NPR becomes first major news organization to leave Twitter, accuses platform of undermining its credibility
The National Public Radio (NPR) has become one of the first major news organizations to leave Twitter, a week after the social media platform labelled the American media organization as state-affiliated media," a term used in the past to describe government-run, propaganda outlets, such as those in China, Russia and other undemocratic nations.
In a statement posted to NPR's website Wednesday morning, the news outlet said it is officially de-emphasizing Twitter across the organization," and will no longer actively maintain" its flagship Twitter account nor any other of its official accounts on the platform.
The company said the decision was made after Twitter refused repeated requests" to remove the inaccurate label of state-affiliated media." Though the description was eventually changed to government-funded media," NPR said the new label still does not accurately capture the organization's governance structure.
We believe this label is intended to call in question our editorial independence and undermine our credibility," the statement said. If we continued tweeting, every post would carry that misleading label."
In an email to NPR employees, CEO John Lansing said Twitter was taking actions that undermined the news organization's credibility.
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," he said in the note. Actions by Twitter or other social media companies to tarnish the independence of any public media institution are exceptionally harmful and set a dangerous precedent."
Twitter responded to the Star's request for comment with a poop emoji, its automated response for all media inquiries.
It was unclear why Twitter initially decided to label NPR as state-affiliated media." Twitter's owner, Elon Musk, quoted a definition of state-affiliated media in the company's guidelines 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."
But until last week, the same Twitter guidelines said that state-financed media organizations with editorial independence, like the BBC in the UK or NPR in the United States, are not defined as state-affiliated media for the purposes of this policy."
NPR does receive U.S. government funding through grants from federal agencies and departments, along with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. However, the company said it maintains editorial independence and this funding accounts for less than one per cent of the organization's annual operating budget.
With files by The Associated Press
Joshua Chong is a Toronto-based staff reporter for the Star's Express Desk. Follow him on Twitter: @joshualdwchong