National Public Radio (NPR) refuses to tweet from its main account, which has more than 8 million followers, until Twitter chief Elon Musk removes a “false label” describing the news organization as “state-affiliated media.”
Musk, meanwhile, admitted to an NPR reporter this week that his designation of the media outlet “might not be accurate” and that he was still evaluating the label on the nonprofit media org’s account.
As of Friday, however, NPR was still falsely designated as state-controlled on the social media site.
ADVERTISEMENT
While it remains unclear why the “Chief Twit” suddenly decided to place NPR in the same category as Chinese and Russian government propaganda, Musk reacted with an exclamation point on Tuesday to a “Twitter Files” reporter Michael Shellenberger’s thread criticizing NPR.
Shellenberger took issue with NPR claiming “European right-wing politicians” are pushing “a conspiracy theory that elites want people to eat bugs,” adding that “NPR is worse than the propaganda of Maoist schoolchildren during the cultural revolution.”
After Twitter affixed the label to NPR’s main Twitter account, Musk reacted positively to another right-wing influencer’s tweet exclaiming “GET REKT” over the “state-affiliated media” designation.
“Seems accurate,” Musk replied alongside a screenshot of the Twitter Help Center’s definition of the term, which is deemed “outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution.” Other conservative Musk fans predictably applauded the move by the edgelord billionaire.
Twitter, however, stealth-edited its own guidelines following its change to NPR’s bio. And prior to placing it on par with RT and Sputnik, the site actually cited NPR as an example of “state-financed media organizations with editorial independence” that should not be labeled as state-run.
While free press advocates and journalists took Twitter to task over the inaccurate labeling, noting that NPR receives only 1 percent of its funding from the federal government, the outlet itself fired back.
“We were disturbed to see last night that Twitter has labeled NPR as ‘state-affiliated media,’ a description that, per Twitter’s own guidelines, does not apply to NPR,” NPR president and CEO John Lansing said on Wednesday. “NPR and our Member stations are supported by millions of listeners who depend on us for the independent, fact-based journalism we provide. NPR stands for freedom of speech and holding the powerful accountable. It is unacceptable for Twitter to label us this way.”
In an email exchange this week, NPR reporter Bobby Allyn pressed Musk on his thought process behind the labeling, which comes amid his relentless attacks and smears of the press. (For instance, he recently removed The New York Times’ verification after the paper said it wouldn’t pay for a checkmark.)
After Musk appeared unclear about the difference between public outlets and state-run media, the Tesla CEO said “then we should fix it” when told by Allyn that the government accounts for a minute amount of NPR’s financing.
After comparing NPR to other government-controlled press outlets, Musk admitted it may not be an apt comparison. “The operating principle at new Twitter is simply fair and equal treatment, so if we label non-US accounts as govt, then we should do the same for US, but it sounds like that might not be accurate here,” he wrote Allyn.
Since Tuesday night, NPR has deliberately not tweeted from its main account, though it has posted from affiliate accounts that are not labeled as state-run and the outlet’s reporters continue to tweet.
NPR has also changed its Twitter bio, which now reads: “NPR is an independent news organization committed to informing the public about the world around us. You can find us every other place you read the news.”
At the same time, an NPR spokesperson told The Daily Beast that this shouldn’t be characterized as a “Twitter boycott” because the outlet is merely pushing for the false designation to be dropped from its main account.
“NPR changed its Twitter bio yesterday and stopped tweeting from the main @NPR account after they attached that false label to it because each tweet we publish would carry it,” Chief Communications Officer Isabel Lara said. “We have paused tweeting from that account until we hear back from Twitter on this. We’ve continued tweeting from other accounts that aren’t mislabeled.”
As of publication, the label remained, and Musk has yet to comment publicly on Friday about any pending decision. And since Musk axed all of Twitter’s media relations staff, any press emails sent to the site are automatically returned with a poop emoji.
