NPR Leaves Twitter After Being Slapped With "State-Affiliated" Label
Updated: Dec 19, 2023
National Public Radio (NPR) is now the first major news organisation to ditch Twitter as CEO Elon Musk's relationship with the press continues to deteriorate.
The Washington-based nonprofit announced on Wednesday, 12 April, it would stop distributing news content on Twitter after its main account was slapped with the "state-affiliated media" label last week. The social networking giant would later change the label to "government-funded media", suggesting the news organisation was no different from other government mouthpieces like Russia's RT and China's China Daily.
NPR's Twitter account has since been silent as it gives its social media employees a two-week window to readjust its online distribution strategies. It has already directed its followers to its newsletters and other social media accounts, though it won't stop its employees from continuing to use their personal Twitter accounts.
The new organisation argues the label is "inaccurate and misleading", maintaining that it's a private company with editorial independence.
"We are not putting our journalism on platforms that have demonstrated an interest in undermining our credibility and the public’s understanding of our editorial independence," wrote NPR CEO John Lansing in an official memo to employees.
The BBC was similarly slapped with the "government-funded media" label, which it contested, directly reaching out to Musk to have it taken down. Musk defended the move, saying the label was meant to provide "maximum transparency" to Twitter users. He would later say that he's willing to change the label to "publicly funded", which would be a more accurate description of the BBC's funding sources.
Lansing, however, appears to be firm on his stance to leave the microblogging site altogether, stressing that even if Musk were to change or remove NPR's label, it would not immediately start tweeting again.
Musk hasn't been in good graces with the press ever since he revamped Twitter's verification system, allowing users who are willing to pay to receive a blue tick, previously only reserved for celebrities, organisations, journalists and other public personalities. A number of news organisations like The Washington Post, Politico and Vox Media made it clear that they wouldn't pay to verify their main and reporters' Twitter accounts. But Musk wanted to prove he wasn't playing around, making an example of The New York Times by removing its verified badge.
The controversial billionaire also said he would consult Wikipedia's publicly-funded broadcasters category page to decide which organisations should have labels.
NPR is now the first major news organisation to ditch Twitter as CEO Elon Musk's relationship with the press continues to deteriorate.
The nonprofit announced it would stop distributing news content on Twitter after its main account was slapped with the "state-affiliated media" label last week.
Twitter would later change the label to "government-funded media".
The new organisation argues the label is "inaccurate and misleading", maintaining that it's a private company with editorial independence.