IT'S THE MEMO Everyone in the talk-radio world is talking; not a huge surprise frankly with the environment we're living in today; it's both good and bad.
HERE'S THE DEAL:
Cumulous put out a company-wide memo to its vast radio network essentially telling any and all talk hosts to knock off any talk of election 2020 being rigged or otherwise. I Know a bunch of people at KGO who received the notice. Pat Thurston talked about it on the air the other day. And national conservative talker, Mark Levin, also addressed it and seemed to be bothered by it.
I have mixed emotions about the good and bad of this policy. I'm generally not happy about a broadcast company telling its hosts what to say and what not to say. Even something so obvious as the results of the election, you would think, would be a no-brainer and not open to debate now unless it was viewed by this guy.
Like I said, I'm not thrilled about how this could set an awful precedent but I also understand Cumulus' position. It was just a week ago today that the Capitol Hill attack took place and much of that mayhem was fostered by the absurd belief that the election was rigged; amazing that there's people that still believe that garbage, yet a good portion of the 74 million people who voted for Trump still believe it.
For better or worse, Levin's toned down his election takes; again, to me it's like if a host tells their listeners that we never went to the moon or that the earth is flat. I can't imagine a talk host would still morph into rigged elections in the US but I know for Cumulus to do what they did was serious business.
It would be an interesting discussion and it darn well beats someone talking about their cats.
It's too bad Leo Rodgers is no longer with us. He always said that management never told him what to say. All that mattered to them was ratings, ratings, ratings! I wonder what the late Mr. Rodgers would say if he were here now?
ReplyDelete"I have mixed emotions about the good and bad of this policy. I'm generally not happy about a broadcast company telling its hosts what to say and what not to say."
ReplyDeleteThen you must be pretty upset with CNN. See: Project Veritas. The current and former CNN employees that came forward as whistleblowers telling of Zucker's orders for them to hammer Trump day in and day out for years, ignore the Hunter Biden controversy, et al. Ignore the good, only press on the bad of the President. It's why that network has lost so much credibility and is really only viewed at this point by mindless lemmings.
Not commenting on the validity of the CNN story, it may be true. But in general I'd hardly look to Project Veritas as an unbiased bastion of truth. They're unabashedly far-right and still talking about election fraud.
DeleteProject Veritas nailed Zucker--he was speechless. Doesn't matter if Project Veritas is far-right. He got caught.
DeleteManagement sent a similar memo during BLM protests about our responsibility to promote peaceful assembly and to urge calm. It’s not censorship to mandate that your employees not gin up or fan the flames of violence based on unfounded claims that have been thrown out of every court. Radio has a lot of power and along with that power comes responsibility.
ReplyDeleteFrom what little I listen to Mark Levin he seems to be bothered by a lot of issues. That aside I like you Rich have mixed emotions about any host being told what to say. However, considering the election was more than 2 months ago, it would seem these host like the country need to move on. Mark Levin kept going on and on day after day about a rigged election. So after what happened on January 6, it seem to me it was a reasonable for Cumulus to do what the did. Too many people who listen to these host take their word as gospel, instead of looking at it as entertainment. I have heard callers on John Rothmann's show accusing Cumulus telling him what to say. Seems like some just cannot envision other points of view other than their own.
ReplyDeletethe government isn't telling Mr. Levin what not to say or say. The first amendment only protects him , or anyone else from government censorship( with exceptions). Please read first amendment for the first time.
DeleteWhere in my post do I mention the government? I do know the first amendment. Perhaps you should read my post again. I understands Cumulus position in lieu of what happened on January 6, which I also said in my post. However, I'm not a favor of a corporation can tell their hosts what not to say or what to say. I think I made that clear in my post.
DeleteKnowing Lee Rodgers personally, He would have quit, but raised a lot of HELL on the way out.
ReplyDeleteSo you, like you believe, presumably Lee, have never read the first amendment? a private company is not the government..Please read first amendment for first time.
DeleteI think they had Levin squarely in mind when they came up with this edict; half his schtick YTD has been how the election was rigged. Cumulus is spooked about liability if someone acts based on what one of our hosts say (that's IMHO, I have no inside knowledge).
ReplyDeleteRegardless, Levin assuredly is furious about being thus muzzled; we only get the on-stage view and he's towing the line b/c he likes his job. To have a sense of the man is to understand that one thing he finds most odious in the world is to have his freedoms restrained.
There is a fine line in free speech; the old saw very much applies: freedom of speech does not give you the right to yell "Fire!" in a crowded theater. In most circumstances, common sense is sufficient to keep people inside the lines. Recent circumstances are somewhat exceptional.
