National Public Radio is suspending all activity on Twitter effective immediately, after the public radio broadcaster said the Elon Musk-owned platform’s “government-funded media” label on its account falsely implies NPR is not editorially independent of the U.S. government.
Last week, Twitter added a label to NPR’s primary account that says it is “US state-affiliated media,” which CEO John Lansing slammed as “unacceptable.” The social network later modified that to say NPR is “government-funded media.” According to NPR, on average, less than 1% of its annual operating budget comes in the form of grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and federal agencies and departments.
“NPR’s organizational accounts will no longer be active on Twitter because the platform is taking actions that undermine our credibility by falsely implying that we are not editorially independent,” a spokesperson for the organization said in a statement to Variety. “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.”
Twitter also recently added the “government-funded media” label to the accounts of PBS and the BBC.
In a thread NPR posted Wednesday on Twitter, presumably its final posts for now, the organization detailed how supporters can continue to follow the broadcaster online. “We are turning away from Twitter but not from our audiences and communities,” the NPR rep said. “There are plenty of ways to stay connected and keep up with NPR’s news, music, and cultural content.”
Musk, the multibillionaire who closed the $44 billion deal for Twitter in October 2022, gave an impromptu interview to the BBC on Tuesday in which he called his takeover of the company “quite painful” and said “I’ve been under constant attack” since he bought Twitter.
Meanwhile, Musk earlier this month pulled the gold verification badge for the New York Times. Musk cited the Times’ public statement that it would not pay for verified status on Twitter, which has announced a program to charge companies and brands $1,000/month for check-mark verification (but reportedly with exceptions for large accounts).
“I must confess to some delight in removing the verification badge from the New York Times,” Musk said in the BBC interview. “Anyway they’re still alive and well so they’re doing well.”
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