Arguing its independence, the BBC refuses the label of “government-funded media” imposed by Elon Musk’s social network

Claiming its independence, the British public audiovisual group refuses the label of “government-funded media” imposed by Elon Musk’s social network. NPR radio also paid the price for this classification. Other public media could follow.

Government-funded media. For the past few days, the BBC’s official Twitter account has displayed this short label at the top of the page, to the chagrin of the institution, which is fiercely attached to its independence.

On Monday, the public audiovisual group indicated on its site to refute this new label, specifying that it had contacted Elon Musk’s social network to resolve this dispute “as soon as possible”. “The BBC is and always has been independent. We are funded by the British public through the license fee, ”underlines the text.

Contacted by the British media, the owner of Twitter clarified his position: “We seek maximum transparency and accuracy. (…) I consider that media organizations should be aware of who they are and not falsely claim that they are without bias. (…) I would like to note that I follow BBC News on Twitter, because in my opinion it is one of the least biased. »

The BBC avoided the worst and the classification of “state-affiliated media”, which would have placed it on the same level as the Russian public media “RT” and “Sputnik” or the Chinese audiovisual group “CCTV”. Twitter points to this difference on its online “Help Center”: “State-funded media outlets with editorial independence, such as the BBC in the UK or NPR in the US, are not defined as state-affiliated media for the purposes of this policy.”

Last week, the American radio station NPR was first categorized as “state media” on Twitter, and then publicly took offense. The label has since been changed to “government funded media.” »

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