Elon Musk’s Twitter labeled NPR as ‘state-affiliated media’ on the social media platform and the bureaucrats at the media outlet are furious. NPR issued a statement denouncing the move by Elon Mush where they complained that Twitter’s press account auto-replied them with a poop emoji.
NPR said: “Twitter added a “state-affiliated media” tag to NPR’s main account on Tuesday, applying the same label to the nonprofit media company that Twitter uses to designate official state mouthpieces and propaganda outlets in countries such as Russia and China.
“NPR operates independently of the U.S. government. And while federal money is important to the overall public media system, NPR gets less than 1% of its annual budget, on average, from federal sources.
“Noting the millions of listeners who support and rely upon NPR for “independent, fact-based journalism,” NPR CEO John Lansing stated.
“NPR stands for freedom of speech and holding the powerful accountable. It is unacceptable for Twitter to label us this way. A vigorous, vibrant free press is essential to the health of our democracy.”
“NPR officials have asked Twitter to remove the label. They initially assumed it was applied by mistake, NPR spokesperson Isabel Lara said.
“We were not warned. It happened quite suddenly last night,” Lara said.
“In response to an NPR email for this story seeking comment and requesting details about what in particular might have led to the new designation, the company’s press account auto-replied with a poop emoji — a message it has been sending to journalists for weeks.
“Twitter’s owner and CEO, Elon Musk, has acknowledged the new tag was applied to NPR. Responding to a tweet about the shift, Musk posted an image of a screenshot showing Twitter’s policy defining state-affiliated media, with a short message: “Seems accurate.”
“Twitter’s policy describes state-affiliated media 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.”
“As recently as Tuesday, Twitter’s policy page stated explicitly that NPR would not be included in this label — before the wording was altered to remove NPR,” NPR said.
Seems accurate pic.twitter.com/nx5TmJY7GX
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2023
KJP addresses @elonmusk‘s Twitter labeling @NPR as “state-affiliated” media:
“There’s no doubt of the independence of NPR’s journalists!” pic.twitter.com/fJAuKAfOKy
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 5, 2023
