• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, April 10, 2023

NPR now is labelled state-affiliated media" -- a label also affixed to Russia-controlled Russia Today, and China's Xinhua News. 

Is that fair? No.

While the Elon Musk-controlled private company has now designated NPR's news value as equal to that of other news operations that may be questionable, it did not offer a full analysis of its decision.

Twitter defines "state affiliated" news operations as those "where the state exercises control over editorial [emphasis added] content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution."

NPR has denied this. Many analysts agree: there is no control -- by any measure -- of state-controlled authority for NPR.

At the very least, Twitter needs to do better when it comes to its determinations if it intends to continue this labeling. 

Beyond this, many might say it's all about the money.

NPR receives only 1% of its direct funding from the federal government, with its member stations paying dues that amount to about one third of NPR's revenue.

Overall, the money connection still is not a good case -- unless there is proof that to an extent, its member stations are somehow directing editorial content.

But let's move beyond that for a moment. Think of the U.K.'s  BBC and Canada's CBC. Both receive government funding. Why aren't they labeled "state-affiliated"media as well?  

One wonders -- considering all that has gone on at Fox News Channel, especially now in the midst of the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit -- whether the Musk-controlled Twitter should have tagged that network with some better descriptive moniker as well. 

Previous Twitter guidelines offered up a description for a news media group: “A state-financed media organizations with editorial independence, like the BBC in the UK or NPR in the US for example, are not defined as state-affiliated media for the purposes of this policy.” 

So what has changed? Maybe we need more definitions and labels everywhere. Perhaps many news networks need to be labeled -- not just “advertising-supported,” for example -- but maybe “Corporate-Financed Supported.” 

Perhaps each and every time we see a news story from a news network, we should see specific advertising estimated revenue for that content.

After all,we are in the Big Data/digital time for all media. Let’s dig deeper for consumers. You know -- more transparency, giving all sides of the story, and more potential marketing labels.