Musk Tries and Fails to Control NPR

 

by Pa Rock

Fan of Independent Journalism

Elon Musk is a scary rich individual who feels entitled to possess and control anything that catches his fancy - or anything that gets in his way.  Last year he famously paid $43 billion ($54.20 a share) to purchase Twitter and thus have some personal control over "free" speech in America and around the globe.  Since making that purchase with his and other people's money, he has worked feverishly (if billionaires can ever work "feverishly") to put his unique stamp on the enterprise.  He has brought back the seditious and extremist elements, many of whom had been barred from the platform for their dangerous and seditious ravings. and he tried to figure out ways monetize the enterprise - such as with his infamous attempts to sell the blue checkmarks that signified actual accounts of some of the world's most notable people.

And, of course, through it all the rich owner's petulance and personal animosities have shown through and cast a dark shadow across a service that was once a haven for free and responsible speech.  Elon quickly made sure that the entire Twitter operation had a good dose of his own personal stink.

One of Musk's personal targets was National Public Radio (NPR), a fairly non-commercial enterprise that is easily one of the most independent news sources in America.  Last week Twitter officially labeled NPR as "state-affiliated media," a label normally reserved for government-controlled news sources out of autocratic countries like China, Russia, and North Korea.   NPR receives about one percent of its funding from the government, but almost all of the rest comes from corporate and private gifts and donations.   Musk had also previously attacked the New York Times by recinding it verified blue check mark.

NPR did not respond well to the attack from the billionaire, and the news source has not "tweeted" anything since.

Twitter has an established policy in place that says if a user does not sign onto the platform for thirty days or more, its "handle" (the name it goes by on Twitter), can be reassigned to some other user.  NPR is apparently signing onto the platform - but just not using it for tweeting.   Musk, who seems to make new policy for the company as it occurs to him, decided that if NPR is not tweeting, then their handle, @NPR, can be assigned to someone else.  That little bit of Musk's personal pique brought a backlash from across the field of professional journalism, so now the billionaire seems to suddenly be rethinking his brashness on that topic.

Twitter is a business and a public service, Elon, not a vendetta machine.  If you can't operate it in a professional manner, then stand down and let someone who can operate it professionally take over..  And while you are at it,  clean up your messes (SpaceX), pay your workers a fair and living wage, and get off of the public dole!