PBS has now quit Twitter after being labelled as government-funded media, following the decision from NPR to leave earlier this week.
Valiant News reported on Wednesday that NPR was leaving Twitter, after it had been first given a label by Twitter owner Elon Musk, of being “state-affiliated media,” usually reserved for outlets where governments have direct control over their content, to “government-funded media.”
“We are not putting our journalism on platforms that have demonstrated an interest in undermining our credibility and the public’s understanding of our editorial independence,” NPR said in a statement. “We are turning away from Twitter but not from our audiences and communities.”
On Wednesday evening, PBS joined Twitter in their decision to leave the platform, after they too received the “government-funded” label. “PBS stopped tweeting from our account when we learned of the change and we have no plans to resume at this time,” PBS spokesman Jason Phelps said in a statement. “We are continuing to monitor the ever-changing situation closely.”
The label, according to Twitter’s definitions, is applied to outlets “where the government provides some or all of the outlet’s funding and may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content.”
Reacting to the news, Musk quipped that “publicly funded PBS joins publicly funded NPR in leaving Twitter in a huff after being labeled ‘Publicly Funded’,” along with casting doubt about PBS’s supposed neutrality, given that they had dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop story as being “Russian disinformation,” with no evidence to suggest otherwise.
Publicly funded PBS joins publicly funded NPR in leaving Twitter in a huff after being labeled “Publicly Funded” 🤣
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 13, 2023
Sure yeah, yeah, definitely not influenced by the state …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 13, 2023
Musk, and other Twitter users, both further noted that both NPR and PBS are not only government-funded, but repeatedly expressed just how “essential” federal funding is for them both to continue their programming.
NPR literally says Federal funding is *essential* on their website right now at https://t.co/QA8TUZxmNO
What have you got against the truth @NPR? pic.twitter.com/3W0X0MsZYW
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 13, 2023
PBS begging on twitter over the years to have people support their federal funding. pic.twitter.com/WQUJndUwsj
— TexasLindsay™ (@TexasLindsay_) April 13, 2023
Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert had an innovative solution to allow PBS and NPR to return to Twitter. “Let’s defund both of them so they won’t have the label and can continue using Twitter happily!” Boebert quipped.
PBS and NPR both have quit Twitter because they were labeled as government-funded media.
I’ve got a solution – let’s defund both of them so they won’t have the label and can continue using Twitter happily!
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) April 13, 2023
If PBS and NPR are so upset about being labeled as government-funded media on Twitter… they could simply return all the taxpayer money they've received and stop taking any money from the government from now on.
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) April 13, 2023
