CBC will begin to put content back on some of its Twitter accounts after it stopped when its main account was slapped with a government-funded media label. .“Today, we will resume some activity on a handful of umbrella Twitter accounts, including @CBCNews, but we will significantly reduce our overall Twitter footprint and continue to assess the platform against our strategy,” said CBC News editor-in-chief Brodie Fenlon in a Tuesday blog post. .CBC announced it was pausing its use of Twitter on April 17. .READ MORE: CBC's Twitter account paused after labelled ‘government-funded media’.It said its journalism is neutral and self-governed, and any suggestion to the contrary is inaccurate..Twitter's policies indicate different levels of editorial involvement with accounts identified as government funded. CBC media relations director Leon Mar said it “does not fulfill these requirements.”.Twitter removed the government-funded media label on CBC’s main account on April 21. .READ MORE: Twitter removed '69% government-funded media' from CBC's Twitter account.Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre requested the label, as NPR and BBC had their accounts given this designation. .It is unknown why Twitter removed the label. .Fenlon said at the heart of press freedom is “the understanding no external government, group, or special interest should influence a news organization's journalism.” .The blog post said the controversy is not about delineating how public broadcasters are funded. CBC/Radio-Canada received more than $1.2 billion in federal funding in 2021-2022 and another $650 million from other means such as advertising, subscriptions, and syndication of its content. .Rather, it said the problem is about Twitter’s posted definition of government funded referring to outlets which “may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content.” Twitter CEO Elon Musk linked government funding to state influence and media bias on several occasions. .The blog post went on to say no government has involvement or influence on the journalism of CBC News or Radio-Canada. Its editorial independence is enshrined in the Broadcasting Act and has journalistic standards and practices to which the news divisions are held accountable by independent ombudsmen. .CBC News had been reviewing and adjusting its social media strategy for more than a year — long before changes were made to Twitter. Its focus remains on social media which prioritizes healthy communities and to provide better opportunities to grow new audiences. .“Despite many challenges from inside and outside Canada, CBC's commitment to independent, fact-based journalism is steadfast,” said Fenlon. .“Democracies live or die by the health of their independent news media; freedom and a free press are mutually dependent.”
