White House: NPR Independent News Organization

The White House, reacting to Twitter’s move to declare National Public Radio as state affiliated media, said it’s “clear” NPR is an independent news organization.

“I’m not going to comment on Twitter’s content moderation, but I will say this: As it relates to NPR, it is an independent news organization,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “That is clear. If anyone were to follow their coverage, it is clear that they are, indeed, an independent news organization.”

Her comments came Thursday in Dublin, where Biden is visiting, according to The Hill.

NPR said Wednesday it will no longer post fresh content to its 52 official Twitter feeds after it was labeled “state-affiliated media” on Twitter, Reuters reported.

“We are officially deemphasizing Twitter across the organization,” NPR said in a statement, adding that it had made the decision after Twitter refused repeated requests to remove the “inaccurate label,” Reuters reported.

The Hill noted that after widespread criticism, Twitter, owned by Elon Musk, changed the NPR label to read “government funded.”

The Hill reported that NPR has said it gets less than 1% of its funding from the government.