Thread: Campaign To Pull Beck Off The Air Gains Momentum

Campaign to Pull Glenn Beck Off the Air Gains Momentum, Here and Abroad

Beck's Fox News show advertisers are dropping like flies. Will the ad exodus take him off-air, or will Fox continue to foot the bill for its propaganda goals?

February 17, 2010


The movement to pressure Fox News into assessing the financial viability of Glenn Beck's controversial talk show is gaining steam -- particularly overseas. In the United Kingdom, as of Tuesday, Beck's show had run without a single paid advertisement for six days in a row.

Beck, whose popularity and infamy have grown due to his propensity to cry -- literally and figuratively -- for the state of America as he sees it, is the target of a couple of campaigns aimed at connecting the dots for advertisers who pay top dollar (and pounds) for commercials that run during his hourly TV show, which airs every weekday.

On Tuesday it was announced that British advertisers and viewers have resolutely rejected Beck's program, which has become notorious for spewing storylines that have a great deal of traction among right-wing groups. Famously, Beck claimed that Americorps, a federal program which funds community service work, is a covert plot to create a "civilian army" of community organizers -- apparently a terrifying prospect to right-wingers. He also called health care reform "Obama brand reparations" for blacks and Native Americans.

For nearly a week now, Sky, a channel partially owned by News Corp. that airs Fox News programs in Britain, has been running local weather updates and news headlines, instead of paid commercials in the ad slots that bookend Beck's show. This likely comes as a direct result of campaigns by both StopBeck.com and ColorofChange.org, which launched in July last year.

The campaigns were launched as a reaction to Beck's on-air claims that President Obama is a racist who "has a deep-seated hatred for white people." While the remarks actually came during a guest appearance on another Fox News program, "Fox & Friends," the two anti-Beck organizations viewed the incident as part of a "larger pattern of race-baiting and fear-mongering" by Beck.

According to StopBeck.com, which organized the U.K. campaign, the number of dropped sponsors for the Glenn Beck show is now up to 116. ColorofChange.org, a Web-based grassroots civil rights group, says domestic dropped sponsors total 97, though the number is certainly "well over 100" when adding on the dropped British sponsors.

The move to stop Beck mirrors the move last summer to banish Lou Dobbs from his program at CNN. The Basta Dobbs campaign, led by Presente.org, was fueled by widespread anger at Dobbs' relentlessly anti-immigrant rhetoric, which was bolstered by the same racist fears that fuel a lot of Beck's own hateful brand. By November last year, Dobbs had left CNN in what was officially labeled a resignation, but was probably influenced by the populist pressure to oust him.

While CNN said Dobbs was leaving to pursue his special form of "advocacy journalism," which was no longer in line with CNN's mission as a news organization, it's not necessarily clear that Fox News cares about putting up a newsy front. After all, as Dani McClain, a campaign manager at ColorofChange.org, points out, "Fox has a lot of gall to position itself as a news organization," particularly when advertisers are bowing out left and right. This shows "Fox is a propaganda machine, not a news outlet."

ColorofChange.org's anti-Beck petition has gathered over 285,000 signatures so far. And those numbers have brought results.

Among those who've been moved to drop their sponsorship of Beck's show is Best Western International. "As a global, family-oriented brand with guests of all persuasions and viewpoints, we seek to avoid any controversial programming, regardless of political affiliation," said the hotel chain's spokesman, Troy Rutman, adding that the company doesn't intend to have any additional ad placements during the program.

Other advertisers don't spell out exactly why they've left, instead using euphemisms. One of these is Starkist Co., whose representative Mary Sestric wrote in an e-mail to ColorsofChange.org, "We have chosen to not air our commercial during Glenn Beck's program going forward given a number of alternatives that meet our advertising plan's criteria."

Many who are bowing out claim they simply bought blocks of ad time on Fox News without ever specifying -- or prohibiting -- Beck's program. Nestlé USA spokesperson Cathy Johnson wrote in an e-mail, "Nestlé USA has family friendly programming guidelines in place that are routinely moderated and enforced. However, we are aware of a recent commercial that aired during the Glenn Beck show. Airing the spot on Fox and this program was an error that has been corrected."

"We hope that leadership at Fox will be forced to make a decision due to advertiser exodus," says Dani McClain. "Ideally, we'd like to see Beck at the low end of the AM dial where you hear a lot of people ranting and raving. Either Fox News acknowledges that they aren't a news outlet, or they get rid of Glenn Beck."

So far, it appears Fox News may be opting for the former. Running a one-hour program six days in a row without paid advertising is a money-losing move, but apparently Rupert Murdoch, the stalwart conservative scion who runs News Corp., finds it's worth footing the bill for Beck's time on British airwaves -- for now.

