NPR goes darkish on Twitter over ‘government funded media’ label

National Public Radio will now not use Twitter after it was labeled as “government funded media” by the social media platform.

NPR President John Lansing mentioned in a workers memo Wednesday that Twitter “is taking actions that undermine our credibility by falsely implying that we are not editorially independent.”

“We are not putting our journalism on platforms that have demonstrated an interest in undermining our credibility and the public’s understanding of our editorial independence,” Mr. Lansing wrote.

NPR’s prime government additionally mentioned Twitter’s actions are dangerous and “set a dangerous precedent.”

Twitter initially slapped NPR with a “U.S. state affiliated media” label final week, placing the information outlet in the identical class as media organizations in Russia and China that act as mouthpieces for his or her authoritarian governments.

Twitter’s outspoken proprietor Elon Musk accepted the brand new designation in a tweet of his personal on April 5.

Seems correct pic.twitter.com/nx5TmJY7GX</ a>

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2023

The social media platform watered down the label to “government funded media” on Monday.

While NPR receives lower than 1% of its funding straight from the federal authorities, nonprofit watchdog Influence Watch says that nearly 10% of its finances comes not directly from federal, state and native governments.

The information outlet, based to symbolize your complete American public, has a largely liberal viewers.