According to emails obtained by CNNMoney, Salem Media Group pressured some of its employees to portray Donald Trump in a more favorable light during the 2016 election.
The emails were sent to Elisha Krauss and Ben Shapiro, both of whom cohosted KRLA‘s The Morning Answer.
“What I have been hearing on TMA… has not been in the spirit of ‘supporting the GOP nominee,'” Terry Fahy, general manager at Salem, wrote to Shapiro and Krauss on July 19, 2016. “In fact, it seems that the show gets into negative minutiae of the Trump campaign and the GOP convention (e.g. criticizing Trump for having his kids speak at the convention.) Do we really need a side by side audio comparison of Trump’s wife’s speech with Michelle Obama‘s? How is that ultimately relevant to the big picture and advance the cause?”
Krauss said Salem fired her because she didn’t change her expressed views after being asked for months to do so. This comes on the heels of Salem’s decision
Phil Boyce, a senior vice president at Salem told CNNMoney that Krauss’ firing had nothing to do with her ideology; rather, she was not pulling down ratings.
“Research shows that our listeners want our hosts to support the President when he does well, and criticize him if and when he does or says something wrong,” Boyce explained, adding that the RedState firings were “business related.”
“While your show is wildly entertaining and your positions make so much sense I have to salute,” Boyce wrote to Shapiro in one of the summer 2016 emails. “I do worry about the long-term implications of where this is all going.”
“For YOU I suggest that you become a trial lawyer,” he added. “You suspect your client is guilty, but you are paid to get him off. The jurors will ultimately decide his fate.”
[image via screengrab]