In case you missed it, the Washington Post’s Paul Farhi reported earlier today that Cumulus Media issued a directive to on-air personalities like Mark Levin, Dan Bongino, and Ben Shapiro regarding claims that the presidential election was “stolen” from Donald Trump:
“We need to help induce national calm NOW,” Brian Philips, executive vice president of content for Cumulus, wrote in an internal memo, which was first reported by Inside Music Media. Cumulus and its program syndication arm, Westwood One, “will not tolerate any suggestion that the election has not ended. The election has been resolved and there are no alternate acceptable ‘paths.’ ”
The memo adds: “If you transgress this policy, you can expect to separate from the company immediately.”
Bloomberg national political reporter Emma Kinery tweeted about it:
Mark Levin, Ben Shapiro and Dan Bongino’s employer, Cumulus Media, has told its on-air personalities to stop suggesting that the election was stolen from President Trump — or face termination “immediately”https://t.co/aMzP3nO7PV
— Emma Kinery (@EmmaKinery) January 11, 2021
Almost seven hours after Farhi’s article was published, WaPo posted a correction.
No shit, Washington Post. Next time you could just, you know, read our site. pic.twitter.com/uqx1sny1s3
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) January 11, 2021
Kinery eventually got around to noting that, too:
Adding this — the Washington Post issued a correction on its story to clarify that Ben Shapiro has not claimed the election was rigged pic.twitter.com/8TsPJvZ1gd
— Emma Kinery (@EmmaKinery) January 11, 2021
Weird. That tweet doesn’t have nearly as many likes and retweets as Kinery’s original one!
And this tweet won’t get shared nearly as much… https://t.co/bzjq3I85m6
— Elisha (@ElishaKrauss) January 11, 2021
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Well, obviously. Because it’s not nearly as juicy as the one claiming that Ben Shapiro has been peddling the “stolen election” narrative, is it?
Whoops. Noting that your original tweet has some 29K RTs and is inaccurate, but is still up. Solid journalisming there. https://t.co/3mdJIUCjjq
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) January 11, 2021
Actually, Kinery’s tweet has over 10,000 RTs and 26,000 likes:
But Shapiro’s basic point still stands.
Kinery’s journalism is solid as a rock.
https://twitter.com/BuckMartini/status/1348668915157618694
You're doing fine, Emma
— I got your #Unity right here (@jtLOL) January 11, 2021
All in a day’s work.
That's a pretty big thing to have to correct. https://t.co/6t9pTQSlZ6
— Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) January 11, 2021
Maybe that’s why Emma hasn’t bothered deleting her original tweet. It’s just too big a thing to correct, you know?
Why do these errors seem to always cut in one direction
— Everybody's Pal Jim Rhys (@JimRhysToday) January 11, 2021
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