As Townhall reported last week, National Public Radio was labeled as "state-affiliated media" by Twitter, a classification that was later changed to "government-funded media." We noted that NPR, in addition to corporate and individual donors, emphasizes the importance of its taxpayer-derived revenue via the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, meaning Twitter's label is accurate.
Well, this week, NPR took action that suggests again it is little more than a partisan war room for Democrats that is uninterested in communicating news and accurate information to Americans.
In a story posted Wednesday morning, NPR announced that it "will no longer post fresh content to its 52 official Twitter feeds, becoming the first major news organization to go silent on the social media platform."
So, NPR doesn't think it's supposedly necessary work is worth sharing on Twitter anymore? The framing sounds like NPR is looking for some sort of gold star from its liberal fan base as "the first major news organization" to go silent on Twitter. Is this supposed to be a punishment?
According to the organization's post, "NPR's chief executive says the network is protecting its credibility and its ability to produce journalism without 'a shadow of negativity.'" Credibility, you say? As a reminder, here's what NPR said about Hunter Biden's laptop from hell:
We don't want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories, and we don't want to waste the listeners' and readers' time on stories that are just pure distractions.
Hunter's laptop was later confirmed by The Washington Post and New York Times, yet NPR did not offer a mea culpa for lying to its audience that the debacle was anything but a waste of time or a distraction.
NPR also, last Independence Day, did away with its 30-plus year tradition of reading the Declaration of Independence on air to observe the Fourth of July, raising even more questions as to why the outlet receives any money from a country it doesn't believe deserves to be celebrated. NPR could, after all, clear up the Twitter label by no longer taking taxpayer dollars — especially if those funds are of negligible amount as NPR argues.
NPR's leaders said this week that, even if Musk removes the label, NPR won't immediately resume posting on Twitter, making its move appear even more ideologically motivated rather than a direct response to a policy decision NPR disagreed with.
Will NPR end up back on Twitter? Time will tell. For now, enjoy scrolling Twitter with a little less propaganda.