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- The Twitter tag of Canadian broadcaster CBC has changed to "69% government-funded Media."
- Musk claimed that the change was made because CBC reported it to be "less than 70 percent government funded."
- The CBC denied that it was influenced by government and announced it would be quitting Twitter.
Elon Musk changed the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.'s Twitter tag from "69% Government funded Media" to "69% Canadian Government-funded Media," saying that the media firm claimed less than 70% its funding comes from the Canadian government.
Musk tweeted Monday night that "Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said they were 'less than 70 percent government-funded', so we corrected the tag."
As of the time of publication, this change had been reflected in CBC's account on Twitter but not its accounts for news or radio.
Elon Musk (@elonmusk), April 18, 2023
When the CBC may have informed Musk that "less than 70% of its funding is government-funded" is unclear. Insider's comment outside normal business hours was not immediately responded to by the public broadcaster.
The Twitter name has changed several times in the past two days.
Twitter's initial labelling of "government-funded media" on Sunday was "just government-funded Media".
In recent weeks, several other news organizations have been labeled with the same tag, including National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Service. Twitter's policy defines "government-funded media" as news outlets that receive funding from governments, and may have "varying degrees of involvement by the government over editorial content."
The CBC disputed the label Sunday by saying that, while it receives government funds, its journalism remains independent of government control.
"Our journalism has always been impartial and independent." To suggest otherwise would be untrue", the broadcaster wrote on Twitter, announcing that it would stop using Twitter.
Musk, however, wasn't done. Musk noticed a Twitter thread on Monday that highlighted the CBC's financial reports.
The report said that 70% of the CBC's funding comes from the federal government. This thread resurfaced a tweet from 2017 by the CBC about its revenue sources.
–T(w)itter Daily News (@TitterDaily) April 17, 2023
Musk replied to the thread and pondered if the CBC could be labelled as "70% govt-funded." The billionaire said he was "just trying to be correct."
Reuters reported that the CBC changed its Twitter label to "70% Government funded Media" on Monday evening, but later changed it back to "69%".
Musk is known to post memes or tweets that include the number "69," which can be used to refer to a sexual position, and the number "420," which is commonly associated with cannabis consumption.
Some outlets, like the CBC, that were labeled "Government-funded", have left Twitter out of protest. They claim the characterization incorrectly compares them with state-controlled media in other countries.
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By: mloh@insider.com (Matthew Loh)
Title: Elon Musk changed the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Twitter tag to ‘69% Government-funded Media,’ saying it described itself as ‘less than 70% government-funded’
Sourced From: www.businessinsider.com/cbc-twitter-label-69-government-funded-media-elon-musk-2023-4
Published Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2023 05:00:44 +0000
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