For today’s opening item, I turn it over to my colleague Annie Aguiar, Poynter’s audience engagement producer.
Twitter added a “U.S. state-affiliated media” label to NPR’s Twitter bio this week, the latest in a series of petty moves against specific media organizations in contradiction to the website’s own guidelines.
Public media is not state-affiliated media. While NPR is supported in part through government contribution, it retains editorial independence. Twitter’s own guidelines define state-affiliated media as “outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution.” That excludes NPR.
Public radio stations receive annual grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a nonprofit created in 1967 that operates from a budget almost entirely composed of an annual appropriation from Congress. The same system funds PBS (and all public media in the United States), but it doesn’t leave the government with any editorial control over reporting.
“We were disturbed to see last night that Twitter has labeled NPR as ‘state-affiliated media,’ a description that, per Twitter’s own guidelines, does not apply to NPR,” NPR president and CEO John Lansing said in a statement posted to his personal Twitter account. “NPR stands for freedom of speech and holding the powerful accountable. It is unacceptable for Twitter to label us this way. A vigorous, vibrant free press is essential to the health of our democracy.”
Kelly McBride, a senior vice president at Poynter, chair of the Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership and NPR’s public editor, said the label is “utter and complete bull(expletive).”
“That term, state-affiliated media, means an arm of the government giving the government’s message. And there is no evidence to suggest that that’s what NPR does,” McBride said.
She pointed to the small amount of money that NPR actually gets from the government — as opposed to NPR member stations, which get more government funding to subscribe to national programming — as a sign of ignorance on Twitter’s part with the new label.
“The label is meant to tell the news consumer, ‘don’t believe this,’ so it is undermining a source of independent truth. It’s meant not just to discredit NPR, but it’s meant to tell the news consumer, NPR and any other mainstream legitimate news source should not be listened to,” she said. “It literally undermines the truth under the guise of revealing the truth.”
On the heels of Twitter revoking The New York Times’ verified badge after the Times told media reporters they would not pay for Twitter, the NPR label change reads as just another fickle fight in the Elon Musk-helmed app’s war on the press.
That raises the question: Will “boo mainstream media” contrarianism be enough of a marketing tool to actually get people to pay for Twitter’s blue verified checkmark? Only time will tell.
My thanks to Annie for the above item. Here are a few follow-up thoughts about the Twitter story.
As The Washington Post’s Paul Farhi noted, “The designation puts NPR, which has 8.8 million followers on the site, in the same category as propaganda outlets like the Russian-government-owned RT and the Chinese Communist Party’s People’s Daily newspaper. Both are also ‘state-affiliated media,’ according to Twitter.”
Farhi added, “Notably, however, Twitter has not slapped that label on several media organizations that are substantially funded by government. The Voice of America, the BBC and the U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes, among others, continue on Twitter without being designated as ‘state-affiliated’ — a phrase with strong connotations of compromised editorial independence.”
NPR’s Bill Chappell wrote, “NPR operates independently of the U.S. government. And while federal money is important to the overall public media system, NPR gets less than 1% of its annual budget, on average, from federal sources.” Chappell added, “NPR is an independent, non-profit media organization that gets the bulk of its direct financial support from two sources: sponsorships and fees paid by hundreds of member stations, as its website states.”
One last thought. This seems to me like Musk’s attempt to get NPR (and other media types such as The New York Times) to leave Twitter. NPR television critic Eric Deggans replied to such a thought on Twitter by tweeting, “My hunch is, that’s exactly what he wants. Which is maybe why we shouldn’t do it.”
The day after
Recovered yet from Tuesday’s Trump-a-palooza? The fortunate part of Tuesday, at least, was there were no violent protests.
Here are a few leftover thoughts and links from former President Donald Trump’s arraignment story:
- Give credit to MSNBC for not airing Trump’s rambling, grievance-filled and, at times, whiny speech from Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday night. As Rachel Maddow said on air, “Let me just say, just a moment of business here, then I will come to you. I need to tell you that right now the former president himself is making remarks tonight from his home in Florida. As far as we can tell, and what we are prepared for here is, this is basically a campaign speech in which he is repeating his same lies and allegations against his perceived enemies. It is just getting started and so far, he is just giving his normal list of grievances. We don’t consider that necessarily newsworthy and there is a cost to us as a news organization of knowingly broadcasting untrue things. So, our deal with you is that we will monitor these remarks, if he does say anything newsworthy, we will turn them around and report on that right away. But for now, just know that it is happening and we are not taking it.” It was the responsible call.
- How smart was MSNBC to not air it? Well, consider this. Here’s the first paragraph from Daniel Dale’s story for CNN following the speech: “Former President Donald Trump made a speech at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Tuesday night after he was arraigned in Manhattan on felony charges of falsifying business records — and delivered a barrage of false claims that have been previously debunked.” Check out Dale’s story for some of the falsehoods, as well as Dale’s TV appearance on CNN.
- PolitiFact’s Louis Jacobson and Amy Sherman break down the Trump indictment.
- New York Times editorial board member David Firestone with “Trump’s Day of Martyrdom Didn’t Go Quite as He Expected.” Firestone wrote, “Instead of a defiant N.Y.P.D. photo or a raised fist, the lasting image of the day may well be that of a humbled former president looking hunched, angry and nervous at the courtroom defense table, a suddenly small man wedged between his lawyers, as two New York State court officers loomed behind him in a required posture of making sure the defendant stayed in his place.”
- Also in the Times, analysis from national security and legal policy correspondent Charlie Savage: “A Surprise Accusation Bolsters a Risky Case Against Trump.”
- The Washington Post’s Scott Wilson, Annie Gowen, Joanna Slater and Tim Craig with “Across the country, Trump’s arrest draws celebration and indignation.”
