National Public Radio, known as one of America's most notoriously biased media outlets, earned a new badge on Twitter this week in a move that has already sent liberals screeching for their safe spaces and drawn applause from Americans who've long been irked by NPR's blatant anti-conservative — and often unpatriotic — programming.
Twitter users first started noticing on Tuesday night that NPR's official account has been labeled "US state-affiliated media."
Twitter labeled NPR “state-affiliated media” which is now on par with Russian state media. Hilarious! pic.twitter.com/ufsLN5BKmd
— Chris Plante Show (@ChrisPlanteShow) April 5, 2023
Musk shared Twitter's Help Center definition for state-affiliated media and said it "seems accurate" after Twitter slapped the label on NPR's account.
Seems accurate pic.twitter.com/nx5TmJY7GX
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2023
Predictably, the same folks who lug around "Democracy Dies in Darkness" tote bags, slap "COEXIST" bumper stickers on their Subarus, and stab "Hate Has No Home Here" signs in their yard while displaying handmade "F**K TRUMP" posters in their windows were not thrilled with the update to NPR's account.
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They insist NPR is not state-affiliated media, claim its reporting is neutral, and probably still think the 2016 election was stolen from Hillary by Russia.
Truly insane. Elon Musk’s Twitter has labeled NPR as “state-affiliated media” a label it places on Chinese/Russian propaganda outlets.
— Kaivan Shroff (@KaivanShroff) April 5, 2023
NPR gets less than 1% of its funding from the federal government and it’s content is in no way controlled by the government. pic.twitter.com/DKjBBYGAM3
But here's the deal: NPR was established by an act of the United States Congress, receives taxpayer dollars, and even emphasizes the importance of its revenue from "federal funding."
Here's what NPR's website says:
Federal 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.
Public radio stations receive annual grants directly from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) that make up an important part of a diverse revenue mix that includes listener support, corporate sponsorship and grants. Stations, in turn, draw on this mix of public and privately sourced revenue to pay NPR and other public radio producers for their programming.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is literally "A Private Corporation Funded by the American People" according to the CPB's website, meaning its just another pass-through for taxpayer dollars to reach NPR's coffers.
Those defending NPR against Twitter's label claim that the amount of money NPR receives from taxpayers is small enough to be irrelevant — compared to corporate benefactors and personal pledges — but the dollar amount still makes it "government" (read: taxpayer) funded.
NPR's President and CEO John Lansing responded to Twitter's action saying the company was "disturbed" by the label and insisted NPR produces "independent, fact-based journalism" that is part of a "vigorous, vibrant free press" that "is essential to the health of our democracy."
Well, let's take a look at the "journalism" that NPR produces. No serious person can argue that NPR does not operate as a wing of the administrative state and Democrat politicians.
Well, here's how NPR chose to cover Hunter Biden's laptop from hell:
The Swamp, Big Tech, and Mainstream Media ran cover for Joe Biden in the days leading up to the 2020 election.@NPR called the @nypost's Hunter Biden laptop story "pure distractions."
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) February 8, 2023
The authenticity of the laptop has since been confirmed by CBS, the Washington Post, and CNN. pic.twitter.com/ktt2dRfY6s
And here's just one bit of NPR's framing of the Russia collusion hoax:
NPR, which was a co-conspirator in the Russia collusion hoax, redefines Clinesmith pleading guilty to falsifying evidence against Trump affiliate Carter Page as something "related to information-gathering." Our media are completely and utterly corrupt. https://t.co/m0Y0zqFC8A
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) August 14, 2020
If you search for differences between NPR's coverage and the current thing being pushed by Democrats and their goons in the administrative state, you'll have a tough time finding any. Perhaps it would be even more accurate for Twitter to label NPR "US administrative state-affiliated media."