Following heavy criticism, Elon Musk’s Twitter has reversed its decision to label National Public Radio or NPR account as “state-affiliated media” and instead designate it as “government-funded media.”
What Happened: Musk decided to “fix” the label after an exchange with an NPR journalist who informed him about the extent of federal support the organization receives — only 1% of its annual budget, according to Bloomberg.
NPR CEO John Lansing previously called Twitter labeling the organization as state-affiliated “unacceptable.”
See Also: Elon Musk’s Quick Response To Twitter Product Request Makes Users Go Wild
Along with NPR, Twitter has designated the government-funded label to other news outlets such as PBS, Voice of America and BBC.
BBC has objected to the “government-funded media” label, saying it is “funded by the British public” through the license fee.
In an exchange BBC had with Musk, he appeared to suggest considering a label that would link to “exact funding sources.”
Why It’s Important: Twitter has defined state-affiliated media as news organizations where the government exerts control over editorial content through financial means, direct or indirect political pressures and/or control over production and distribution.
This was formerly attributed to outlets such as Russia’s state-supported international broadcaster RT and China’s Xinhua News.
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