Cumulus Media, America’s third largest owner of AM and FM radio stations, is threatening to fire show hosts who question the results of the 2020 Presidential Election on air.
Cumulus, whose stations are home to household names such as Mark Levin, Chris Plante, and Dan Bongino, reaches over a quarter of a billion listeners every month, with programming broadcast through 416 company-owned-and-operated stations, as well as an additional nearly 8,000 affiliates through Westwood One, a subsidiary of Cumulus.
“We need to help induce calm NOW,” wrote Brian Phillips, Vice President of Content in an internal memo, issued last Wednesday.
Cumulus and Westwood One “will not tolerate any suggestion that the election has not ended,” Phillips continued, as the “election has been resolved and there are no alternate acceptable paths.”
“If you transgress this policy, you can expect to separate from the company.”
Cumulus’ new guidelines appear to be in step with a seemingly countless number of other media corporations nationwide, who have long been accused of quashing dissent through intimidation and retribution as well as outright censorship.
Like Cumulus, in the wake of last Wednesday’s Capitol Hill protests against the certification of contested electoral votes, social media networks have raced to censor conservative voices. In addition to the banning of President Trump from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, thousands of other political figures and private citizens have been booted from the sites.
Even social media networks themselves haven’t been safe from the censors. Parler, the free speech app partially owned by Dan Bongino and heavily promoted by Mark Levin – both Cumulus hosts – has gone offline after their web services were discontinued by Amazon, in retribution for the site’s free speech stance.