Twitter on Tuesday evening affixed a “state-affiliated media” label — a marker used to help users identify outlets that are editorially controlled by governments — to NPR’s main account, despite previous policy guidelines specifically noting NPR did not fall under that category.
In a statement shared on Wednesday, NPR CEO John Lansing described the move as “unacceptable” and inapplicable to NPR, which receives member support from listeners and provides “independent, fact-based journalism.”
“We were disturbed to see last night that Twitter has labeled NPR as ‘state-affiliated media,’ a description that, per Twitter’s own guidelines, does not apply to NPR,” Lansing said. “NPR stands for freedom of speech and holding the powerful accountable. It is unacceptable for Twitter to label us this way. A vigorous, vibrant free press is essential to the health of our democracy.”
NPR did not receive any prior communication from Twitter on Tuesday regarding the label, and requests to have it removed have not been answered, NPR’s chief communications officer, Isabel Lara, told The Hollywood Reporter.
According to Twitter’s guidelines, state-affiliated media outlets are defined as those “where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution.” Outlets like Russia Today and China’s Xinhua News have received such labels on Twitter.
Prior to Tuesday’s change, the guidelines also noted that “state-financed media organizations with editorial independence, like the BBC in the UK or NPR in the US for example, are not defined as state-affiliated media for the purposes of this policy.” As of Wednesday, the reference to NPR has been removed.
Organizations like PEN America have called on Twitter to remove the label from NPR’s account.
“Publicly available sources indicate about 15 percent of NPR’s overall budget includes taxpayer funds authorized by Congress, and make clear that the U.S. government exercises no editorial control over NPR whatsoever. For Twitter to unilaterally label NPR as state-affiliated media, on par with Russia Today, is a dangerous move that could further undermine public confidence in reliable news sources,” Liz Woolery, PEN America’s digital policy lead, said. “It’s a gift to disinformation purveyors and to authoritarian regimes the world over. Twitter should reverse course and remove this designation from NPR immediately.”
