CNN is one of the biggest news organizations in the world and they are refusing to pay Elon Musk for Twitter verification for their employees.
Insider asked 14 news organizations, and the answer is inconclusive — for now. The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Vox Media declined to comment. Spokespeople at nine other outlets did not return requests for comment, including at NBC News, Bloomberg, Axios, and Insider.
One outlet, CNN, gave a pretty firm no. It is “highly unlikely that CNN would cover verification costs on behalf of all employees,” a spokesperson said. One might expect that if Twitter does enact the policy, TV networks might want to keep the verification of some employees, like star on-air talent.
Journalists from big corporate mainstream outlets make up a sizable portion of Twitter’s verified users, so if corporate media follows CNN and refuses to pay to keep their employees verified, Musk’s plan for making Twitter more subscription revenue dependent will collapse.
Already, Musk has had to cut his proposed price for maintaining Twitter verification from $19.99/month to $8/month, which represents a decrease in potential yearly subscription revenue from $72 million down to roughly $24 million.
Celebrities have already been leaving Twitter since the Musk takeover, and if journalists depart, the platform will no longer be the world’s news ticker and will instead become a bird logo version of Trump’s Truth Social.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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