The headquarters of National Public Radio in Washington, D.C.
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NPR mentioned Wednesday it would cease sharing content material on Twitter after the social media firm labeled NPR “state-affiliated media,” a time period additionally used for Russia- and China-based propaganda retailers.
The news outlet’s organizational accounts will not submit new content material on its 52 official Twitter feeds, turning into the primary main U.S. news group to take action since Elon Musk took over Twitter late final 12 months.
NPR was stunned by Twitter’s determination to label the corporate “state-affiliated media,” in response to a report by the outlet. When pressed by an NPR reporter in an e mail change, Musk conceded that the label won’t have been correct. Twitter then modified the label on NPR’s account to “government-funded media.”
The news group mentioned this label remains to be “inaccurate and misleading” since NPR is an editorially impartial nonprofit firm, in response to the report. NPR “receives less than 1 percent of its $300 million annual budget from the federally funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting,” the outlet wrote.
NPR didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark. Twitter responded to a request for remark with a poop emoji.
NPR CEO John Lansing advised his staff that NPR “will not immediately return to the platform” even when Twitter drops the designation.
“I would never have our content go anywhere that would risk our credibility,” Lansing mentioned. “At this point, I have lost my faith in the decision-making at Twitter.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Musk tweeted what gave the impression to be a screenshot of an e mail from an NPR reporter asking for his response to the corporate’s determination. “Defund NPR,” he wrote in a reply.
Twitter additionally briefly added a “government-funded media” tag to the British news outlet BBC, however BBC mentioned in a report Wednesday that Musk agreed to alter the label to “publicly funded.” As of Wednesday morning, no label is seen on any BBC Twitter accounts.
The new label designations are the most recent coverage modifications Musk has applied since his tumultuous $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform. During a Twitter Spaces interview Tuesday, Musk mentioned that the Twitter takeover course of has been marked by an “extremely high” stage of ache.
A vocal critic of the media, Musk known as The New York Times’ protection “propaganda” on April 2 and in contrast the corporate’s Twitter feed to “diarrhea” in a tweet.
He stripped the news group’s verification checkmark shortly thereafter, citing the corporate’s refusal to pay for the platform’s revamped Twitter Blue subscription service.
Twitter relaunched its up to date Twitter Blue subscription service in December after Musk pulled and delayed the launch in November. Subscribers who pay for the service will obtain a blue verification badge on their accounts, and Musk mentioned in a tweet Tuesday that legacy verified accounts — together with news organizations and journalists — will lose their checkmarks on April 20.
Source: www.cnbc.com