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

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

#971

Post by ouid » Thu, Apr 13, 2023, 4:57 PM UTC

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.

Editorial independence from government funding.

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

#972

Post by hot_gril » Thu, Apr 13, 2023, 5:02 PM UTC

hklgny wrote: post #435

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it's VERY toxic for newcomers who don't fit a specific mold. I have not experienced that ... at all. Surely this is highly instance dependent.

I could believe that it's possible to stumble upon an instance that fits who you are and offers a great onboarding experience - but it's far from the norm. The reason I'm confident saying that is that it's actually by design for the platform. The community is very hostile towards any kind of discovery tools or enhancements that help you explore the network without a direct introduction. Any attempt to provide that fu…

That can be fine if they don't want to be Twitter. But I don't take it seriously as a Twitter replacement.

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

#973

Post by syngrog66 » Thu, Apr 13, 2023, 5:07 PM UTC

SpaceX has taken massively more US gov funding than NPR. and many Tesla car buyers were persuaded to make the leap due to US gov tax incentives on EVs

I do miss the old Elon Musk, the one I could respect and appreciate without reservation. feels like something "broke" in his personality a few years ago

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

#974

Post by travisporter » Thu, Apr 13, 2023, 5:33 PM UTC

pphysch wrote: post #313

The current CEO of NPR was the former global propaganda chief for the US government. This is a fact. If you think that is a coincidence, and NPR is totally not de facto state-media, I have a bridge to sell you. Props to Twitter's new leadership for doing what is ostensibly right, though who knows what their motivation is.

Same label as Chinese and Russian state media? This was not was an apolitical decision based on facts.

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

#975

Post by adastra22 » Thu, Apr 13, 2023, 5:47 PM UTC

preseinger wrote: post #959

adastra22 wrote: post #934

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Conspiracy theories like (1) you should mask up, or (2) COVID is airborne? Both would have gotten you suspended from Twitter.

no they would not have, be better than this

Accounts advocating for both positions were suspended back in 2020/2021. It really did happen.

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

#976

Post by wyager » Thu, Apr 13, 2023, 6:11 PM UTC

roflyear wrote: post #872

wyager wrote: post #645

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah? Lockheed Martin could be reasonably described as "federally funded".

Sure, but then what's the point of bringing it up at all?

Because that's what the thread is about? If twitter marked lockheed as "government funded organization" I would not care

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

#977

Post by chakhs » Thu, Apr 13, 2023, 6:27 PM UTC

fdschoeneman wrote: post #937

zerocrates wrote: post #667

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "state affiliated" label on Twitter was originally applied to sources that are not editorially independent from their states. Twitter put this label on NPR, then removed an explicit mention of NPR as non-state-affiliated from their public policy related to the label, then removed the mention of editorial independence from the policy entirely, then changed the label to "state funded." I think it's easy to see why…

I'm not sure I care. To me, state funded is the same as state affiliated. The important thing is not that npr is labelled one way or the other. Everyone knows what NPR is and what the BBC is. Most fair people figure they have a bias but that sometimes they still do good work. The important thing is that by being consistent, and by labelling journalists and media brands like RT and the Chinese state media organs using…

This. It's not fair to apply this rule that kinda says "state affiliated/funded = propaganda" to everyone except for USA media, that's some USA exceptionalism.

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

#978

Post by bob-09 » Thu, Apr 13, 2023, 7:29 PM UTC

raxxorraxor wrote: post #945

kyralis wrote: post #516

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

A connotation is subjective and should not matter. Public funding however is. In my country there are more or less trustworthy government funded news stations that are also flagged. At least on youtube. But I believe the label is more important than what some people fear other people would maybe perceive.

[flagged]

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

#979

Post by bob-09 » Thu, Apr 13, 2023, 7:32 PM UTC

orblivion wrote: post #755

d23 wrote: post #716

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NPR is not nor has it ever been state-affiliated media in any reasonable sense of the word. Is it a full stop, bald-face lie.

I agree and wasn't fond of the "state-affiliated" label but they switched to "government funded" which I agree with.

[flagged]

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

#980

Post by petsfed » Thu, Apr 13, 2023, 8:48 PM UTC

pphysch wrote: post #882

petsfed wrote: post #589

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was going to mention Radio Free Europe as a really good example of egregious, western state-sponsored media, but then on a lark, I looked up how well regarded they are, bias-wise, and now I don't know what to think.

Western state-backed media is regarded highly by mainstream Western media watchdogs? You don't say.

That was kind of my read on it, which is what sent me into a tailspin. I ended up questioning all the tools I had to evaluate a source without taking it on as another job.

But it turns out that the difference in bias of RFE and any number of out-and-out propaganda mills is that if a story is inconvenient to RFE's agenda, they'll de-emphasize it. On the other hand, an out-and-out propaganda mill will just make shit up to fit their narrative.

So where I landed was that RFE was ultimately reliable, but subject to the same little human biases as NPR or AP News or the Financial Times, or any number of other sources that I do trust. Their main source of bias is a bit more of an elephant in the room, but if anything, it makes them a bit harder on their masters.