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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'

#511

Post by connicpu »

calvinmorrison wrote: post #406
travisd wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect this is a bad-faith argument, but just to be clear, NPR get's a tiny fraction of its funding from the government *and* maintains editorial independence. > The news organization says that is inaccurate and misleading, given that NPR is a private, nonprofit company with editorial independence. It receives less than 1 percent of its $300 million annual budget from the federally funded Corporation for Public Br…

Being free of direct government funding does not make it free from editorial independence. You can listen and get an idea of their underwriting. They're clear to walk the line around a lot of topics to not upset their corporate and non profit overlords. We live in a corporatocracy and these companies and non profits are revolving doors for regulatory capture through lobbying and other methods.

A significant percentage of NPR member station funding is from individual donations, NPR is obviously also very conscious about producing the type of content its audience expects. No media outlet on planet earth is free from the influence of its audience.

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

#512

Post by anonymouskimmer »

chapium wrote: post #420
fortuna86 wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China controls their state media, NPR/BBC etc. have state funding but remain editorially independent.

That seems like a contradiction.

This is why you can't stop at "who funded it" as an indicator of bias and editorial control, but have to look at what is actually produced as well.

Clair Cameron Patterson famously took money from the leaded gasoline industry to help fund his research demonstrating the harms of leaded gasoline.

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

#514

Post by yamtaddle »

nostromo wrote: post #413
jacquesm wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NPR needs money and they need editorial freedom, they seem to have both. I really can't fault them for that, editorial independence is the yardstick by which media should be judged unless there is outright ownership.

Money can be easily tracked. Editorial independence cannot be. I actually think NPR has been captured by their audience in the same way MSNBC and Fox News has been. They know member donations are their biggest funding source, so they largely tell their audience what they want to hear. Put another way, I don't think perfect editorial independence exists. Everyone knows where their bread is being buttered. Having a bad…

> I actually think NPR has been captured by their audience in the same way MSNBC and Fox News has been.

I... don't know. When the topic comes up there sure are a lot of us NPR listeners who are in rather a love-hate relationship with it, leaning toward "hate". Half the time I'm listening I'm shaking my head at how very self-parody-like NPR they're being or yelling at them to stop doing such shitty coverage. Like, the best news on my local station, far and away, is when they rebroadcast BBC content. If I could tune into actual BBC stations when driving, I'd probably listen to that a lot more than NPR. These days especially, NPR's only got a very-few programs I'd bother to save from a fire, as it were, or that I even might go out of my way to listen to when not in the car.

It's just that there's not a lot of better news/commentary/talk programming on the radio dial.

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

#515

Post by KennyBlanken »

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…

> To say that NPR doesn’t receive a significant portion of its budget from the federal government is a lie.

Since you failed to keeps scrolling down, here's the link to the "local station revenues" section

https://www.npr.org/about-npr/178660742/public-radio-finance...

5% from Federal and state and local governments.

Another 8% comes from CPB, which is a federally funded, private non-profit. The vast majority of CPB's funding goes towards public television, not public radio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation_for_Public_Broadca...

So yes, actually.

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

#516

Post by kyralis »

yossarian1408 wrote: post #502
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…

Because the label has a connotation that is not accurate.

Connotation is just as important as denotation when evaluating meaning and accuracy of statements. Engineers love to pretend otherwise - that's probably part of why we're engineers - but that doesn't make them right.

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

#517

Post by balozi »

Distilled down to its most basic argument -the question becomes: can an institution that receives funding from a sponsor also claim that its output is independent of that sponsor's interests?

My perception is that NPR serves specific class interests, not State interests per se. Unfortunately for them, the State also serves the same narrow class interests. Rage-quitting will not address the underlying tension.

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

#518

Post by hitpointdrew »

NickM wrote: post #269
hitpointdrew wrote: post #203

How on earth can anyone say "falsely labeled"? NPR does get money from the federal government, that is an undisputable fact. How are they not "state-affilated"? I don't care how small a % of the budget is money from the government. The fact they take any money at all from the gov makes them sate-affilated.

Twitter's own definition of "state-affiliated media" reads as follows: State-affiliated media is defined as outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution. By this definition, NPR is not state-affiliated.

You expect me to believe that gov funding NPR receives is “no strings attached”. LOL yeah right.

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

#519

Post by jacquesm »

anonporridge wrote: post #509
jacquesm wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 be…

Show how the NPR is pulling their punches when they report on the Federal government and I'll consider it. But from where I'm sitting - far outside of the USA - they offer some of the most balanced and clean reporting out there (and that includes the BBC).

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

#520

Post by thrashh »

eastbound wrote: post #332
tapoxi wrote: post #240

Good. It's clear now that Twitter is just an information control mechanism for Musk, and journalists should quit their addiction to it. I think every major news outlet should have their own ActivityPub compatible service, essentially as a modern replacement for RSS.

Strange that labelling medias with their true funding diminishes their credibility so much that they’d flee to any place where this information is not disclosed.

The problem isn’t that Twitter is labeling media with true funding. If it was, you’d be seeing under MSNBC or CNN or Fox News who their main sponsors are (which are probably bigger than NPR’s government contribution).

So by cherry picking only some funding sources to label with, that means that you are trying to present a narrative.

(or if Twitter is not trying to present a narrative, instead it means that they‘re just being naive)

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