Elon Musk’s Twitter Inc. has changed its description tag for National Public Radio to “government funded media” from “state-affiliated media” following criticism last week.
(Bloomberg) — Elon Musk’s Twitter Inc. has changed its description tag for National Public Radio to “government funded media” from “state-affiliated media” following criticism last week.
The company rewrote the label on Saturday following pushback from NPR, which hasn’t used the platform since April 4. NPR Chief Executive Officer John Lansing had called the state-affiliated media label “unacceptable.”
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Twitter has also applied the government funded label to other news organizations that receive some federal funding, including PBS and Voice of America, as well as the UK’s popular BBC.
According to a report from NPR, Musk conceded last week that the previous label might not have been accurate.
In an email exchange with an NPR reporter on Wednesday, Musk appeared to be unaware of how much NPR receives in federal support. After being told support amounts to only 1% of the organization’s annual budget, the billionaire wrote: “Well, then we should fix it,” in an email to the reporter.
The social media giant has defined state-affiliated media as news outlets where the government “exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution.” The designation was previously reserved for outlets like Russia’s state-backed international broadcaster RT.
–With assistance from Gerry Smith.
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