Topline
Billionaire Twitter owner Elon Musk escalated his attacks on NPR in a series of tweets Wednesday, calling for the news organization to be defunded just hours after NPR announced it would no longer use the social media platform after it was first labeled “state affiliated media,” then “government-funded media.”
SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk gestures as he arrives on the red carpet for the Axel Springer … [+]
Key Facts
Musk claimed the phrase “federal funding is essential to public radio” was no longer on NPR’s website—but it does still appear there, and NPR goes on to explain that annual grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are an “important part” of the company’s multiple revenue streams.
In another tweet, Musk called for NPR to be “defunded,” presumably of the less than 1% of its budget that comes from federal funding through the CPB.
Musk also tweeted a link to a satirical story with the headline, “National Public Radio Denies Being National Or Public,” on the conservative The Babylon Bee, alluding to Musk’s claim, and the Twitter designation.
Key Background
On Wednesday NPR announced the media organization would no longer use Twitter. The move came after the social media platform labeled the new organization “state affiliated media” last week, a designation reserved for state run and approved media outlets, in countries like Russia and China. A few days later, Twitter changed the designation to “government-funded media.” NPR CEO John Lansing said Twitter was “taking actions to undermine our credibility” and called the move “unacceptable.” NPR is not the only U.S. media company that receives some federal funding, but it is the only U.S. media company given a different designation. Twitter labeled the BBC “government-funded media,” but in an interview Wednesday Musk said Twitter would change the BBC’s label from “government-funded media” to “publicly funded.”
Further Reading
NPR Leaves Twitter After Musk Slaps It With ‘State-Affiliated Media’ Label (Forbes)
Twitter Changes Label On NPR Account From ‘State-Affiliated’ To ‘Government Funded’ (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/04/12/musk-escalates-npr-attacks-calls-for-federal-defunding-npr/