NPR Gets ‘State-Affiliated Media’ Tag in Twitter’s Latest Swipe at News Outlets
Bloomberg
"Twitter Inc. has labeled the nonprofit media organization NPR as “US state-affiliated media” in the latest escalation of tensions between its billionaire owner Elon Musk and news outlets.
The label now appears on the public broadcaster’s Twitter profile and its tweets and the designation means that NPR’s posts won’t be recommended or amplified on the platform.
Twitter 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 reserved for outlets like Russia’s state-backed international broadcaster RT.
Previous versions of Twitter’s policy website made exceptions for the BBC and NPR, which the company called “state-financed media organizations with editorial independence.” But a new version of the the website only makes an exception for the BBC.
> In a statement, NPR President John Lansing said “we were disturbed” by the designation “and it is unacceptable for Twitter to label us this way. NPR and our member stations are supported by millions of listeners who depend on us for the independent, fact-based journalism we provide,” he said.
> An NPR spokeswoman said the organization has reached out to Twitter to have the label removed.
NPR’s two largest sources of revenue are corporate sponsorships and fees paid by NPR member organizations, according to the company. On average, less than 1% of NPR’s annual operating budget comes in the form of grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and federal agencies and departments.
Musk has used his role as Twitter’s owner to agitate news organizations he doesn’t like. He has banned journalists from the platform. And in recent days, the main account for the New York Times lost its Twitter verified badge after attracting the ire of Musk over its refusal to pay for the privilege.
Twitter has disbanded its press team and doesn’t respond to media requests for comment. But Musk weighed in, responding to a post of Twitter’s rules, saying “seems accurate.”
MUSK-AFFILIATED SOCIAL NETWORK —
Musk expands feud with media by labeling NPR Twitter account “state-affiliated”
Twitter changes policy to exclude NPR but hasn't fully scrubbed the old language.
Twitter has branded NPR with the "state-affiliated media" tag applied to news organizations controlled by governments, contradicting a Twitter policy that cites NPR as an example of a state-financed media organization that retains editorial independence.
The move continues Twitter owner Elon Musk's feud with media organizations. He publicly endorsed the new label for NPR, claiming the outlet falls under policy language that defines state-affiliated media "as outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content."
The NPR Twitter account is now labeled "US state-affiliated media," similar to how RT and Xinhua are labeled "Russia state-affiliated media" and "China state-affiliated media." That move contradicted Twitter's own policy on labeling government or state-affiliated media accounts, which said:
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 for the purposes of this policy.
Twitter deleted "or NPR in the US" from that line of the policy, apparently doing so shortly after a Washington Post reporter pointed out last night that "Twitter branding @NPR 'state-affiliated media' literally conflicts with its own policy." Twitter removed NPR from the policy sometime after 2:34 am UTC today, Internet Archive captures show.
Twitter not thorough in scrubbing policy
But Twitter wasn't very thorough in scrubbing NPR from its guidelines. There's another Twitter help page that describes the policy and as of today still contains the same language stating that "the BBC in the UK or NPR in the US for example, are not defined as state-affiliated media." The BBC's Twitter accounts have not been labeled as state-affiliated media.
When contacted by Ars today, NPR said, "This must be a mistake as it contradicts Twitter's own guidelines. We have reached out to Twitter to have the label removed."
But Musk appeared to confirm that the change was deliberate in a response to right-wing media personality Benny Johnson, who was once fired from BuzzFeed for 41 instances of plagiarism. Johnson got a reply from Musk today after posting a screenshot of NPR's state-affiliated media tag and writing, "GET REKT @NPR… Nicely done, @elonmusk 🤣."
Musk replied to Johnson, "Seems accurate," and included a screenshot from a news story quoting this language from Twitter's policy:
State-affiliated media is defined as outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution.
NPR describes itself as "an independent, non-profit media organization," with most of its funding coming from "corporate sponsorships and fees paid by NPR Member organizations." Federal funding indirectly contributes to a large chunk of NPR's revenue because the publicly funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting provides annual grants to public radio stations that pay NPR for programming.
Twitter's "state-affiliated media" tag has an impact on how many people see an account's tweets. "In the case of state-affiliated media entities, Twitter will not recommend or amplify accounts or their Tweets with these labels to people," the company policy says.
Musk’s feud with media
The NPR labeling occurred days after Twitter revoked The New York Times' verification badge over the paper stating publicly that it won't pay Twitter's new $1,000-per-month charge for businesses. The NYT lost verification even though the badge hasn't yet been pulled from other accounts that don't pay due to a grace period that Musk said would last a few weeks "unless they tell [us] they won't pay now." Musk also wrote, "The real tragedy of @NYTimes is that their propaganda isn't even interesting," and "their feed is the Twitter equivalent of diarrhea. It's unreadable."
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