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NPR quits Twitter after being labeled as 'state-affiliated media'

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Re: NPR quits Twitter after being labeled as 'state-affiliated media'

#501

Post by hkt »

anonymouskimmer wrote: post #337
bagels wrote: post #317

Should Twitter itself get a state sponsored label for getting concessions from San Francisco on their headquarters? https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/S-F-controller-hails-... Should Elon's account (or SpaceX or Telsa) have the same label because of their significant government funding? It's hard to see this as anything but silly politics games.

> Should Elon's account (or SpaceX or Telsa) have the same label because of their significant government funding? My first thought. How much in easy loans have his companies received from the government? This is just rich people hating on the industry that publicly critiques them.

[flagged]

Re: NPR quits Twitter after being labeled as 'state-affiliated media'

#502

Post by yossarian1408 »

bagels wrote: post #317

Should Twitter itself get a state sponsored label for getting concessions from San Francisco on their headquarters? https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/S-F-controller-hails-... Should Elon's account (or SpaceX or Telsa) have the same label because of their significant government funding? It's hard to see this as anything but silly politics games.

Twitter, SpaceX and Tesla are not newspapers/publishers. The reason for labelling news organisations' government affiliations is for the viewer/reader to understand that there may or may not be bias, and where the funding is coming from.

If NPR's government contributions are embarrassing for the organisation, it might be best for them to forgo that funding. Additionally, if there's no influence/bias, then why does it matter that their funding is disclosed to the reader?

Re: NPR quits Twitter after being labeled as 'state-affiliated media'

#503

Post by aendruk »

mavhc wrote: post #445
riffic wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

with ActivityPub you can have specific actors like @breaking@npr.org, @sports@npr.org, @finance@npr.org, @waitwaitdonttellme@npr.org, @reporter@npr.org, et cetera.

what's the reason for the initial @ symbol, seems superfluous

It originated organically on Twitter as early users wrote “at” each other. Following that Twitter formally adopted it, and Mastodon imitated Twitter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mention_(blogging)#@_(at_sign)

Within Mastodon’s UI usernames are typically displayed as just e.g. @breaking, avoiding the visual noise of multiple at signs.

Re: NPR quits Twitter after being labeled as 'state-affiliated media'

#504

Post by hilbertseries »

DrThunder wrote: post #363
veec_cas_tant wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is also this part that you did not quote: >On average, less than 1% of NPR's annual operating budget comes in the form of grants from CPB and federal agencies and departments. It is irrelevant to most of the controversy, however. The original Twitter label declared that NPR did not have editorial independence from the government.

They don't. Just because you say you do doesn't make it so. When a big part of your funding comes from the people that can vote to cut it at any moment you do not have true independence. This is as silly as the argument saying the 1st amendment isn't violated by social media when you have the government literally asking these companies for censorship.

NPR continuing to publish programming critical of Trump during the Trump presidency, is a pretty strong indication they have editorial independence.

Re: NPR quits Twitter after being labeled as 'state-affiliated media'

#505

Post by eestrada »

BooneJS wrote: post #347

Can we go back to RSS with great apps to get our news?

This is how I get my news. Not every news source has an Atom or RSS feed, but plenty of aggregating sites (like HN I might note) do have feeds. Nothing is stopping anyone from doing this now. But apparently, this is not how the masses want to consume media, including news media.

Re: NPR quits Twitter after being labeled as 'state-affiliated media'

#506

Post by arrosenberg »

geraldwhen wrote: post #451
iamerroragent wrote: post #436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is how NPR is funded: https://www.npr.org/about-npr/178660742/public-radio-finance... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPR#Funding

Member stations are federally funded. Member stations pay NPR. To say that NPR doesn’t receive a significant portion of its budget from the federal government is a lie. This same argument is made whenever a politico mentions cutting funding to NPR. There is a large push to claim that NPR receives very little funding and it’s irrelevant to the network. But you can’t have it both ways. The lady doth protest too mightil…

Federally funded != State Affiliated. There is no one from the Biden Administration telling them what to say. By labeling them as such, Elon/Twitter are implying that NPR has a Goebbels-like figure running it, which is mendacious at best.

Re: NPR quits Twitter after being labeled as 'state-affiliated media'

#507

Post by mbesto »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #453
binarymax wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Twitter is a media company. EDIT: lots of discussion around this. Twitter is literally a social media company. You can split hairs on whether the “media” part of “social media” agrees with your bias here.

Media outlets: NY Times, Fox News, MSNBC, NPR. Tech companies: Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter. Some companies are even both. But in the main, Twitter is the thing that employs developers and writes code and not the thing that employs reporters and writes stories.

> Tech companies:

Here we go again...under this view, every company is a "tech" company. Does GE or John Deere write software for their hardware? Absolutely. Are they colloquially considered "tech" companies? No.

Twitter is a media company (they distribute media). Tech is their operating model to deliver media. As is Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, etc. etc.

Re: NPR quits Twitter after being labeled as 'state-affiliated media'

#508

Post by ImPostingOnHN »

akira2501 wrote: post #472
bagels wrote: post #317

Should Twitter itself get a state sponsored label for getting concessions from San Francisco on their headquarters? https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/S-F-controller-hails-... Should Elon's account (or SpaceX or Telsa) have the same label because of their significant government funding? It's hard to see this as anything but silly politics games.

> Should Elon's account (or SpaceX or Telsa) have the same label because of their significant government funding? Are they a "media" company primarily dedicated to the practice of journalism?

the account is media, and it's as state affiliated as NPR, if not moreso

as for whether it's a media company, that's irrelevant and seems to be an attempt to move the goalposts

Re: NPR quits Twitter after being labeled as 'state-affiliated media'

#509

Post by anonporridge »

jacquesm wrote: post #369
rahimnathwani wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they receive only a tiny percentage of their funding from the government There are at least two ways they get government funding: - direct funding from the federal government - payment from member stations (at least 31% of revenue) who are themselves supported by government funding Without looking at the funding sources of each NPR member station, it's hard to come up with a good estimate, but it's probably a doubl…

Yes, and this gives their funders editorial control how?

If I'm giving you a regular flow of money that keeps you well fed and housed in a nice area, you're going to at least subconsciously care about how I perceive you and if I approve of the things you're doing, because I have the power to cut off that flow of money at any time.

This is why many wealthy individuals and organizations donate to both political parties. The implicit threat of losing a flow of money you've become accustomed to is more powerful that the vague promise of a new flow of money that you can currently live without.

Old money and power don't control things with a loud command, but with a subtle flash of facial displeasure.

Re: NPR quits Twitter after being labeled as 'state-affiliated media'

#510

Post by preseinger »

woooooo wrote: post #377
jacquesm wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Besides the fact that they receive only a tiny percentage of their funding from the government the bigger issue is that of editorial control and NPR is pretty clean as far as I can see. Unlike most of the other entities labeled 'State Affiliated Media'. Naming NPR in one breath with those others is intentionally tarnishing them and playing to the crowd, which is something that Elon has been engaging in in a very spec…

It's still federally funded. Twitter probably shouldn't have gotten into labeling who is and isn't state funded, but if they are, US/UK/NATO orgs should be fair game alongside the Russians and Chinese. NPR labeling the "state-funded media" claim as "false" when its trivially, factually true is a bad look for them as a fact-based organization.

the claim is trivially and factually false

what are you talking about

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