The rating puts NPR (National Public Radio), which has more than 8 million followers in Washington, on par with Chinese and Russian state media.
Officials at the prestigious American broadcaster “NPR” expressed their anger after the management of the Twitter platform, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, marked “state media” on its account.
The rating puts NPR (National Public Radio), which has more than 8 million followers in Washington, on a par with Chinese and Russian state media.
The move comes after Twitter stripped the New York Times account of the verification mark, in Musk’s first update on media-related policies.
Conservatives view the two media organizations as bastions of the left, a position Musk has often expressed in his tweets.
“Accounting the Powerful”
According to the policy of Twitter, which is a major communication tool for officials, celebrities and the media, this decision will limit the access of radio and newspaper tweets to users.
NPR CEO John Lansing said, “It was disturbing to see last night that Twitter designated us as a state media, a designation under Twitter’s own guidelines that does not apply to NPR.”
The broadcaster told AFP that less than 1 percent of its funding comes from federal sources.
“NPR supports freedom of expression and accountability for the powerful,” Lansing said. “It is not acceptable for Twitter to tag us in this way.”
Ben America, which defends freedom of expression, described the move as dangerous.
“Twitter’s unilateral labeling of NPR as a state media, on a par with RT Russia, is a dangerous step that could undermine public trust in reliable news sources,” said Liz Woolery, director of digital policy at the organisation.
