After a widespread backlash for labeling NPR as a “state-affiliated media” outlet, Twitter has removed the label and replaced it with “government funded media.”
The Elon Musk-owned social platform was panned for putting NPR in the same category as government-operated media operations in Russia and China. Twitter even changed its own policy page to remove “NPR” from a section that previously read, “State-financed media organizations, like the BBC in the UK or NPR in the U.S. for example, are not defined as state-affiliated media for the purposes of this policy.”
After originally saying the “state-affiliated media” description “seems accurate,” Musk began backpedaling. In an email exchange last week, NPR Business Reporter Bobby Allyn explained to Musk that the public radio network operates independently and receives less than one percent of its annual budget from federal sources. Musk’s reply: “Well, then we should fix it.” The billionaire then tried to explain the rationale for the designation, writing, “The operating principle at new Twitter is simply fair and equal treatment, so if we label non-US accounts as govt, then we should do the same for US, but it sounds like that might not be accurate here.”
NPR has not posted on Twitter since Musk first placed a label on its account. It has updated its header image to read, “Always free and independent. Always on NPR.org.” Additionally, NPR updated its description on its Twitter page to read, “NPR is an independent news organization committed to informing the public about the world around us. You can find us every other place you read the news.”
Santa Monica College’s KCRW Los Angeles (89.9) is among the NPR affiliates standing with the network in solidarity.
“KCRW will no longer share content from our institutional account on Twitter,” a statement read. The station says the labeling of NPR is “an attack on independent journalism, the very principle that defines public media.” KCRW then listed all the other ways to keep up with the station, such as on Facebook and Instagram, as well as with its own newsletters, app, podcasts, and website.
The newer “government funded media” description was also placed on the BBC’s Twitter account.
“The BBC is, and always has been, independent. We are funded by the British public through the license fee,” the BBC said in response to Twitter’s designation on Monday, the New York Post reports.
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