Boston radio station WBUR joins NPR in signing off Twitter
BOSTON - Public radio station WBUR in Boston is joining its national affiliate NPR in signing off Twitter after Elon Musk's social media platform labeled the news organization as "state-affiliated media" last week.
"WBUR is following suit in solidarity with NPR," CEO Margaret Low said in a statement. "We will stop posting on Twitter."
Twitter later changed the label to "government-funded media," but NPR said the labels "undermine our credibility by falsely implying that we are not editorially independent."
"We are not putting our journalism on platforms that have demonstrated an interest in undermining our credibility and the public's understanding of our editorial independence," NPR said in a statement to CBS News.
The labels are misleading, NPR said, because the radio network is a private, editorially independent nonprofit that receives less than 1% of its annual budget from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is federally funded. NPR's decision to step back from Twitter comes several months after scores of top advertisers left the platform in the wake of billionaire Musk's takeover in October.
WBUR said its audience can continue to find its content over the air and online.
"WBUR's mission is to produce high-quality journalism and enriching experiences that foster understanding, connection and community in Boston and beyond," Low said. "We remain committed to that purpose. But a presence on Twitter no longer supports it."
