Toronto (Canada), Apr 17 (EFE).- The Canadian public broadcaster, CBC, announced Monday that it will temporarily stop using its Twitter accounts in protest of the social network’s decision to label it as a “government-financed medium.” .
A CBC spokesperson said that rating is “false.”
“Twiter can be a powerful tool for our journalists to communicate with Canadians but allowing our independence to be falsely portrayed in this way undermines the accuracy and professionalism of their work,” Leon Mar said in a statement.
Mar added that CBC is a public and independent company and that the Canadian government does not influence its work.
Other public media, such as National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcast System (PBS) in the United States, have taken similar steps after being labeled by Twitter as government-funded media.
The UK’s BBC protested a similar designation and is now labeled a ‘publicly funded media’.
CBC’s classification on the social network comes shortly after the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre, asked Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, to name the Canadian public company a “government-funded outlet”. .
Poilievre accuses the CBC of propaganda on behalf of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and regularly attacks public broadcaster journalists when they ask him questions during his press conferences.
On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Poilievre of siding with American billionaires to attack Canada’s cultural institutions.
“Attacking this Canadian institution, attacking the local culture and content that is so important to so many Canadians, really speaks to Poilievre’s values and approach,” Trudeau said.
