Twitter owner Elon Musk on Wednesday offended the very citadel or upper crust, condescending liberalism: National Public Radio.
And best yet, he refused to apologize for it.
The controversy erupted on Tuesday when Twitter labeled NPR’s account “US state-affiliated media.” NPR is publicly funded, although the network claims that just 1% of its budget comes from taxpayers.
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Musk himself tweeted “seems accurate” when his company’s Help Center explained in a tweet that “state-affiliated media” means the government exercises control over editorial content through “financial resources, direct or indirect, political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution.”
NPR did not take this well, or lying down — despite the fact that its content and reporting is overwhelmingly supportive of liberals.
The outlet’s CEO John Lansing responded, on Twitter no less, that “NPR stands for freedom of speech & holding the powerful accountable. A vigorous, vibrant free press is essential to the health of our democracy.”
He also alluded to his official statement, which declared NPR engages in “independent, fact-based journalism” and that it “stands for freedom of speech and holding the powerful accountable.”
Lansing added that he was “disturbed” that Twitter had slapped this “unacceptable” label on his company. “A vigorous, vibrant free press is essential to the health of our democracy,” said Lansing.
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In a separate news article on its website, NPR complained that the “state-affiliated media” label is the same as what Twitter uses “to designate official state mouthpieces and propaganda outlets in countries such as Russia and China.”
Lansing’s complaint was destroyed by one Twitter user who posted a statement the outlet made in October 2020, in which it explained why it did not report on the explosive Hunter Biden laptop story.
“We don’t waste our time on stories that are not really stories and we don’t want to waste our listeners’ and readers’ time on stories that are just pure distractions,” NPR said at the time.
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The priceless part came when the Associated Press approached Twitter for its response to NPR’s criticism.
“Asked for comment, Twitter’s press office responded with an automated poop emoji,” the AP noted. “Twitter has reportedly been sending this particular message to reporters for weeks.”
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