NPR: Statist media?
The history of NPR and why Twitter labeled them "US state-affiliated media"
The history of public broadcasting
National Public Radio (NPR) was established by Congress in 1967 through the Public Broadcasting Act.
This act established a government-funded private non-profit called the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to support public radio and broadcasting for “instructional, educational, and cultural purposes.”
The first broadcast of NPR didn’t happen until 1971 and aired hearings on the Vietnam War.
In 1983, during attempts to wean NPR from government funding, they almost died due to bankruptcy and the CPB bailed them out.
Since then they’ve been about 10- 12% funded from US taxpayer dollars.
They also receive funding from memberships and it’s estimated that 25% of their funding comes from corporate sponsorship.
Twitter and “state-affiliated media”
On April 4th, 2023, Twitter users began to notice something on NPR’s profile.
In August of 2020, Twitter made an announcement that they would begin to add a “state-affiliated” label to certain accounts that they deemed affiliated with state governments. Most of us saw this appear on Russian accounts or account that report on Russia issues. However, they did state they would include the following countries: China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Now it gets interesting.
The above linked announcement is still up as of today (April 5th, 2023) and it specifically mentions NPR as not being labeled due to talks with Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council.
If you’re not aware, the previous Trust & Safety Council was dissolved in December of 2022 due to their failure to enforce policies around child exploitation material as well as far left bias concerns. NPR even released this hit piece about the dissolution.
So, Twitter’s now defunct Trust & Safety council invented the state-affiliated label and purposely left out NPR.
This morning, NPR released a statement about the added flag to their account.
Apparently they don’t like the label despite being at least partially funded by the US government. Boo-hoo.
Propaganda
When people see “state-affiliated” they think government propaganda.
It’s no surprise that the first accounts to be labeled were Russian accounts and journalists reporting on Russian news.
So, is NPR US government propaganda?
Let’s take a look.
Even a quick glance of NPR’s Twitter shows 90% coverage on Trump. Trump is currently being indicted, so we can give them the benefit of the doubt there.
Let’s try some other topics, though.
Ukraine




Okay, fine. Clearly an anti-Russia slant, but that’s most US news.
What about this one that just dropped today?


What the heck? Do US solders get this type of treatment? Spa days? Aromotherapy? Clearly pro-Ukraine war propaganda.
COVID
Most of my left wing friends and family listen to NPR. It’s no surprise that NPR pushed the establishment COVID narrative.
Even today they posted this. Omicron boosters? It’s April of 2023.


Racism
NPR pushes “anti-racism” rhetoric.



So, what do you think?
Conclusion
In my view, NPR is US-state affiliated and deserves the label. They are partially government funded, they were protected from the “state-affiliated” label by biased actors, and they post US government propaganda.
I still have some questions, though.
Why did Twitter establish the “state-affiliated” label in 2020 just prior to the election and at the height of the COVID pandemic? 🤔
Why was NPR originally left out by the now defunct “Trust and Safety” team at Twitter?
Feel free to leave a comment and share your thoughts.
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