The row over blue check marks on Twitter accounts hit the headlines last week with the removal of the New York Times’s blue tick. It appears the publication is unwilling to pay $8 a month for that privilege, as is now required.
America’s NPR has also been under pressure from Twitter. Designated “U.S. State-Affiliated Media” on Tuesday, the site then changed this to “Government Funded Media” in the face of a public backlash. This ‘softening’ of the wording was apparently a concession from Elon Musk. The same label now also appears on the profile page of PBS.
Yesterday, the social media company changed the BBC’s main Twitter profile, adding the label “Government Funded Media”, which caused quite a bit of controversy, not least because the BBC is funded by the licence fee, which is paid directly and not via the Government, although the state does threaten people who receive live television signals with prosecution if they don‘
pay it.
The Telegraph has the story.
The national broadcaster, which is funded principally by U.K. households through the licence fee, is one of several news outlets to receive the label [“Government Funded Media”] from the social media network over the last week.
A BBC spokesman said: “We are speaking to Twitter to resolve this issue as soon as possible. The BBC is, and always has been, independent. We are funded by the British public through the licence fee.”
The Government is responsible for setting the level of the licence fee but it is paid by households. In the 2021/2022 financial year the licence fee generated £3.8 billion.
The BBC also draws income from some commercial operations.
Worth reading in full.
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