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HPR joins NPR, leaving Twitter over ‘government-funded’ label

Hawaii Public Radio, a member of National Public Radio, said in an announcement that it, too, will no longer be sharing content on Twitter.

NPR today said it would quit the social media platform owned by Elon Musk due to a label that implies it is not editorially independent.

>> RELATED: NPR quits Elon Musk’s Twitter over ‘government-funded’ label

HPR said Twitter has erroneously labeled NPR as “state-affiliated media,” a term used for government-controlled outlets in countries without a free press. The label was later changed to “government-funded media.”

But NPR says these labels undermine its credibility, and that the latter label implies an editorial relationship with the U.S. government that does not exist.

“While NPR and member stations, including HPR, receive supplementary federal funding, most of our dollars are raised from listeners and sponsors, and we exercise full editorial control of our content,” said HPR in a statement. “Independent journalism is what makes public media a vital and trusted community service, and we stand in solidarity with our fellow public media colleagues.”

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