US public radio NPR on Wednesday became the first major outlet to quit Twitter in protest at the network’s political news. The same day, the latter’s boss, Elon Musk, admitted “mistakes” since his arrival.
Known and respected in the United States, where it claims 46 million listeners and readers per week on its stations, podcasts and websites, National Public Radio has announced that its “accounts (…) will no longer be active on Twitter”, accusing the network of taking actions that “undermine our credibility”.
A qualifying question
In question? Twitter’s decision last week to affix NPR, which claims its editorial independence, with the label of “media affiliated with the American state”, a label that puts it on the same level as Russian outlets like Russia Today (RT) or Sputnik.
At first, Elon Musk, who willingly displays his contempt for the media, had assumed a “just” change. Then Twitter took a step back, adopting for NPR and for the British BBC, which complained regarding it, the label of “media financed by government funds”. Still false according to NPR, which assures that less than 1% of its operating budget comes from federal sources, its funds coming mainly from , sponsorship and financial contributions from its member radios.
A spokeswoman for NPR said journalists and its member stations “will be able to decide for themselves if they want to stay on the platform.” The American radio station, whose main account on Twitter had 8.8 million subscribers on Wednesday, encouraged its listeners to follow it on other social media platforms.
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Targeted media
This departure of Twitter, the first of a major media, comes once morest the backdrop of the establishment of a new controversial certification policy, the network granting from April 20 its famous blue mark to those who will pay to take advantage of it. .
At the beginning of April, it withdrew this brand from the main account of the New York Times (55 million subscribers), in another gesture of defiance towards a respected media but considered too left-wing by some of the conservatives.
Read also: Ex-Twitter executives file lawsuit once morest Elon Musk’s social network
The press service now responds with an emoticon
Asked by AFP, the press service of Twitter returned, as is now the habit, an emoticon in the shape of excrement.
Wednesday, in a surprise interview with the BBC, Elon Musk admitted “many mistakes” six months following buying the company for 44 billion dollars, while ensuring that the company was now “in the right direction”. He notably conceded that the label of the BBC was going to be changed to that of “financed by public funds” (and no longer “government”).
Since he bought the blue bird, Elon Musk has relaxed the moderation of content on the network, letting back many users banned because of hate messages or falling under misinformation. He also dismissed with a vengeance, reducing the group’s workforce from 7,500 to less than 2,000 employees.
Floki is the boss
According to the specialized firm Insider Intelligence, Twitter’s revenues are expected to plunge by almost a third in 2023, to less than 3 billion dollars, once morest 4.14 billion in 2022, due in particular to a drop in revenues.
On the BBC, Elon Musk assured on the contrary that the company saw advertisers return and was “roughly at the break-even point”. By the way, he indicated that he had respected the results of a survey on the platform which asked for his departure, since from now on, the new CEO of Twitter is his dog Floki (see the excerpt on this subject).
Read also our editorial: Tweet, Twitter got you!
