On Tuesday, April 4 (local time), Twitter designated the National Public Radio (NPR), which is known for its anti-India stance, as ‘US State-affiliated media’.
NPR now joins the ranks of other propaganda outlets such as Russia Today and Xinhua News Agency, that are also labeled as ‘State-affiliated media’ on the micro-blogging platform.
Twitter defines state-affiliated media as “outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution.”
On Wednesday (April 5), NPR correspondent David Gura took to Twitter to cry foul over the development. He shared screenshots of Twitter policy, which previously recognised the National Public Radio as an exception amongst state-financed media organisations due to supposed ‘editorial independence.’
The micro-blogging platform recently removed NPR from the list of its exceptions and accordingly labeled the anti-India propaganda outlet as ‘US-state affiliated media.’
Yesterday, @elonmusk’s Twitter labeled NPR “state-affiliated media,” even though the company’s own policy stated the organization shouldn’t be labeled as such because it has editorial independence (left).
— David Gura (@davidgura) April 5, 2023
Hours later, Twitter removed the reference to NPR in the policy (right). pic.twitter.com/cAXoXYFQ2G
NPR and its controversies
It must be mentioned that the media outlet has been at the forefront of peddling Hinduphobia and anti-India propaganda in the United States.
In September 2019, the then NPR producer Furkan Khan went on a vitriolic tirade against the Hindu community. “If Indians give up Hinduism, they will also be solving most of their problems with all the piss drinking and dung worshipping.”
The dehumanising language used by Furkan Khan was similar to the last video message of terrorist Adil Ahmed Dar, who orchestrated the Pulwama attack of 2019.
The ex-NPR producer had also tried to downplay the ethnic genocide of Kashmiri Pandits at the hands of Islamists as ‘normal conflict collateral damage.’ She also compared Hinduism to both Fascism and Nazism.
This @Furkan_Khan is a habitual offender! Check some of her Tweets…
— Mihir Jha (@MihirkJha) September 10, 2019
I wonder what’s @NPR‘s take on this! pic.twitter.com/e9kvRUDOHY
In January last year, the Indian correspondent of NPR, Lauren Frayer, resorted to insensitivity and racial stereotyping on the micro-blogging platform. She had attributed a random case of train burglary in Los Angeles to India without verifying the facts of the case.
Lauren Frayer had shared a ground report of the incident and claimed, “At first glance, I thought this was India.” The video, shot by photojournalist John Schreiber, showed how looted packages of UPS boxes, Amazon packages, and unused Covid tests were lying around the train tracks.
The gross generalisation, with a malicious intent to portray India as a ‘litter-filled garbage dump’ to a global audience, did not go well with Indian netizens. Following social media backlash, she deleted her tweet.
Popular Twitter user, The Hawk Eye, had pointed out how her Covid-19 reportage was heavily biased and relied on cherry-picking to tarnish India’s global image. She was also seen creating hysteria among the public by sharing pictures of burning pyres.
“All of her articles will give glimpse of any typical left media houses. e.g. Frayer observed that Protesters that carried out 26/1 riots at Red Fort is storm in capital and overshadowed traditional military parade,” the Twitter user pointed out.
All of her articles will give glimpse of any typical left media houses. e.g. Frayer observed that Protesters that carried out 26/1 riots at Red Fort is “storm in capital” and “overshadowed traditional military parade”. Check her other articles, just headlines are good enough!
— The Hawk Eye (@thehawkeyex) January 15, 2022
8/ pic.twitter.com/DfTvohh1ly
Earlier, in September 2020, the US-State-affiliated media defended a paedophile movie on Netflix titled ‘Cuties’. In its review, NPR claimed, “The French film, Cuties, is being praised for its critique of the hyper-sexualisation of young girls – and the consequences of that – as they rush to become adults in the age of social media.”
In November 2021, a talk show by NPR courted controversy for disingenuously shielding ‘Gender Queer’ – a book banned by several US schools for illustrations of sexual encounters between children.
