adplus-dvertising
Connect with us

Media

NPR quitting Twitter over label on social media account

Published

1 year ago

 on

National Public Radio is quitting Twitter over the social media company’s recent actions under owner Elon Musk to stamp it with labels the news organization says are meant to undermine its credibility.

“NPR’s organizational accounts will no longer be active on Twitter because the platform is taking actions that undermine our credibility by falsely implying that we are not editorially independent,” the news organization said in a statement Wednesday.

Last week, Twitter labelled NPR’s main account as “state-affiliated media” on the social media site, a label also used to identify media outlets that are controlled or heavily influenced by authoritarian governments. Twitter later changed the label to “government-funded media” which it also applied to at least one other public news organization, the BBC.

“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.

300x250x1

“Defund @NPR,” was Musk’s tweeted response.

 

NPR quit Twitter. What does it mean? | About That

 

U.S. non-profit radio company NPR quit Twitter. The move comes after the platform labelled NPR as ‘state-affiliated media.’ About That producer Kieran Oudshoorn looks at what it may mean.

Journalists, stations can remain

NPR said it would remain on other social media platforms and was reviewing whether it should expand to others.

NPR’s main Twitter account launched 16 years ago and had not tweeted since April 4. The next day, it sent a series of tweets listing other places to find its journalism.

NPR spokesperson Isabel Lara said the radio broadcaster’s journalists, employees and member stations can decide on their own if they want to keep using the platform. NPR journalists have not been given the “government-funded” label, at least not yet.

NPR receives U.S. government funding through grants from federal agencies and departments, along with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The company has said direct federal funding accounts for less than one per cent of NPR’s annual operating budget.

Much of its funding comes from sponsorships and dues from its member stations around the U.S., which in turn get revenue from a range of funders including public institutions, corporate donors and listeners.

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) — which is also backed by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and is now labelled “government-funded” — said Wednesday it has also stopped tweeting from its main account.  PBS said it has no plans to resume because “Twitter’s simplistic label leaves the inaccurate impression that PBS is wholly funded by the federal government.”

PBS says about 15 per cent of its budget comes from the U.S. federal government, and roughly the same percentage from the state and local levels.

A screenshot of the NPR Twitter page.
NPR had not tweeted from its official Twitter account since April 4, after it was first labeled ‘state-affiliated media” and later ‘government-funded media.’ (@NPR/Twitter)

Twitter’s goal is “to be as truthful and accurate as possible,” Musk told a BBC reporter Tuesday, adding that the British broadcaster’s label might be changed to “publicly funded,” which, he added, “is perhaps not too objectionable.”

The BBC did not respond to a request for comment.

Twitter’s new labels often seem arbitrarily assigned. For example, Twitter hasn’t added the “government-funded” label to many other public broadcasters, such as CBC or Australia’s ABC.

Twitter, more than any of its rivals, has said its users come to it to keep track of current events. But Musk has long expressed disdain for professional journalists and said he wants to elevate the views and expertise of the “average citizen.”

Media analysts say growing friction between Twitter and news organizations since Musk bought the platform is bad for Twitter, and bad for the public.

Musk appears intent on “insulting and antagonizing individuals and organizations that he considers to be too liberal for his taste,” said Paul Barrett, deputy director of New York University’s Stern Center for Business and Human Rights.

A man in a leather jacket stands outside with a blue sky and white clouds behind him.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk says the goal of the labels is to be ‘as truthful and accurate as possible.’ (Michele Tantussi/Reuters)

But by driving away legitimate news outlets, Twitter is only harming itself, he said.

“The drift is in an unfortunate direction,” Barrett said. “You want to encourage sources of reliable, well-reported news to be present and prolific on your platform.”

The end date may be near for another designation, Twitter verification, unless users sign up for a subscription service called Twitter Blue.

Musk tweeted Tuesday that legacy verified accounts will lose their status on April 20, and their once-coveted blue checkmarks will disappear, if they don’t pay a monthly fee.

For Canadian accounts, the monthly fee is $10 for subscriptions purchased through a web browser, but it costs $15 a month if purchased through Twitter’s iOS or Android apps. The subscription also includes other services, including the ability to edit tweets, write longer posts and have fewer ads showing up in the feed.

Verification, when it was introduced in 2009, was intended to signal an account was notable or of public interest — politicians, companies, brands, celebrities, news organizations — and that the user or organization behind it was not an imposter based on certain requirements.

The controversial move to charge for verification has led many users to reconsider their future on the social media platform, as it means anyone can verify an account.

Twitter removed the verification checkmark from the New York Times earlier this month after the publication stated it would not pay for the service.

Musk previously said the end date for legacy verification would be April 1, but Twitter did not follow through with the change.

 

‘Doge’ with a bone: Elon Musk and a meme coin

 

Andrew Chang takes a look at the Dogecoin cryptocurrency, the memes that launched it and why Elon Musk keeps posting about it.

