Earlier last week, Twitter categorized National Public Radio as "government-funded media," but later corrected it to "state-affiliated media," which is a more precise description, considering NPR's partial funding from taxpayers. However, recent actions taken by NPR suggest that they may be more of a biased hub for Democrats than an impartial news source.
JUST IN: NPR quits Twitter after platform correctly labels them as 'State-Funded Media'
The media cancelling themselves is something I thought I would never see!😂https://t.co/ax0L10fWxE
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 12, 2023
IOn Wednesday morning,NPR shared a story stating that they will cease publishing new content on their 52 official Twitter accounts, making them the first significant news organization to do so. This decision may indicate that NPR is seeking praise from its liberal audience for being the initial major news outlet to take such action, rather than for a genuine purpose.
As per NPR's statement, "The network's chief executive has claimed that they are safeguarding their credibility and their capacity to generate journalism free from 'unfavourable influence.'" However, their credibility has already been called into question. For instance, NPR dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop controversy as insignificant, stating, "We do not want to expend our efforts on stories that do not merit coverage, and we do not want to waste our audience's time on mere distractions." Although The Washington Post and The New York Times later confirmed the incident's authenticity, NPR did not issue an apology for deceiving their listeners and portraying the event as a waste of time and a distraction.
Furthermore, NPR sparked controversy by abandoning its 30-year practice of reciting the Declaration of Independence on air to commemorate the Fourth of July, which raised concerns about why the organization is receiving taxpayer funds from a nation it fails to recognize. If NPR wishes to address the Twitter classification accurately, it must halt accepting taxpayer money, especially if the amount is insignificant, as NPR argues.
Even if Twitter removes the label, NPR won’t immediately resume posting on Twitter, indicating that their move is ideologically motivated, rather than a direct response to a policy decision they disagreed with. For now, it seems we’ll have to enjoy scrolling Twitter with a little less propaganda.