Tag: label,
Twitter slightly changed NPR’s “state-affiliated media” label
Different isn’t always better.
That’s arguably the case with one of the latest developments on Elon Musk’s Twitter. The official Twitter account for National Public Radio (or NPR) controversially got a “U.S. state-affiliated media” label on its profile last week, which was quietly changed to “government-funded media” over the weekend, per Gizmodo. The original label is typically attached to more overtly propagandistic pages.
NPR hasn’t tweeted since the label originally showed up.
Credit: Screenshot: Twitter
The difference between the two is largely semantic. In fact, clicking on the label brings you to a page explaining what the previous label meant. According to Twitter, that label exists for “outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution.”
That definition is vague enough that it’s impossible to say from the outside looking in whether or not it’s 100 percent accurate as it pertains to NPR. Strangely enough, the new label is actually less broad and thus potentially less accurate. Direct government funding only accounts for about one percent of the outlet’s annual budget, per NPR itself.
It’s a strange, evolving situation, as is just about everything else involving Musk’s ownership of Twitter.
Twitter removes ‘US state-affiliated media’ label from NPR account
Twitter has removed a label that designated NPR as a “US state-affiliated” media outlet mere days after first applying the label earlier this week. As of Saturday, the company now lists the public broadcaster as a “government funded” organization. NPR tech reporter Bobby Allyn was the first to report on the change. He said Elon Musk told him Twitter would apply the “government funded” designation to other institutions in the coming days. “Tesla, which has received billions of dollars in government subsidies over the years, does not appear to have the label,” Allyn added.
NEW: Label on NPR’s main account changed to “government funded,” and Elon tells me Twitter is “applying it to a larger number of institutions.”
— Bobby Allyn (@BobbyAllyn) April 8, 2023
The main NPR account has not tweeted since Twitter first applied the state-affiliated label on Wednesday. After NPR CEO John Lansing issued a statement pointing out that the “state-affiliate” did not apply to the public broadcaster under Twitter’s own guidelines, the company changed those guidelines. “State-financed media organizations with editorial independence, like the BBC in the UK or NPR in the US for example, are not defined as state-affiliated media,” the page said before Tuesday. By Wednesday, the company had removed the section of text that had referenced NPR. According to NPR, less than one percent of its annual operating budget comes from government grants. Over the last five years, the majority of the non-profit’s revenue, about 70 percent, has come from corporate sponsorships and programming fees.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/twitter-removes-us-state-affiliated-media-label-from-npr-account-215742901.html?src=rss
Twitter singles NPR out with misleading state-backed media label
After taking over last year, Twitter’s new owner has invented policies on the fly, pushed questionable design changes and generally bent the platform to suit his whims. In the latest installment of Elon Musk’s mercurial leadership saga, Twitter now classifies American news nonprofit NPR the same way that it handles RT, the infamous Russian state-backed […]
Twitter singles NPR out with misleading state-backed media label by Taylor Hatmaker originally published on TechCrunch