Here in the United States, Glenn Beck's show sports a very different roster of advertisers than it did last year. Ads for Tylenol, Pantene, Toyota-Lexus, Campbell Soup, K-Mart and any other number of household American brands have been replaced by ads for conservative organizations, companies hawking gold and precious metals (which Beck peddles himself), and direct-response advertisers selling all manner of products with unrecognizable brand names and act-now 1-800 number directives.

Fox News has long been considered an enemy of civil rights organizations, but as right-wing fringe movements such as the Birthers, Tea Partiers and Patriots gain steam, Glenn Beck has proven himself even more frightening than the likes of Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly, the channel's long-time fear-mongers.

"We think [Beck's] language goes beyond the pale -- beyond what the others are saying," McClain said. "We are specifically concerned about the rhetoric he uses around race. He taps into a fear in this time of economic instability, and he's playing on paranoia and fears that do exist in American society and taking advantage of them."

The question now is whether Glenn Beck's remaining advertisers will react to consumer anger about their financial backing of his hate talk -- or if Beck's gold-pushing and Fox's propaganda goals will be enough to keep him on TV.


http://tinyurl.com/ycygb9j

Good riddance. The sooner the better. Shutdown MSNBC and Fox News for that matter. People need to start thinking for themselves instead of being brain washed by these talking heads.

Originally Posted by xfighter

Good riddance. The sooner the better. Shutdown MSNBC and Fox News for that matter. People need to start thinking for themselves instead of being brain washed by these talking heads.

In my opinion, we shouldn't "shut down" anyone's freedom of speech, or limit the viewer's right to hear what they want to. There are many networks I don't watch because I don't like the reporting, but I wouldn't call for them to be "shut down." Instead, I just don't watch them.

For all of the new viewers that Glenn Beck brings to FOX, the sponsors at other times on FOX are actually gaining viewership of their products. Lefties, liberals, socialists, progressives do not like that Glenn has been tutoring the American public on their agenda. An informed public is dangerous to the White House, the Democrat and Republican progressives, SEIU, ACORN, SPLC, La Raza, Maldef.

Like him or not, the fact is that more Americans are more engaged because of Glenn Beck. Tea Parties have ignited all over the nation because of his 9/12 activities and programming. Liberals are scared to death of him, viewership of other cable media is down, and Glenn is the target to stop their pain.

Keep the chalk sharpened Glenn and the chalkboard lessons coming.

Psalm 139:14

Disagreeing on issues and candidates is all fair game in America but when you start trying to silence people, take people off the air, or disrupt Tea Parties, etc... You are attacking the fundamental freedoms that protect and unite us all.

W

Originally Posted by tinybobidaho

Originally Posted by xfighter

Good riddance. The sooner the better. Shutdown MSNBC and Fox News for that matter. People need to start thinking for themselves instead of being brain washed by these talking heads.

In my opinion, we shouldn't "shut down" anyone's freedom of speech, or limit the viewer's right to hear what they want to. There are many networks I don't watch because I don't like the reporting, but I wouldn't call for them to be "shut down." Instead, I just don't watch them.

You're right. I let my anger get the best of me. Instead, targeting the sponsors seems like the best way to do it. If they go, these networks can't survive. We need news that will go back to reporting the news instead of thinking for the American public.

Unfortunately, so much of the evening "news" on so many channnels has turned into entertainment or news "analysis", which does its best to sway us one way or other.
News can be totally boring, but it really does not need the coloration of political or personal opinion to have an affect. This is all we are getting fed these days.

Originally Posted by xfighter

Originally Posted by tinybobidaho

Originally Posted by xfighter

Good riddance. The sooner the better. Shutdown MSNBC and Fox News for that matter. People need to start thinking for themselves instead of being brain washed by these talking heads.

In my opinion, we shouldn't "shut down" anyone's freedom of speech, or limit the viewer's right to hear what they want to. There are many networks I don't watch because I don't like the reporting, but I wouldn't call for them to be "shut down." Instead, I just don't watch them.

You're right. I let my anger get the best of me. Instead, targeting the sponsors seems like the best way to do it. If they go, these networks can't survive. We need news that will go back to reporting the news instead of thinking for the American public.

I wouldn't count on the sponsors getting off there entirely. Their goal is to make money, and they know they would be committing financial suicide not to take advantage of the most watched network like Fox. When it comes right down to it, they're smart enough to know where their bread is buttered. It's always about the money.

I very rarely watch TV but I watch Glenn Beck every day and I think he makes a lot of sense. Like me, some of my friends started doing the same and now they are opening up their eyes to the country's situation. Some of them even started a saving account and are jointing conservative groups.

I think that in general people do not like to hear bad news and hate the ones who have the courage to expose what is wrong and rotten with our politicians.

I only started watching Beck after I read about companies boycotting him.

When all else fails just "shoot the messenger"....