- Have any questions?
- 02 9247 6000
- media@commsroom.co
- Have any questions?
- 02 9247 6000
- media@commsroom.co
Menu
After a decidedly public spat with western broadcasters last week, Elon Musk’s Twitter has removed the controversial “government-funded media” tag from accounts belonging to news publications.
The site has also removed its web page that defined its use of the “government media” labels.
When asked why, Musk said it came as a suggestion from Walter Isaacson, the author of his upcoming biography, NPR’s Bobby Allyn reported.
The removal affects even the accounts already sporting the label before Musk’s takeover, such as Russia’s RT and China’s Xinhua News.
The move to add the labels were implemented just last week, reportedly to “boost transparency,” but quickly earned the ire of broadcasters such UK’s BBC and Australia’s SBS and ABC News.
Both Australian broadcasters say that while they get a substantial portion of their funds from the government, they retain full control over their editorial policies. Meanwhile, the BBC said they were funded by the public through licence fees and receive “zero influence” from the government.
Some publications such as US-based Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR) stopped using Twitter altogether to protest the tags, saying that it undermined their credibility and questioned their editorial independence.
Both outlets have still not updated their Twitter accounts as of press time.
