Twitter 2.0 appears to be caving to leftist pressure by removing the “government-funded” labels it slapped on taxpayer-financed outlets like NPR.
Twitter owner Elon Musk initially supported labeling government-funded media labels for the outlets that receive funds from the government. Still — after pressure from the left — Twitter has removed labels that accurately described NPR and other news organizations as “government-funded.” NPR even actively promotes on its website how “[f]ederal 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.”
This is not the first time Twitter 2.0 caved to the left. Earlier this month, Musk slapped NPR with a “state-affiliated media” label but switched gears after left-wing backlash.
NPR President and CEO John Lansing threw a hissy fit over Musk’s move by barring the company from publishing its news on Twitter, The Washington Post reported. “We were disturbed to see last night that Twitter has labeled NPR as 'state-affiliated media,' a description that, per Twitter's own guidelines, does not apply to NPR,” Lansing said. NPR opted to quit Twitter after the Twitter labels.
Even White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre rushed to defend NPR journalists at an April 5 press conference, claiming they “work diligently to hold public officials accountable and inform the American people.” “The hard-hitting independent nature of their coverage speaks for itself,” she decried. CNN’s Kaitlan Collins similarly defended NPR. “That’s not obviously NPR,” Collins said in reference to the definition of state-affiliated media. “NPR does great journalism.”
The evidence of NPR’s left-wing, pro-Democrat talking points is endless. In 2020, NPR correspondent Joel Rose dubbed the Wuhan laboratory leak story one of the “biggest conspiracy theories” about COVID-19, falsely tying the legitimate theory to QAnon. A now-deleted NPR tweet falsely claimed the laboratory leak theory was “baseless.” In 2020, NPR also refused to cover the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, claiming it was a “waste” of time.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representative in Congress and demand they #DefundNPR.