There's a big fat line in free speech, actually. The first amendment only protects the speaker from government prosecution(there are exceptions). Cumulus broadcasting is not the government, nor is twitter, apple, google, amazon et. al. They can set terms and conditions for their platforms, even broadcast ones.
DeleteI love the Trumptards who say more people voted than are registered to vote, and point out that after Trump's 74 million that leaves only 72 million left for Biden, since only 146 million people are registered to vote. (Not true, btw, and easily checkable but when do Trumptards worry about facts?) They assume *all* the votes for Trump are legitimate, so any "extras" must have bee Biden's fakery. :-)
ReplyDeleteOh look a Libdiot. Someone snap a photo before it's spooked!
DeleteSimple solution, abolish the electoral college. 330 million peeps in the USA.... more voted for Biden/Harris.
Delete^ When in doubt, change the rules.
Delete^ Electoral College is not needed anymore. Every vote should count. Trump should never have been President, he was not qualified.
DeleteI am astonished by people's outrage to this memo. They want an old set of rules to be applied to a new paradigm. Back when facts and decency mattered, a memo such as this would not have been necessary. The fact is Joseph Biden beat Donald Trump for the Presidency. The results were certified in all 50 states and the Electoral College certified those results. While Trump's people tried 50 times to overturn the results, all the courts saw no merit in the cases. That would include the right leaning Supreme Court, twice. That makes the election over...a fact. It should have been over.
ReplyDeleteBut in this new world however, people don't want to accept facts. So they make up their own. And like minded people go along. That is why this memo needed to be circulated. A shame because radio/tv hosts are either brainwashed or in the name of ratings don't want to accept the facts.
Do I like every decision a court makes? No, Citizens United and Bush v. Gore are just two that come to mind. But as an American I must abide by the laws as they are written and as they are interpreted.
If we don't abide by laws and our Constitution, then we have nothing. We are a law and order country. That's what Trumps has said. Our world might be a little better place if he followed his own rules.
I think Brian Philips, the Cumulus exec in Atlanta who wrote the memo, was trying to have it both ways. He wanted to make it seem as if he was going to crack down on right-wing hosts in order to satisfy the Biden folks and the cancel culture. But other than one or two token suspensions (suspensions with pay!), they're not going to enforce this because that would cause their talent to consider moving to other syndicators like iHeart. So they suspend Ray Appleton, the longtime host at KMJ Fresno, as sort of a human sacrifice to the Biden crew. The word is that Appleton's health isn't the greatest and a couple of forced vacation days will be good for him. The cancel culture thinks they've won a battle. Everybody goes home happy.
ReplyDeleteThe real battle will be later this year when the Biden administration has taken over the FCC and they put to censor the media. Remember Tom Wheeler (and Obama's) plan to put human "monitors" in all newsrooms (even print), to tell editors and producers how to cover stories? https://aclj.org/free-speech-2/why-is-obama-administration-putting-government-monitors-in-newsrooms That idea was shot down but they'll bring it back. Phillips memo was an indication of what will happen when the Obama FCC starts playing hardball. Companies like Cumulus will cave quickly.
https://aclj.org is run by a Trump lawyer! Anyone who follows those lairs are no better than the Fascist nuts that assaulted Capital Hill.
ReplyDeleteHow about Radio and on-line talk show hosts, Blogs, newspapers, TV Networks, etc., just tell the Truth and not make up stuff out of their rear or from a memo from their dear leader.
It seems like 2:41 wasn’t paying attention in 2014 when the newsroom monitor plan was rolled out. Here are four stories that aren’t associated with Trump’s lawyers. BTW, Trump wasn’t elected until 2016, but maybe he has a time machine to go back and change events in the past? What do you think 2:14? My guess is that 2:14 only gets news from sources that confirm his views, like Rachel Madcow or CNN. And I’ll bet that 2:14 would be OK with newsroom censorship as long as it was his political party that was censoring the reporters.
DeleteWall Street Journal, Feb. 10, 2014 The FCC Wades Into the Newsroom
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304680904579366903828260732
Politico, Feb. 21, 2014 FCC backs off of newsroom study
https://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2014/02/fcc-backs-off-newsroom-study-183772
Investors Business Daily, Feb. 13, 2014 The FCC’s plan to police the newsrooms
https://www.lakelandtimes.com/articles/fcc-ends-uw-connected-plan-to-monitor-newsrooms/
Drop the mic, 8:09 PM!
DeleteThe national guard has been authorized to use deadly force against unarmed civilians who are exercising their 1st amendment right.
ReplyDeleteI think we can deem the constitution obsolete. Twitter's terms of service are now the law of the land....