The BBC has raised objections to being referred to as “government-funded media,” facing a row with Elon Musk’s Twitter.
On Monday, the BBC pushed back against Twitter’s decision to label its main BBC account with a “government-funded media” designation.
A label now links through to a page on Twitter’s help centre which says “state-affiliated media” are outlets where the government “exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution.”
Responding to the complaint, Musk asked: “Is the Twitter label accurate?”
Musk later emailed the BBC, writing: “We are aiming for maximum transparency and accuracy. Linking to ownership and source of funds probably makes sense.
“I do think media organisations should be self-aware and not falsely claim the complete absence of bias.
“All organisations have bias, some obviously much more than others.
“I should note that I follow BBC News on Twitter, because I think it is among the least biased,” added Musk.
In a statement, the BBC said: “The BBC is, and always has been, independent. We are funded by the British public through the licence fee.”
The BBC's headquarters in central London, in an undated file photo. Ian West/PA
BBC joins the United States’ NPR with a Twitter tag highlighting government affiliation.
Last week, NPR, which critics say exhibits a far-left-wing bias in its reporting, was designated “state-affiliated” by Twitter.
“Labeling NPR state-affiliated media is wholly inaccurate and untruthful. NPR gets LESS THAN 2 percent of its funding from grants through the federal government. NPR’s newsroom is an absolutely free and independent newsroom; always has been. This label is a LIE and an insult,” wrote NPR’s Ashley Westerman.
However, some argued that much of NPR’s funding is hidden in the form of grants, which suggests that the often-claimed 2 percent figure is far higher.
Licence Fee
The BBC is principally funded through a licence fee paid by UK households.
On social media, some disputed Twitter’s labelling, saying that while the BBC is funded by the British public through the licence fee, its operations and editorial decision-making are entirely independent of the government. The BBC’s impartiality is also set out in its royal charter and framework agreement.
However, writing on Twitter, the editor of The Spectator magazine Fraser Nelson wrote that the UK government “not only collects BBC funding but criminalises its non-customers and prosecutes them at the rate of 1,000 a week.”
“I’m not sure that the (in my view brilliant) BBC is best served by the state funding model. But hard to deny that it is state-funded,” he added.
It noted that a legal process allows someone to be convicted of a criminal offence without knowing they are being prosecuted. Eighty percent of people do not respond to their charges, which normally results in an automatic conviction.
Elon Musk BBC coverage
The BBC has run stories about Elon Musk’s takeover of the platform.
ISD is also funded by foundations and institutions. Some of these include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, eBay Chairman’s Pierre Omidyar Group, George Soros’s Open Society Foundations as well as activist investor and Extinction Rebellion donor Chris Hohn’s The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation.
In February, Marianna Spring, the BBC’s specialist disinformation reporter told MPs in a hearing on online harms and disinformation committee that “disinformation is so effective because it is emotional and it gets people to react” and that she thinks that “we have to weaponise those same tactics in the journalism we do.”
PA Media and Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
Owen Evans
Author
Owen Evans is a UK-based journalist covering a wide range of national stories, with a particular interest in civil liberties and free speech.
