The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. is the latest to receive a Twitter tag calling it a “government-funded” outlet, and, boy, is it mad.
Earlier this month, Elon Musk’s social media platform labeled NPR and PBS — two American broadcasters supported by tax dollars — as “state-affiliated media,” later changing that to “government-funded media.”
Now Twitter has turned its attention to the government-funded “news” outlets of foreign nations, including Canada and the United Kingdom.
On Sunday, the “government-funded media” label appeared on the CBC’s Twitter account.
The outlet immediately rose up in anger, with spokesman Leon Mar claiming the broadcaster was being “falsely described.”
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The new tag prompted the CBC to stop using Twitter in a huff, just as NPR and PBS did after their fealty to the U.S. government was highlighted.
The Canadian broadcaster claimed it is “impartial and independent” as it announced it was pausing its use of the platform. The CBC also demonstrated cowardice by turning off commenting on the tweet.
Our journalism is impartial and independent. To suggest otherwise is untrue. That is why we are pausing our activities on @Twitter. | Notre journalisme est impartial et indépendant. Prétendre le contraire est faux. C’est pourquoi nous suspendons nos activités sur @Twitter.
— CBC/Radio-Canada (@CBCRadioCanada) April 17, 2023
The account “T(w)itter Daily News,” which covers Musk’s platform, said the Canadian outlet received nearly $1.4 billion — 70 percent of its annual funding — from the government in Ottawa.
The CBC’s 2021-2022 annual report revealed it received almost $1.4 billion (70% of its funding) from the federal government. pic.twitter.com/ZvAQojFoi6
— T(w)itter Daily News (@TitterDaily) April 17, 2023
The CBC’s protest led Musk to make a hilarious alteration to its account.
“Canadian Broadcasting Corp said they’re ‘less than 70% government-funded’, so we corrected the label,” he tweeted Tuesday.
It was changed to say the broadcaster is “69% government-funded media.”
Canadian Broadcasting Corp said they’re “less than 70% government-funded”, so we corrected the label pic.twitter.com/lU1EWf76Zu
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 18, 2023
It’s interesting that the CBC seems to think getting “less than 70 percent” of its funding from the government is somehow a mitigating factor for being labeled “government-funded.” For most clear-thinking people, getting zero government money is the only factor that could invalidate a “government-funded” label.
Still, the CBC protests.
“Twitter’s own policy defines government-funded media as cases where the government ‘may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content,’ which is clearly not the case with CBC/Radio-Canada,” Mar said Sunday.
“CBC/Radio-Canada is publicly funded through a parliamentary appropriation that is voted upon by all Members of Parliament,” he said. “Its editorial independence is protected in law in the Broadcasting Act.”
But it appears Twitter was unmoved. The “69% government-funded media” label remained in place Tuesday afternoon.
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Musk’s platform also added a label to the British Broadcasting Corp.’s account, initially calling it “government-funded media” before changing it to “publicly-funded media” since it receives money through license fees.
Twitter’s labels have infuriated the left-wing media establishment, to be sure. But the descriptions are 100 percent accurate, and it is about time people were confronted with these facts.
These media giants should stop portraying themselves as “independent” while they are taking money from the governments they cover.
