These major media organizations are fed up with Elon Musk

“We’re fed up, Elon!”

This roughly describes the reactions of two major American media organizations, which this week announced their Twitter withdrawal.

The reason: Elon Musk. Or more precisely, his decision to leave a dubious mark on the Twitter profiles of the well-known media syndicates.

The Public Broadcasting (PBS) is an association of regional TV channels. And NPR (National Public Radio) its counterpart in broadcasting.

Publicly funded

It is true that PBS and NPR are considered the American counterpart of the public broadcasters in Europe. However, they are mainly funded by user contributions or private donations and receive little money from the state.

That didn’t stop Twitter from falsely calling it a pro-state media organization, alongside China’s Xinhua news agency or the Kremlin’s RT (Russia Today).

After criticism, the label was changed: it now misleadingly states that NPR is a media organization funded by the US government. Yet less than 1 percent of NPR’s $300 million annual budget comes from government funds. At PBS, it’s about 15 percent.

NPR has said the new rating undermines the chain’s credibility because it falsely suggested it was not editorially independent.

The Twitter profile now says:

NPR chief John Lansing explained:

The NPR boss went on to explain that “the deterioration of Twitter culture” contributed to the decision to pull out: the platform is already often flooded with abusive content.

What about editorial freedom?

Since the change, PBS has not tweeted and does not plan to do so, a spokesperson told Bloomberg on Thursday. The last tweet on the PBS account is from April 8.

The moves by NPR and PBS threaten to undermine one of Twitter’s main selling points: its role as a central news hub, according to CNN.

The British public broadcaster BBC was initially described in its profile as being funded by the government. After criticism and protests from the BBC, Musk relented and had the label changed to “government-funded”.

It is therefore not surprising that Musk responded mockingly and angrily to the announced departure via Twitter.

It should be noted that the labeling of media organizations ordered by Musk also violates the platform’s own rules. A former Twitter executive who helped draft the guidelines told NPR. Decisive for assigning the predicate is whether a media organization enjoys editorial freedom. Because the labels are supposed to give Twitter users the context of whether a tweet they are viewing could be propaganda.

Why is he doing this?

At the heart of the problem is Twitter’s relationship with news, notes tech blog The Verge:

Elon Musk acknowledged that much of Twitter’s value lies in spreading news, “whether as a distributor of mainstream media stories, as a promotional vehicle for independent writers, or as a forum for live updates and conversations about current affairs.”

In return, media organizations and journalists depend on Twitter to distribute their content. Or they think they need it and refrain from using independent alternatives like Mastodon.

The Twitter boss seems to feel unfairly treated, especially by US media, which are critical of his business activities. And for his more than 134 million followers, he serves as an amplifier of right-wing political views.

Critics warn that the libertarian-minded tech multibillionaire is using the platform it bought to undermine the legitimacy of traditional media companies.

Earlier he had already ensured that the validity of the blue and white verification check marks was weakened. These should only be available for a fee. And he took the corresponding symbol from the “New York Times” after the American media house spoke out against it.

What is certain is that under Musk’s leadership there will be even more conflicts with media houses and prominent leavers. Last week, Twitter began curbing the spread of tweets with shortcuts (links) to the Substack platform. While Substack is not itself a media organization, it hosts newsletters and blogs from many well-known independent journalists. And they prefer to use Twitter to promote their work.

PS: According to NPR CEO John Lansing, individual NPR journalists and employees can decide for themselves whether they want to continue using Twitter.

Sources

With material from the SDA news agency

(dsc)