White House: It’s ‘clear’ NPR is an independent news organization

The White House on Thursday said that it’s “clear” that National Public Radio (NPR) is an independent news organization after the outlet quit Twitter over CEO Elon Musk’s move to label it as state-affiliated media.

“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.  That is clear.  If anyone were to follow their coverage, it is clear that they are indeed an independent news organization,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters in Dublin, where President Biden is visiting.

NPR announced on Wednesday morning it would let its accounts go dormant and no longer publish its work on Twitter. Last week, Twitter under Musk added a “state-affiliated media” label to a number of media outlets that receive some public funding. After widespread pushback, Twitter dropped the “state-affiliated” label and changed it to say “government funded.”

NPR has said it receives less than 1 percent of its funding from the government and now describes itself as “an independent news organization committed to informing the public about the world around us.”

Jean-Pierre said on Thursday the White House wouldn’t be commenting on the outlet’s decisions regarding Twitter but that it’s up to companies to decide where to share their content.

“Media outlets and social media companies are going to make their own independent decisions about where to share their content moderation and where to share that content.  So that is up to them,” she said.

Musk and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) on Wednesday called for NPR to be defunded after it left Twitter. But, it’s unclear whether Musk and Boebert were calling on the government to drop its funding of the outlet or were calling on readers and listeners to stop contributing to NPR.