- And here’s an insightful piece published by The Marshall Project in partnership with The City: “Most New Yorkers Don’t Get the Trump Treatment at Arraignment.”
Disturbing attack
Here’s alarming news out of Tennessee involving the media. Justin Kanew, the founder of progressive news site The Tennessee Holler, posted on Twitter on Wednesday that someone fired several bullets into his house over the weekend while he and his family slept. Fortunately, no one was injured.
Kanew said authorities are investigating, but he isn’t sure of the reason for the attack.
The Daily Beast’s Erik Uebelacker wrote, “Kanew is notably a vocal critic of loosening gun laws, and has been outspoken in his support for gun control legislation following last week’s school shooting in Nashville. He’s also had run-ins with several prominent Tennessee Republicans, with state Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson calling him a ‘jackass’ and a ‘loser’ after Kanew approached him for questioning in February.”
Taking the stand
Many of the big names at Fox News could end up testifying in the upcoming Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against the network. That could include the really big guys — Rupert Murdoch and his son, Lachlan. The judge in the case said Wednesday that if Dominion issued a subpoena for the Murdochs that he “would not quash” it, and that he would “compel” them to come.
Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis said, “They are relevant to the case.”
The trial is scheduled to begin April 17. The New York Times’ Katie Robertson has more.
New job, familiar face
(Courtesy: MSNBC)
MSNBC has a new anchor and it’s a familiar face. Longtime CNN anchor and correspondent Ana Cabrera is jumping over to MSNBC and will host “Ana Cabrera Reports” starting April 10. The show will air weekdays at 10 a.m. Eastern.
Cabrera left CNN last December and had been there since 2013. The Daily Beast’s Justin Baragona wrote, “While the decision to leave was her own, sources said, she left CNN as chief executive Chris Licht slashed hundreds of jobs at the channel, gutted sister network HLN, and instituted dramatic programming changes.”
Variety’s Brian Steinberg reported at the time that Cabrera was expected to turn up with NBCUniversal after her noncompete clause expired.
In the official release, MSNBC says Cabrera’s new show will “break down the latest news and bring expert in-the-field reporting on the day’s most important stories to viewers, paired with interviews and discussions with newsmakers, journalists, thought leaders, and more.”
Talking to a newspaper star
For this item, I turn it over to my Poynter colleague Amaris Castillo, who has a good Q&A with Tampa Bay Times Pulitzer Prize-winning feature writer Lane DeGregory on Poynter’s website.
I was personally thrilled when I heard Lane DeGregory was coming out with her first book.
I have always admired the love she has for writing about people in the shadows. When I was a newspaper reporter for The Sun in Lowell, Massachusetts, I listened to her “WriteLane” podcast almost religiously. I followed her tips on paying close attention to intimate details and how to unearth stories from everyday people and applied that advice to my own work. Some of the stories I found following her advice in Massachusetts were the ones I was proudest of. Lane’s stories move readers and remind them of just how human we all are.
As accomplished as she is with all her accolades (and a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing), her candor while speaking with me about her book was refreshing. Because in reexamining her older stories while piecing the anthology together, she had mixed reactions. I did not expect that.
It was a pleasure to nerd out with her over her work and to try to answer another big question: How much of this is practical and how much of it is talent? I hope our readers enjoy my Q&A with this great reporter.
Media tidbits
“NBC Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt interviews Melanie Bloom McNulty. (Courtesy: NBC News)
- On tonight’s “NBC Nightly News,” anchor Lester Holt will sit down with Melanie Bloom McNulty, the widow of David Bloom, on the 20th anniversary of Bloom’s death. Bloom was an NBC News journalist and co-anchor of “Weekend Today” before dying suddenly when a deep vein thrombosis became a pulmonary embolism. Melanie looks back at her husband’s legacy, including how his story has helped others become more aware of DVT.
- Variety’s Tatiana Siegel with “Don Lemon’s Misogyny at CNN, Exposed: Malicious Texts, Mocking Female Co-Workers and ‘Diva-Like Behavior.’” A rep for Lemon told The Wrap’s Loree Seitz, “The story, which is riddled with patently false anecdotes and no concrete evidence, is entirely based on unsourced, unsubstantiated, 15-year-old anonymous gossip. It’s amazing and disappointing that Variety would be so reckless.”
- For Poynter, Patrick Maynard with “What the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich means for foreign reporting.”
- Also, The Wall Street Journal staff with “How You Can Use Social Media to Support Evan Gershkovich.”
- The Wall Street Journal’s Drew Hinshaw, Joe Parkinson and Brett Forrest with “‘You Are Completely Alone’: Inside the Infamous Russian Prison Holding Evan Gershkovich.”
- The Washington Post’s Pranshu Verma and Will Oremus with “ChatGPT invented a sexual harassment scandal and named a real law prof as the accused.”
Hot type
- For CNN, Jack Bantock with “For nearly 50 years, only Black men caddied The Masters. One day, they all but vanished.”
- Speaking of the Masters, The Washington Post’s Barry Svrluga with “The Masters doesn’t need LIV Golf. LIV Golf badly needs the Masters.”
More resources for journalists
- Subscribe to Poynter’s Friday newsletter, Open Tabs with Poynter managing editor Ren LaForme, and get behind-the-scenes stories only available to subscribers.
- Telling the Stories of Faith and the Faithful — New York, May 12 (Seminar) — Register by April 12.
- Lead With Influence (July 2023) (Seminar) — Apply by June 2.
- Transform your newsroom’s reporting on crime and criminal justice with our 24-week online seminar. Apply by April 21.
Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.
The Poynter Report is our daily media newsletter. To have it delivered to your inbox Monday-Friday, sign up here.
