NPR protests as Twitter calls it ‘state-affiliated media’

NEW YORK — Twitter has labeled Nationwide Public Radio as “state-affiliated media” on the social media web site, a transfer some frightened Wednesday may undermine public confidence within the information group.

NPR stated it was disturbed to see the outline added to all the tweets that it sends out, with John Lansing, its president and CEO, calling it “unacceptable for Twitter to label us this fashion.”

It was unclear why Twitter made the transfer. Twitter’s proprietor, Elon Musk, quoted a definition of state-affiliated media within the firm’s pointers as “shops the place the state workout routines management over editorial content material by monetary sources, direct or oblique political pressures, and/or management over manufacturing and distribution.”

“Appears correct,” Musk tweeted in a reply to NPR.

NPR does obtain U.S. authorities funding by grants from federal companies and departments, together with the Company for Public Broadcasting. The corporate stated it accounts for lower than 1% of NPR’s annual working price range. However till Wednesday, the identical Twitter pointers stated that “state-financed media organizations with editorial independence, just like the BBC within the UK or NPR in the USA, will not be outlined as state-affiliated media for the needs of this coverage.”

NPR has now been faraway from that sentence on Twitter’s web site.

Requested for remark, Twitter’s press workplace responded with an automatic poop emoji.

The transfer got here simply days after Twitter stripped The New York Instances of its verification test mark.

“NPR and our member stations are supported by tens of millions of listeners who rely on us for the impartial, fact-based journalism we offer,” Lansing stated. “NPR stands for freedom of speech and holding the highly effective accountable.”

The literary group PEN America, in calling for Twitter to reverse the transfer, underlined that NPR “assiduously maintains editorial independence.”

Liz Woolery, PEN America’s digital coverage chief, stated Twitter’s determination was “a harmful transfer that might additional undermine public confidence in dependable information sources.”