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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'

#551

Post by scarface74 »

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…

And Fox News had a direct line to the White House and was influenced heavily by it. Was it not just as biased?

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

#553

Post by AnthonyMouse »

mbesto wrote: post #507
AnthonyMouse wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Does GE or John Deere write software for their hardware? Absolutely. Are they colloquially considered "tech" companies? No.

Because tech is not their primary line of business.

> Twitter is a media company (they distribute media).

A media company is the thing that produces media, not the thing that distributes it. Cogent is not a media company.

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

#554

Post by ImPostingOnHN »

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…

discussing incentives is understandable (even though your analogy doesn't fit because the government's minor funding isn't what's keeping NPR funded)

suggesting that actual impropriety or improper influence occurs as a result is a conspiracy theory, and we'd need to see actual evidence that it actually happened to avoid dismissing it out of hand

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

#555

Post by fortuna86 »

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.

If you build editorial independent into a legal charter, and have a government that isn't authoritarian and protects the rule of law, why is it a contradiction?

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

#557

Post by ImPostingOnHN »

rahimnathwani wrote: post #398
jacquesm wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and this gives their funders editorial control how?

I was so surprised by the first statement in your comment, that I stopped reading right there, and searched online to see if I could confirm/deny the statement. Then I wrote a reply without reading the rest of your comment. I didn't say anything about editorial control.

it sounds, then, that you'd agree with an accurate compromise:

"receives a small amount of funding from the federal government but maintains editorial independence"

all true, so better than the current label

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

#558

Post by mortenjorck »

user3939382 wrote: post #494
gaoshan wrote: post #483

State affiliated media indicates state run media... i.e. propaganda for the State. NPR is in no way propaganda for the State. It's probably the furthest a media outlet could be from such a thing. This as an example of people putting their own political ideologies above all else and labeling the things that don't necessarily support them as propaganda. It's wrong and short sighted.

Do you have any examples of them bucking the DNC establishment? I’ve never seen one. AFAICT state propaganda is exactly what they are.

State propaganda and party propaganda are the same thing in some countries, but fortunately not in the US.

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

#559

Post by dragonwriter »

nafizh wrote: post #541

NPR is indeed a propaganda machine. But only for one party, and its woke ideology. It doesn't even have to receive federal funding to acknowledge that. Now the technical question is what label do you put on a media platform that's captured by an ideology favorable to a single party which comes to power every few years?

> Now the technical question is what label do you put on a media platform that's captured by an ideology favorable to a single party which comes to power every few years?

Without agreeing that that is actually true of NPR, the most accurate label would be “typical private media”, virtually all of which has an ideological viewpoint shaped by the interests (commercial and/or otherwise) of its principals (and, often by way of those commercial interests, those of its sponsors.)

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

#560

Post by whydoyoucare »

If NPR is really concerned about getting balanced news to the masses, then their decision to quit twitter, in the lack of an alternative and equivalent platform, seems short-sighted and more like a temper tantrum of a kindergartner, than that of a thoughtful and mature news organization.

It also reinforces the conspiracy theories that they were never truly independent. By making a stinker about this issue, they are trying to paint Musk as the evil overlord hell bent on strangling anyone he dislikes. NYT, WaPo and other leftist media outlets are going to join (yet again) this bandwagon, guaranteed.

Did BBC quit? No.

NPR, grow up, be an adult.

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