The BBC has become the latest media organization to receive a new label on Twitter designating it as “government-funded media.”.The move has prompted the broadcaster to complain to Twitter CEO Elon Musk and comes after US-based National Public Radio (NPR) received an identical label earlier in April.. BBC .NPR was originally described as “state-affiliated media,” a label synonymous with Russian-based media such as RT. NPR has not tweeted since April 4, despite its label being amended to “government-funded media.”.Only the @BBC account has been given Twitter’s new label, despite the corporation’s control over hundreds of other pages on the social media site..British households are legally required to pay an annual licence fee set by the government in order to watch live television broadcasts. The fee is subsequently used to fund the BBC, which does not air commercials in its programming..The BBC has queried the label in correspondence with Musk, where it argued funding was sourced from the British public rather than the government..Musk reportedly told the corporation that he believed the BBC to be “among the least biased” media outlets..Twitter’s latest label sparks questions over the implications for Canadian media outlets too, many of whom receive funding from the federal government. CBC, for example, receives approximately 70% of its funding from Ottawa, while other media organizations such as CTV, Global, City, and Post Media also benefit from government funding..In response to one user who requested CBC be labelled as government funded, Musk replied with a call to “add more granularity to editorial influence, as it varies greatly.”.“I don’t actually think the BBC is as biased as some other government-funded media, but it is silly of the BBC to claim zero influence,” he added..The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, known as ABC, and Radio New Zealand, known as RNZ, are both government funded but have not been designated as “government-funded media.”.The Western Standard will not be affected because it does not receive government funding and is an independent news media organization.
