(Montreal) Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre couldn’t hide his delight as he shared a screenshot on Twitter showing the official CBC account is now being identified as “state-funded” media.
“Now people know this is Trudeau propaganda, not news,” Mr Poilievre wrote on the social network on Sunday.
The account of the French service of the public broadcaster Radio-Canada does not appear to be affected by this identification at the moment.
Mr Poilievre had asked Twitter last week to label CBC accounts “government-funded”. He addressed the request in a letter to the heads of the social media platform in San Francisco and shared it in a tweet.
He stated in that message that “we must protect Canadians from misinformation and manipulation by state media.”
On Sunday evening, Mr Poilievre shared a petition backed by the Conservative Party of Canada on his Twitter account. She calls on the Liberal government to defund the CBC as it would save taxpayers $1 billion.
The petition states that the CBC “undermines the private sector and independent media and competes for advertising space while receiving over $1 billion in direct taxpayer subsidies.” The document claims that the CBC provides “primarily opinion” and media reports that would already be available in a “free and competitive” marketplace.
Twitter defines “state-funded” media as news outlets that may be subject to some degree of government interference in editorial content. The public broadcaster reiterated that “this is clearly not the case with CBC/Radio-Canada.”
He pointed out last week that all Canadians are well aware that CBC/Radio-Canada is funded by taxpayers, and he asserts that his editorial independence is guaranteed by that Broadcasting Act.
The outlet argued in a tweet Sunday night that “CBC/Radio-Canada is publicly funded through a parliamentary fund chosen by all MPs.”
“Additionally, our journalism is independent and subject to our journalistic standards and practices, as well as an independent grievance process through the Radio-Canada and CBC ombudsmen,” he said.
Pierre Poilievre contradicts the Canadian media. He wrote on Twitter on April 13: “The CBC’s editorial independence is a lie. »
In 2021-2022, CBC/Radio-Canada received $1.2 billion from the federal government, compared to $1.4 billion the previous year. The public broadcaster also generates income from advertising and subscriptions.
The Canadian Press emailed Twitter asking for an explanation for the label’s addition, and the company responded with a poo emoji.
Leon Mar, director of media relations for CBC/Radio-Canada, said there was no discussion between Twitter and CBC/Radio-Canada
Twitter has already affixed the controversial label to the accounts of British public broadcaster BBC and American public radio station National Public Radio. The latter has also denounced this measure as an attack on its integrity in terms of editorial independence and has decided to no longer be active on the social network.
Twitter had identified these media outlets as “state-affiliated,” a term usually attributed to state-run media outlets that spread propaganda from an authoritarian regime — like Russia and China.
The social media giant has changed the label again, opting for the term “crowd-funded media.”
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