Roundup: NPR leaves Twitter

NPR is the first major news outlet to ditch the social media platform

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National Public Radio (better known as NPR), is an American nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was created through an act of Congress. Since 1971, it has produced and distributed both news and cultural programming.

It’s important to precise that NPR is not a government agency. It is run independently and has complete control over its content. It is financially supported through dues and fees paid by member stations, corporate sponsorships, as well as annual grants.

Earlier this month, Twitter started labelling NPR as “state-affiliated media”, a distinction typically reserved for media outlets with close ties to authoritative regimes. It has since been changed to “Government-funded Media”, another label that is quite debatable (more on that later).

That didn’t sit too well with the organization which subsequently decided to leave the well-known social media platform on April 12.

Here is a selection or articles covering this development:

NPR bids farewell to Musk’s Twitter (link)

Comprehensive reporting courtesy of Jon Brodkin (Ars Technica) with a focus on Elon Musk's feud with the media industry.

NPR’s response and rationale for leaving (link)

David Folkenflik, a media correspondent at NPR, states that the organization will “no longer post fresh content to its 52 official Twitter feeds”. He goes on to explain that NPR receives less than 1% of its $300 million yearly budget from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is sponsored by the federal government; and the mislabeling tarnished the outlet’s reputation.

Musk’s “genius move” (link)

Benjamin Hart (Intelligencer) calls Musk’s actions “a genius move”. He notes that when you buy a company, a sound strategy is to alienate some of its most loyal customers to the point that they no longer want to use its services.

PBS quits Twitter too (link)

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) decided to leave the social media platform for similar reasons (via The Guardian).

“Defund NPR” (link)

Elon Musk launched a rant against NPR on Wednesday, demanding that the organization be "defund(ed)" (via Caitlin Fichtel and Brandon Sapienza, Bloomberg News).