The Twitter boss gave a two-word response to the broadcaster’s tantrum over the “state-funded” label.
Twitter owner Elon Musk has called for all government funding to be eliminated from National Public Radio, after the broadcaster announced it would stop tweeting in protest at being labeled as government funded.
“Defund NPR,” Musk tweetedbelow a screenshot of an email in which an NPR reporter asked for his reaction to the outlet’s decision and suggested it might “cause a chain reactionamong other outlets.
“NPR literally said ‘Federal funding is critical to public radio’ on its own (now deleted) website. What hypocrites! Musk added another Tweeter. “I guess they won’t mind losing federal funding in this case.”
The drama began last week when Twitter named NPR a state-affiliated point of sale, using the label invented by the previous leadership to tag foreign broadcasters frowned upon by Washington. Twitter had specifically stated that such labels would not apply to “independent” Western broadcasters such as NPR or Voice of America or the BBC, although all have government ties.
When NPR protested, Twitter changed the designation to “government funded” but the outlet insisted it also created a hurtful impression about them.
“We do not place our journalism on platforms that have demonstrated an interest in undermining our credibility and the public’s understanding of our editorial independence,” NPR said in a statement Wednesday, announcing the decision to stop posting on Twitter and instead use Instagram and TikTok.
NPR was created in 1970 by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a non-profit organization created by the US Congress. It receives nearly 10% of its revenue from federal, state and local governments, according to the US watchdog group InfluenceWatchlargely indirectly through license fees.
Its editorial policy has been widely criticized as openly partisan. During the 2020 US presidential election, NPR refused to cover Democrat Joe Biden’s influence peddling allegations, based on information from his son Hunter’s laptop found in a repair shop in the Delaware. An NPR editor called it a non-story, a “distraction,” and a waste of time. The story, which had the New York Post censored by Twitter’s former management, was later proven to be entirely true.
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