Elon Musk’s Twitter Replaces NPR’s ‘State-Sponsored Media’ Label

Twitter altered National Public Radio’s (NPR) descriptive label Saturday to “government-funded media” after it initially labeled the radio news outlet “state-sponsored media.”

The social media site now calls NPR “government-funded media,” a designation also applied to the BBC. The original label was similar to that applied to Russia Today’s account by the social media site.

After Twitter issued the “state-affiliated media” label Tuesday, NPR changed its bio on the social media site to describe itself as “an independent news organization committed to informing the public about the world around us.” The news organization has not posted on Twitter since Tuesday.

NPR radio stations and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) television stations receive funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), according to the CPB’s website. The CPB is a non-profit corporation created in 1967 that receives funds via Congressional appropriations and passes it on to NPR and PBS stations, the CPB website says.

The United States government is forbidden from exercising “any direction, supervision, or control over the content or distribution of public telecommunications programs and services” under the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967.

NPR President and CEO John Lansing criticized the social media site for applying the label Wednesday morning.

“NPR stands for freedom of speech & holding the powerful accountable,” Lansing tweeted. “A vigorous, vibrant free press is essential to the health of our democracy.”

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