Twitter labels NPR "State Affiliated Media;" freakout follows

(NPR)

Elon Musk has made me smile once again. This, my friends, is hilarious.

Perhaps there is hope for America, or at least we can laugh along the way as we travel the highway to hell.

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It couldn’t happen to a nicer group of people.

You may recall that earlier today I ripped NPR a new one on its lying story about bug eating and last Friday I wrote about its employees kvetching about diversity in layoffs. I could write about NPR propaganda and idiocy all day every day, but it gets dull.

Back when I worked in local politics I butted heads with Minnesota Public Radio all the time not because their stories were often awful, but because they made getting government funds a moral requirement. They didn’t even need the money–they are flush–but felt entitled to it.

So this serves them right. By labeling NPR “state-affiliated media” Twitter put them in the same category as Russia Today.

Sounds about right.

NPR went absolutely insane in response to the label, with a highly overwrought and quite off-point press release.

It’s news to me that NPR gives a rip about free speech. Since when? Where has their outrage been about how the government has built a massive infrastructure to censor what they claim is “misinformation?” How much effort did NPR put into checking out government lies regarding the Steele Dossier, COVID, vaccines, mask mandates, the Hunter Biden laptop, or any number of government information operations?

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NPR has always taken pride in being “public media,” and has fought for every dime it can get from the government. It has earned its label.

Twitter has made it official, National Public Radio (NPR) is now classified as a “US state-affiliated media” outlet on the platform.

It’s a label that has traditionally applied to state-run media outlets in foreign autocracies, like Russia’s RT and China’s Xinhua.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk shared the company’s guidance on state-affiliated media Wednesday.

“State-affiliated media is defined as outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution,” the Twitter policy read.

Clearly, Elon Musk is tweaking the news outlet, deliberately trolling them because they are Leftist snobs who think far too well of themselves.

But just as clearly he has a point. NPR is a media mouthpiece for the Establishment, with a very cozy relationship to the government. They not only get funds from the government but work the refs there constantly to ensure the gravy train continues. Just as NPR would carefully note that a scientist got money from the tobacco companies if they quoted him, it is fair to point out that NPR, which covers the government, gets some of its funding from the people they cover.

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“Uh, no..,” Brady wrote, sharing a screenshot of the new designation.

Former NPR producer Ashley Westerman said that the label was “wholly inaccurate and untruthful. NPR gets LESS THAN 2% of its funding from grants through the federal government. NPR’s newsroom is an absolutely free and independent newsroom; always has been. This label is a LIE and an insult.”

People at the highest levels of our society believe the standards don’t apply to them, and frankly, they have been right. But that is not how it should be. In any other case, the high and mighty at NPR would pronounce that conflicts of interest should be disclosed (not that they do it when it reflects badly on the Left).

Goose. Gander. (Note that this is a binary).

Go to NPR and do a simple search: look for “far right” and then “far left.” See how often the terms have been used to describe groups this year.

Far Right: 17 stories with “far right” in the headline since January 1. 

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Far Left: 0 On average the term “far Left” is used ONCE A YEAR in an NPR headline. 

Look up “Don’t Say Gay.” All over the place, despite it being pure calumny. NPR lies constantly.

That, my friends, is propaganda. Unless you believe there is no far Left in the world.

So is NPR “state-affiliated media?” By Twitter’s definition, it clearly is, although I think in a more general sense it is Globalist Affiliated Media.

But given how deceptive NPR is about applying labels, I would say that by their standards this is far too kind.

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Ed Morrissey 10:00 PM | November 20, 2024
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