KUOW, Puget Sound's NPR affiliate radio station, suspended its presence on Twitter indefinitely after the social media platform falsely labeled NPR as "state-affiliated media."
www.seattletimes.com
KUOW leaves Twitter after NPR departure
April 13, 2023 at 6:43 pm
NPR is quitting Twitter, according to a statement earlier this week, after the social media platform owned by Elon Musk stamped NPR’s account with labels the news organization says undermine its credibility. (Charles Dharapak / The Associated Press)
By
Daisy Zavala Magaña
Seattle Times staff reporter
KUOW, Puget Sound’s NPR affiliate radio station, suspended its presence on Twitter indefinitely after the social media platform falsely labeled NPR as “state-affiliated media.”
KUOW President and General Manager Caryn G. Mathes
wrote in a statement shared Wednesday that KUOW believes the social media platform’s “false, misleading and inconsistent application of labels” undermine credibility.
“We are worried that our continued engagement on this platform will erode public trust,” Mathes wrote. “So, we’re following NPR’s lead.”
The “state-affiliated media” designation is used to identify propaganda outlets in autocratic countries and government-controlled media.
The fiasco began last week when Twitter firstly labeled NPR a “state-affiliated media” account, and later changed the designation to “government-funded,” NPR reported.
The
news company held the designations are inaccurate and misleading, considering NPR is a private, nonprofit organization with complete editorial independence. Less than 1% of NPR’s annual $300 million budget comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is federally funded.
NPR is the first major news organization to leave Twitter, no longer posting from its 52 accounts, according to a public
statement shared Wednesday.
“I would never have our content go anywhere that would risk our credibility,” NPR CEO John Lansing said in an interview
heard on NPR’s Morning Edition.
On Wednesday, Twitter owner Elon Musk tweeted “Defund NPR” in response to NPR leadership’s push back to the designation.
“Sadly, those in power who don’t act in good faith can put independent public media in a precarious position. At the tap of a tweet, all of public media can be made vulnerable,” Mathes
wrote in a statement.
Individual journalists at NPR and KUOW can decided whether to remain active on Twitter.
Last Wednesday, Musk told BBC he may change the designation to “publicly funded” though NPR leadership said it wouldn’t immediately return.
“The whole point isn’t whether or not we’re government funded,” Lansing
said in an NPR article. “Even if we were government funded, which we’re not, the point is the independence, because all journalism has revenue of some sort.”
Musk has continued criticizing NPR on Twitter, going as far as calling NPR’s leadership hypocrites.
KUOW’s engagement on Twitter had been declining, only accounting for 1% of its overall traffic in 2022, Mathes said.
KUOW will remain active on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, podcast apps, and online.
The nonprofit station accepts donations to continue its independent work of informing the public at
kuow.org/donate."
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