State-affiliated US broadcaster PBS has joined NPR in leaving Twitter, suspending activities on the social media platform after it began pointing out their reliance on government funding.
At issue is Twitter\u2019s decision last week to identify government-funded news organizations as \u201cstate-affiliated media,\u201d the same label previously given to government-backed outlets from such countries as Russia and China. In response to complaints from Western outlets, Twitter changed the disclaimers to \u201cgovernment-funded media\u201d or, in the case of the UK\u2019s BBC, \u201cpublicly funded media.\u201d
\u201cPBS stopped tweeting from our account when we learned of the change, and we have no plans to resume at this time,\u201d a spokesman for the public broadcaster said on Wednesday. \u201cWe are continuing to monitor the ever-changing situation closely.\u201d
Twitter owner Elon Musk has defended the new labeling as truthful, as well as arguing that it boosts transparency regarding media content on the platform. The outlets have claimed that the disclaimers are misleading because they are editorially independent and hard-hitting news organizations \u2013 an assertion challenged by their critics.
\u201cPBS\u2019s editorial independence is central to our work and will never change,\u201d the broadcaster said on its now-dormant main Twitter account, which has 2.2 million followers. \u201cWe produce trustworthy content that features unbiased reporting.\u201d
Musk responded to the latest departure on Wednesday night, saying, \u201cPublicly funded PBS joins publicly funded NPR in leaving Twitter in a huff after being labeled \u2018publicly funded.\u2019\u201d He tweeted earlier that NPR should be defunded, given its hypocrisy over government funding.
Mike Gonzalez, a former journalist who is now a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation conservative public-policy group in Washington, has argued that while PBS and NPR don\u2019t broadcast government propaganda, they represent the views of \u201cthe politically correct elite left.\u201d PBS was mocked in recent years for promoting Covid-19 vaccines through its \u2018Sesame Street\u2019 children\u2019s program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n