https://torontosun.com/news/national/twitter-adds-government-funded-media-tag-to-cbc-account?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1681730430
Satellite dishes sits on the roof of one of the CBC studios in Halifax . (Andrew Vauaghan/THE CANADIAN PRESS)
CBC/Radio-Canada said it is “pausing” its use of Twitter, a day after its main account was labelled “government-funded media” by the social media platform.
“Twitter can be a powerful tool for our journalists to communicate with Canadians, but it undermines the accuracy and professionalism of the work they do to allow our independence to be falsely described in this way,” CBC media relations director Leon Mar said in a statement announcing the change Monday afternoon.
“Consequently, we will be pausing our activity on our corporate Twitter account and all CBC and Radio-Canada news-related accounts.”
Mar added in an afternoon email to The Canadian Press that Twitter did not consult the public broadcaster before applying the label Sunday and thus, CBC has sent a letter to Twitter asking the company to re-examine the designation.
Twitter updated CBC’s label to “70% government-funded” Monday evening, after a user on the platform posted that the broadcaster receives 70 per cent of its funding from the Canadian government.
“Just trying to be accurate. Would they be okay if we said 70% govt funded?” Twitter chief executive Elon Musk replied.
Just trying to be accurate. Would they be ok if we said 70% govt funded?
Later, following another user’s suggestion, he adjusted the label to “69% government-funded” and tweeted “generosity is always the right move. 69% it is!”
Twitter’s website defines “government-funded media” 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.” Twitter’s policy links to a Wikipedia page listing “publicly funded broadcasters” it said it may use in determining when this label should be applied.
CBC does not meet those criteria, Mar argued Sunday, because it is publicly funded through a parliamentary appropriation that is voted upon by all MPs, and its editorial independence is protected in law in the Broadcasting Act.