NPR quits Twitter after being labeled as 'state-affiliated media' • Hacker News Board

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

#521

Post by minsc_and_boo » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 5:57 PM UTC

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

Do you have any evidence of this? Less than 1% of NPR's funding comes from federal sources, according to wikipedia.

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

#522

Post by anonymouskimmer » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 5:57 PM UTC

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #484

anonymouskimmer wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Various companies in China are on US embargo lists because they are state-affiliated. Parsing out "media" companies is just hyper-targeting of ire. All companies that post tweets are effectively media. So why only highlight "news media" on a publication app such as Twitter?

The label is "state-affiliated media" so it makes sense that the label isn't applied to Twitter or SpaceX, not because they aren't state-affiliated, but because they aren't media. And it makes sense for the label to be applied specifically to media entities because journalists are supposed to be unbiased, as opposed to e.g. Raytheon which is objectively state-affiliated but nobody expects to be doing objective report…

> And it makes sense for the label to be applied specifically to media entities because journalists are supposed to be unbiased

This has never been the case. Never. While some journalism sources operate in a facts-only manner, all journalistic sources have bias as to which stories they research. And historically, the press has been about propaganda, editorials, and selling papers at least as much as about reporting.

Labeling news organization as "government-funded" is less informative than labeling them as "propaganda" or "editorializing". The major reason to so label them is, itself, propaganda. With the second reason being a warning to the reader to practice even more diligence than normal.

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

#523

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 5:58 PM UTC

DrThunder wrote: post #358

starbase wrote: post #213

Here's what NPR's own website says about their federal funding: "Federal funding is essential to public radio's service to the American public and its continuation is critical for both stations and program producers, including NPR." "Public radio stations receive annual grants directly from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)" "The loss of federal funding would undermine the stations' ability to pay NPR for…

And this proves they're not government funded / affiliated how? Didn't they tweet that their funding by the government was so minuscule that they shouldn't be labeled state-affiliated? You cannot simultaneously say that while also declaring you can't exist to your full capacity without government funding.

[deleted]

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

#524

Post by ImPostingOnHN » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 5:58 PM UTC

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #484

anonymouskimmer wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Various companies in China are on US embargo lists because they are state-affiliated. Parsing out "media" companies is just hyper-targeting of ire. All companies that post tweets are effectively media. So why only highlight "news media" on a publication app such as Twitter?

The label is "state-affiliated media" so it makes sense that the label isn't applied to Twitter or SpaceX, not because they aren't state-affiliated, but because they aren't media. And it makes sense for the label to be applied specifically to media entities because journalists are supposed to be unbiased, as opposed to e.g. Raytheon which is objectively state-affiliated but nobody expects to be doing objective report…

> If a media outlet is being funded by the government then readers should know that because it could affect their coverage

close, if there is evidence their coverage is actually being affected, readers should know that because that is what should inform their decision

in some cases, where the funding constitutes a large portion of total funding, it may be appropriate to add a disclaimer

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

#525

Post by user3939382 » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 5:58 PM UTC

misssocrates wrote: post #10

> It receives less than 1 percent Why do they keep saying they receive almost nothing, yet at the same time say government funding is essential to their operation?

Let’s graph all their sponsors and their connection to the corporations that also puppet our elected officials. My guess is the vast majority of their funding looks like:

Megacorp -> NPR Megacorp -> Exec -> NPR Megacorp -> Political NGO -> NPR

In addition to the direct Federal grant which is under the control of the same politicians in turn owned by these corporations.

The idea that it’s some independent real news organization is a farce.

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

#526

Post by guywithahat » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 5:58 PM UTC

DrThunder wrote: post #358

starbase wrote: post #213

Here's what NPR's own website says about their federal funding: "Federal funding is essential to public radio's service to the American public and its continuation is critical for both stations and program producers, including NPR." "Public radio stations receive annual grants directly from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)" "The loss of federal funding would undermine the stations' ability to pay NPR for…

And this proves they're not government funded / affiliated how? Didn't they tweet that their funding by the government was so minuscule that they shouldn't be labeled state-affiliated? You cannot simultaneously say that while also declaring you can't exist to your full capacity without government funding.

The irony is that it's likely not minuscule. Although NPR claims its around ~5%, independent investigations usually put it closer to 20-40%

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

#527

Post by wpietri » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 5:58 PM UTC

nimbius wrote: post #414

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.

more ontopic, I think its indicative of a general exodus of brands in general as well. nobody wants to pay for the checkmark, nobody wants to have their brand identity or message challenged or negated by fly-by-night impostors, and most people have lost tolerance for the abdication of moderation and safe space for a modern brand in general. The time to close your account was arguably last November when leadership fir…

Yeah, agreed. I was one of the people who quit Twitter in November. It has been a real loss for me, going from 7k followers on Twitter to 0.1k on Mastodon. Especially now that I'll be soon starting a job hunt, I miss that. But when I review my reasons for leaving Twitter [1], I'm not regretting it. I would rather have no platform than that platform. And the calculation for brands is surely much more fraught. I expect NPR will be the beginning of a fair bit of large orgs quitting Twitter, either loudly or just tailing off.

[1] https://twitter.com/williampietri/status/1593662348568326151

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

#528

Post by hkt » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 5:58 PM UTC

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…

From the Wiki link:

> In 2009, member stations derived 6% of their revenue from federal, state and local government funding, 10% of their revenue from CPB grants, and 14% of their revenue from universities.[34][63] While NPR does not receive any direct federal funding, it does receive a small number of competitive grants from CPB and federal agencies like the Department of Education and the Department of Commerce.[34] This funding amounts amounted to less than 0.1% of revenues, according to its 2020 public filings.

I'm not from the US so don't know the politics of this discussion, but it seems like NPR is funded more by the public directly, as well as the public sphere (foundations, universities, etc) than by the public sector. Do you have a source to the contrary?

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

#529

Post by petsfed » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 5:58 PM UTC

rahimnathwani wrote: post #357

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…

> 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…

>- payment from member stations (at least 31% of revenue) who are themselves supported by government funding

I have a hard time understanding this as "state sponsored", much less as evidence that NPR has ceded editorial control. NPR estimates (and InfluenceWatch believes this estimate) that about 4% of their revenue ultimately comes from federal, state and local governments [0], via direct grants to NPR, and via grants to member stations that are in turn paid to NPR. InfluenceWatch, you'll note, is run by the Capital Research Center, a conservative think tank which has an axe to grind about NPR's apparent left-wing bias.

This feels a lot like the accusations against Bellingcat that they are state-sponsored/controlled. And I think those accusations are equally specious. Accepting money via indirect grants is not at all the same as accepting payment for invoiced work.

0. https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/national-public-ra...

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

#530

Post by preseinger » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 5:59 PM UTC

kodah wrote: post #450

starbase wrote: post #213

Here's what NPR's own website says about their federal funding: "Federal funding is essential to public radio's service to the American public and its continuation is critical for both stations and program producers, including NPR." "Public radio stations receive annual grants directly from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)" "The loss of federal funding would undermine the stations' ability to pay NPR for…

Elon's playing word games. When the average person talks about State Affiliated Media they're referring to editorial control. As far as I know NPR has always had editorial control and goes to great lengths to maintain neutrality in their writing. They've certainly screwed up in major ways before, but compared to MSNBC, Fox, the NYT, NYP, and CNN I'd say NPR looks like a saint. The irony I see here is that Twitter is…

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