NPR Leaves Twitter After Being Labeled a ‘State-Affiliated Media’

On Wednesday, NPR announced it is quitting Twitter after being falsely labeled as “state-affiliated media.” The term is reportedly used for propaganda outlets in Russia, China and other autocratic countries, according to the public radio network.

After being questioned by NPR tech reporter Bobby Allyn, Elon Musk, head of Twitter, admitted he might have mislabeled the company, NPR reported. Twitter then changed the label to “government-funded media” in which the news organization still was not pleased.

“The news organization says that is inaccurate and misleading, given that NPR is a private, nonprofit company with editorial independence. It receives less than 1 percent of its $300 million annual budget from the federally funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting,” NPR stated.

NPR’s CEO, John Lansing, admitted in an interview that removing the company from Twitter is protecting its credibility regardless of the down sides. “”I would never have our content go anywhere that would risk our credibility.” He added, “At this point I have lost my faith in the decision-making at Twitter. I would need some time to understand whether Twitter can be trusted again.”