This week, NPR said Elon Musk has threatened to reassign the company’s Twitter handle if it refuses to post on the platform indefinitely.
NPR stated it would quit using Twitter last month when Musk attached a label to the account pointing out that the government funds the company. A series of emails sent to a reporter revealed that Musk could transfer NPR’s Twitter handle to another organization or user. Musk said, “So is NPR going to start posting on Twitter again, or should we reassign @NPR to another company?”
According to Twitter’s terms of service, an account becomes inactive if it does not log on at least once every 30 days. Musk said, “Our policy is to recycle handles that are definitively dormant. Same policy applies to all accounts. No special treatment for NPR.”
NPR released a statement last month, announcing they would no longer be active on Twitter following Musk’s label on their account. An NPR spokesperson said, “NPR’s organizational accounts will no longer be active on Twitter because the platform is taking actions that undermine our credibility by falsely implying that we are not editorially independent.” They continued, “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.”
Tucker Carlson hilariously slammed NPR after Elon Musk initially labeled the media organization as state-funded media. Carlson pointed out that the label Musk assigned to NPR puts them in the same category as state-backed media worldwide, such as Russia Today, China Central Television, and the Tehran Times. Tucker commented, “It means that NPR is not that different from the Tehran time was being less accurate and more anti-American. So that happened on Tuesday. Why are we telling you about it? With all the momentous changes underway around the world? Why would we open a show with a story about Twitter, the categorizing NPR is the media.”
Carlson continued, “Telling you the truth is the most revolutionary act of all our more than taking up arms. And yet you rarely see it human beings created language or to describe the world around them more precisely than they could would say grunting was timeline but unfortunately, it’s been subverting our own creation ever since. But not tonight. By calling National Public Radio what it is Elon Musk has used English as it was intended to be used in order to tell the truth.”
Tucker continued, “Of course, NPR is state media. If you listen to it it has all the hallmarks, repetitive dishonesty, authoritarian politics, unwavering devotion to the party in charge. Words that could describe virtually all media in this country.” He added, “NPR is the radio station of permanent Washington. That’s who pays for it. That’s who benefits from it. By adding three simple words to NPR tweets Elon Musk, expose that forever to the world. Such is the power of true exposes and of course, it infuriates those who are exposed. So NPR held an outrage but with its signature purse lipped fussiness.”
"*" indicates required fields