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The Public Broadcasting Service has confirmed that it will no longer be using Twitter in response to Elon Musk's decision to label it "government-funded media."
The move comes as other major media groups, such as National Public Radio, ditch the platform in protest over the labels, which they argue are inaccurate.
According to Axios, a PBS spokesperson revealed Thursday that the service "did stop tweeting ... as soon as we discovered [the label]," adding that, "we have no plans to resume tweeting."
The label has been placed on PBS' main Twitter account, but not its local affiliates or individual shows, which will continue tweeting.
"Publicly funded PBS joins publicly funded NPR in leaving Twitter in a huff after being labeled 'Publicly Funded'," Twitter CEO Elon Musk joked.
Journalist Lindsay Jones pointed out that PBS has, on many occasions, posted about its federal funding.
On it's @ValuePBS account, the public broadcaster shared nine reasons to love what they do, and a number of them centered around its funding.
"Public Broadcasting is one of America's best investments," it argued, pointing out that citizens, on average, pay around $1.40 per year to fund the service, which was rated "excellent or good taxpayer value" by seven out of ten voters.
According to PBS, federal funding only accounts for 15 percent of its revenue, with the vast majority coming from foundations, businesses, and, of course, contributions from viewers like you.
Twitter began attaching labels to more accounts in recent weeks, choosing from a list of possibilities including, "state-affiliated media," "government-funded media," and "publicly-funded media."
Government-funded media, which was the label given to both PBS and NPR, is used in instances "where the government provides some or all of the outlet's funding and may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content."
There have been calls as of late to attach the label to other outlets that receive government or public funding, such as the BBC and CBC.
The move comes as other major media groups, such as National Public Radio, ditch the platform in protest over the labels, which they argue are inaccurate.
According to Axios, a PBS spokesperson revealed Thursday that the service "did stop tweeting ... as soon as we discovered [the label]," adding that, "we have no plans to resume tweeting."
The label has been placed on PBS' main Twitter account, but not its local affiliates or individual shows, which will continue tweeting.
"Publicly funded PBS joins publicly funded NPR in leaving Twitter in a huff after being labeled 'Publicly Funded'," Twitter CEO Elon Musk joked.
Journalist Lindsay Jones pointed out that PBS has, on many occasions, posted about its federal funding.
On it's @ValuePBS account, the public broadcaster shared nine reasons to love what they do, and a number of them centered around its funding.
"Public Broadcasting is one of America's best investments," it argued, pointing out that citizens, on average, pay around $1.40 per year to fund the service, which was rated "excellent or good taxpayer value" by seven out of ten voters.
According to PBS, federal funding only accounts for 15 percent of its revenue, with the vast majority coming from foundations, businesses, and, of course, contributions from viewers like you.
Twitter began attaching labels to more accounts in recent weeks, choosing from a list of possibilities including, "state-affiliated media," "government-funded media," and "publicly-funded media."
Government-funded media, which was the label given to both PBS and NPR, is used in instances "where the government provides some or all of the outlet's funding and may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content."
There have been calls as of late to attach the label to other outlets that receive government or public funding, such as the BBC and CBC.
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