 

728x90x4

Source link

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Media

DJT Stock Rises. Trump Media CEO Alleges Potential Market Manipulation. – Barron's

Published

1 hour ago

 on

April 19, 2024

By


[unable to retrieve full-text content]

DJT Stock Rises. Trump Media CEO Alleges Potential Market Manipulation.  Barron’s

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Media

DJT Stock Rises. Trump Media CEO Alleges Potential Market Manipulation. – Barron's

Published

2 hours ago

 on

April 19, 2024

By


[unable to retrieve full-text content]

DJT Stock Rises. Trump Media CEO Alleges Potential Market Manipulation.  Barron’s

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Media

Three drones downed after explosions heard in Iran’s Isfahan: State media – Al Jazeera English

Published

3 hours ago

 on

April 19, 2024

By


Iran’s air defences have brought down three small drones over the central city of Isfahan, state media reported, hours after United States broadcasters, quoting senior US officials, said Israeli missiles had hit an Iranian site.

Iranian state television reported explosions in Isfahan as air defences were activated and flights across several areas, including the capital, Tehran, and Isfahan, were suspended.

Airspace was reopened about four and a half hours after the incident and there were no reports of casualties.

300x250x1

Second Brigadier General Siavash Mihandoust, the top military official in Isfahan, told state media that air defence batteries hit “a suspicious object” and there was no damage.

ABC News and CBS News had reported earlier that Israel had carried out a military operation in Iran.

Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the US told the Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers that it had been “informed at the last minute” by Israel about an attack on Iran.

“But there was no sharing of the attack by the US. It was a mere information,” Tajani told reporters in Capri, Italy, where the G7 ministers met.

However, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken refused to confirm reports about the Israeli attack, during a news conference in Capri.

“I’m not going to speak to that, except to say that the United States has not been involved in any offensive operation,” Blinken said.

The top US diplomat said the G7’s focus is on de-escalation. Asked to describe the current US-Israel relationship, Blinken noted that Israel makes its own decisions, but the US is committed to its security.

Iranian media said no strikes were launched on Iran from outside the country, and the attack was believed to have been carried out using small quadcopters that would have to have been launched from inside Iran.

Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari said Iranian media were downplaying the incident.

“The location in Isfahan province is an Iranian military airbase that belongs to the country’s army, and not the Revolutionary Guards [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, IRGC]. I think it’s important to highlight that,” she said. “This base houses multiple squadrons of F-14 Tomcat fighter aircraft.”

“We also understand that the air defence systems over the city of Tabriz in the northwestern part of Iran were also activated,” Jabbari reported.

A military factory belonging to the Iranian army in Isfahan was attacked by multiple quadcopters in January 2023, failing to damage the facility that was protected by air defence batteries and mesh wiring on its roof to counter small unmanned aerial vehicles.

Iran blamed Israel for that attack and arrested four people, executing one of them in January 2024, for operating on behalf of Mossad, the Israeli spy agency.

Israel had promised to respond after Iran launched a barrage of drones and missiles on the country on April 13, after a suspected Israeli attack on Iran’s consulate compound in Damascus killed 16 people, including two IRGC senior generals.

Governments around the world urged restraint and a push to de-escalate tensions across the region.

Isfahan is considered a strategically important city and one that is host to several important sites, including military research and development facilities, as well as bases. The nearby city of Natanz is the location of one of Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites.

In a speech in Damghan, in central Iran, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi made no mention of Isfahan but praised the Iranian attacks on Israel, saying they gave the country strength and unity.

Kioumars Heydari, the commander-in-chief of the ground forces of the Iranian army, said Iran remains vigilant to confront any other potential aerial threats.

“If suspicious flying objects appear in the sky of the country, they will be targeted by our powerful air defence,” he was quoted as saying by the state-run IRNA  news agency ahead of Friday prayers in Tehran.

‘No damage’ to nuclear facilities

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that “there is no damage” to Iranian nuclear sites as the United Nations nuclear watchdog’s chief Rafael Grossi called for restraint and said nuclear facilities should never be targeted in military conflicts.

The reported attack “was far more limited than many expected”, Iranian arms control expert Ali Ahmadi told Al Jazeera, adding that Israel “has much more limitations in its operational range” than many think.

“Certainly, after Iran’s retaliatory capacity was criticised, it benefits from advertising how ineffective what Israel did was as well. Iran also needs to prepare the public for a much softer reaction than it has talked about in the last couple of days,” he pointed out.

Ahmadi said that prior to today’s incident, Iran was preparing several options for a massive retaliation, including getting allies involved.

But considering the limited scope and impact of the alleged attack, which he described as a “security sabotage” rather than a “military assault”, it would be a mistake to carry out a significant response, he stressed.

There were also reports of explosions in Iraq and Syria, with Iranian state media saying there were explosions at multiple military-linked sites in Syria.

Syria’s official news agency SANA quoted a military source as saying that missile strikes in the early hours of the morning caused material damage to air defence sites in the country’s southern region. The report did not specify the exact location and the extent of the damage but blamed Israel.

The US and a number of European countries had been calling on Israel not to respond to Iran’s attack.

On Thursday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres painted a dark picture of the situation in the Middle East, warning that spiralling tensions over Israel’s war on Gaza and Iran’s attack on Israel could descend into a “full-scale regional conflict”.

“The Middle East is on a precipice. Recent days have seen a perilous escalation – in words and deeds,” Guterres told the UN Security Council.

“One miscalculation, one miscommunication, one mistake, could lead to the unthinkable – a full-scale regional conflict that would be devastating for all involved,” he said, calling on all parties to exercise “maximum restraint”.

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending