Global Courant 2023-04-17 06:14:01
Twitter has placed a “government-funded media” label on CBC’s account in what is the social media company’s latest move to brand public broadcasters with designations.
“Government-funded media outlets are defined as outlets where the government provides (part of) the financing of the outlet and may have varying degrees of government involvement in editorial content.” according to Twitter.
National Public Radio in the US announced earlier this month that it is leaving the platform after Twitter labeled its account as “state-affiliated media”, saying this undermines their credibility by “falsely suggesting that we are not editorially independent are”.
US public broadcaster PBS followed suit, also leaving Twitter after being labeled “government-funded”.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilièvre recently called on Twitter CEO Elon Musk to add a “government-funded” label to accounts promoting “news-related” content from CBC.
In response to the label being implemented on Sunday, Poilièvre tweeted that the CBC has been “officially exposed” as “Trudeau propaganda, not news.”
We must protect Canadians from disinformation and manipulation by state media.
That’s why I ask
It is a fact. And Canadians deserve the facts. pic.twitter.com/V1GRFHIcvz
The CBC is a Crown Corporation wholly owned by the state, but operates at a distance from the government.
In a statement Sunday evening, CBC spokesperson Leon Mar stressed that the government has no influence over CBC’s editorial content.
“Twitter’s own policy defines government-funded media as instances where the government ‘may have varying degrees of government involvement in editorial content,’ which is clearly not the case with CBC/Radio-Canada,” Mar said.
“CBC/Radio-Canada is publicly funded through a parliamentary grant voted by all MPs. Editorial independence is legally protected in the Broadcasting Act.”
In its 2021-2022 annual report, the CBC reported government funding of $1.24 billion. It also reported $651 million in revenue, largely from advertising during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Olympics, held in the same fiscal year, and stronger demand for television advertising than the previous year. In fiscal year 2020-2021, CBC reported $1.39 billion in government funding and $504 million in revenue.
