O Twitter last week labeled NPR’s main account as “state-affiliated press,” a term also used to identify media outlets controlled or heavily influenced by authoritarian governments such as Russia and China.
Twitter later changed the label to “government-sponsored press”, but for NPR it remains a misleading label.
In a statement, released today, NPR said it “will no longer be active on Twitter because the platform is taking actions that undermine credibility by falsely implying that we are (NPR) not editorially independent.”
“Defund @NPR”, was the response tweeted by Elon Musk, who bought the social network last year.
The American cultural-educational television network, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), said today that it has also stopped tweeting on its main account and that it has no plans to resume because “Twitter’s simplistic label leaves the inaccurate impression that PBS is fully funded by the federal government.”
Media analysts argue that the growing friction between Twitter and news organizations since Musk bought the social network is harmful for Twitter and the public.
NPR’s main account, which joined Twitter 16 years ago, had not tweeted since April 4 and today sent out tweets listing other online places to find its journalism.
NPR spokeswoman Isabel Lara said that radio journalists and staff can decide for themselves whether they want to continue using the social network.
NPR journalists haven’t received the “government-funded” label from Twitter, at least not yet.
NPR receives funding from the US government through grants from federal agencies and departments, along with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
In an interview on Tuesday with a BBC technology journalist at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters, Elon Musk acknowledged that the British organization is “not thrilled” with the label it has received and asked the reporter for feedback.
“Our goal was simply to be as truthful and accurate as possible,” Musk said.
“So I think we’re tweaking the label to be ‘publicly funded’, which maybe isn’t too objectionable. We’re trying to be accurate,” he said.
The BBC announced today that it would like to change the label to “publicly funded” rather than government funded.
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