funding at NPR is obtained from corporate sponsorships and programming fees from member organizations.
Allyn said that in the emails, Musk admitted that the “state-affiliated media” tag for NPR was wrong. However, he said that Twitter was promoting fairness and equality. As such, US accounts would be treated the same as non-US accounts. He added that Twitter would fix the error. Since then, NPR has been labeled a “Government Funded Media.”
Allyn referred to an article by a former executive at Twitter who created the state-affiliation labels. The executive had said that the label was determined by editorial independence. Organizations that received the label have a track record of their respective states influencing their news content.
Musk has been feuding with the media since he closed a $44 billion deal for Twitter. In December, he banned several accounts owned by journalists, including some reporters from the New York Times and the Washington Post. The ban was attributed to controversial claims about a Twitter account that tracked his private jet.
Elon Musk suspends journalists’ accounts for reporting on the ban of an account that tracked Musk’s private jet @tomforemancnn reports pic.twitter.com/CEfhzNPn02
— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) December 17, 2022
Recently, Twitter revoked the verification badge for the New York Times after the publication said that it would not pay the new $1,000 monthly verification charge for businesses. The badge was removed despite Twitter saying it would give a grace period of a few weeks before removing the badge for other companies that have not paid.
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