CBC/Radio-Canada has paused Twitter activity on its corporate and news accounts in response to the “government-funded media” label given by Twitter.
“Our journalism is impartial and independent. To suggest otherwise is untrue. That is why we are pausing our activities on @Twitter,” the public broadcaster tweeted Monday.
Twitter labelled one of CBC’s Twitter accounts as “government-funded” media on Sunday, following a request made by Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre.
On April 11, the PC leader asked the social media company to add the label to CBC accounts, specifically targeting the @CBC, @CBCNews and @CBCAlerts accounts.
In a letter Poilievre sent to Twitter, he said “We must protect Canadians against disinformation and manipulation by state media.”
A few days later, the new label appeared on the CBC Twitter account Sunday night. In a tweet, Poilievre said the broadcaster is officially exposed as “government-funded media” and now “people know that it is Trudeau propaganda, not news.”
The tweet also provides a link to a petition organized by the Conservative Party that demands the CBC be defunded.
In a statement Monday, CBC corporate spokesperson Leon Mar told Now Toronto, “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.”
“CBC/Radio-Canada is publicly funded through a parliamentary appropriation that is voted upon by all Members of Parliament. Its editorial independence is protected in law in the Broadcasting Act, ” it continued.
So far, the government-funded label is only on the @CBC account, not the @CBCNews or @CBCAlerts accounts.
Based on Twitter guidelines, “government-funded media is defined as outlets where the government provides some or all of the outlet’s funding and may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content.”
The Canadian Press says they emailed Twitter for an explanation about CBC’s new label and the company allegedly responded with a poop emoji.
According to CBC’s 2021-2022 annual report, it received almost $1.2 billion from the Canadian government last year. Prior to that, in 2020-2021, CBC received $1.39 billion in government funding and $504 million in revenue.
HOW THE PUBLIC IS REACTING
Soon after CBC gained the label “government-funded media”, there has been mixed reaction fromTwitter users.
While many sided with Poilievre’s statement, others also expressed their animosity towards the new label.
Retired CBC Video Journalist, Glenn Payette, joined the conversation and tweeted it has been public knowledge that the CBC receives government funding, even under the leadership of former Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
OTHER NEWS ACCOUNTS GIVEN A LABEL
On April 12, the National Public Radio (NPR) announced that it was leaving Twitter after the company applied a “state-affiliated media” label to its accounts. Some time later, the label on NPR’s account was changed to “government-funded media.”
In addition to NPR, public broadcasters such as the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) have also obtained a government-funded label to their accounts.
The BBC received the title just last week and in response the U.K public broadcaster emphasized that it has always been an independent account.
On April 11, Twitter decided to alter the BBC’s label to “publicly-funded media”.
LATEST RESPONSE FROM CBC
CBC/Radio-Canada has decided to pause all its Twitter activity on its corporate and news accounts in an effort to stand its grounds against its “government-funded media” label.
“Our journalism is impartial and independent. To suggest otherwise is untrue. That is why we are pausing our activities on @Twitter,” the public broadcaster said Monday.
