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Glenn Beck
Glenn Beck returned to his usual FOX News time slot yesterday at 5PM EST. As AP reports, he's back on the air, but "with fewer companies willing to advertise on his show than when he left, part of the fallout from calling President Barack Obama a racist."
But as I've reported here, you can't rely on the mainstream media to tell you the full story. And you certainly can't trust the likes of the Huffington Post. I could have spent all day yesterday DM'ing Twitterers with handles like "@stopglen" (sic), who can't stop crowing about the "boycott", and spreading half-truths around the web.
So let's review, shall we?
A month into this boycott, about half the advertisers targeted by the radical black group Color Of Change have either:
a) stopped running ads on Beck's show, but continue to run ads in other day parts on FOX News, so there is no revenue loss, or
b) were never advertising on it anyway and still wonder how their names got mixed up in all this.
And as I've said before, the companies being "boycotted", like Wal-Mart, are those that lefties don't patronize anyhow. Again: no loss of revenue, which equals a failed boycott.
But:
The real fallout is that many of these huge corporations have decided that the hassle isn't worth it -- and are pulling their sponsorship from liberal shows too, such as MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.
As AP reports: "Beck's strong ratings — even at 5 p.m. EDT he often outdraws whatever CNN and MSNBC show in prime-time — make it unlikely Beck is going anywhere."
The same can't be said for Olbermann and Rachel Maddow, who don't have anything like Beck's extremely loyal following. If the boycott "succeeds," all that will happen is that left leaning shows will be canceled.
Plus, air time on Beck is cheaper now, so new sponsors are signing up.
I also love how the main steam media is trumpeting the fact this morning that Beck slammed Color of Change co-founder turned White House "Green Jobs Czar" Van Jones on his show last night. As usual, out of touch journalists are getting it completely backwards: Beck has been going after Jones (as have I) for some time.
That's the real reason behind the Color of Change boycott; Beck's "racist" remark was just the more publicly palatable excuse.
Comments
Hey, I've never advertised on Beck's show either. Can I sign the boycott? I'll look like a liberal hero without actucally DOING anything, and isn't that what political correctness is all about?
Blogging FAIL:
1. referencing previous blog post as evidence to back up claims (circular research)
2. Unsubtaintiated claim that "many" co's have made decision to pull out of all political advertising, when it fact as of the time of this post it is "one"-i.e., Clorox.
You're entitled to your own opinions, but not to your own facts...
Glenn Beck is finished, despite what the conservative media claims
Your article is poorly researched and based on little to no facts. The fact that you toss around derogatory labels rather than genuine critiques places you in the same category as Beck himself, relying on inflammatory remarks rather than real journalistic integrity. The campaign to boycott Glenn has been successful because it used Beck's own words to condemn him. No lies or manipulations were utilized. Like many others, you falsely equate ratings with quality programming. Millions of people would tune in if they ever televised executions, for the same reason that traffic slows to view the outcome of a serious car accident.Beck relies on alarmist lies to attract and hold an audience of ignorant rednecks who are looking for any justification to hate Obama and deny that he could ever be a legitimate president (e.g, birthers). Senator McCarthy's witch hunt once captured a nation's attention and destroyed many innocent lives by telling everyone communists are among us. We learned nothing.
Ms. Shaidle, one more thing, where is your evidence that "new sponsors are signing up" to the Glenn Beck show? There is no link in here to anything establishing this claim. Where does it come from? Who are these new sponsors?
Or did you just make this one up?
Awesome article! the word behind the scenes at Fox is that when Mens-wearehouse left, it actually caused a bidding war between Brooks brothers and another clothier.
Even though ad revenue for the show dropped initially, viewership increased so much that most advertisers will consider ad placement on Beck regardless of progressive activism - which is what's behind this.
If any boycotter can say to themselves (not to me or other web readers) that they are not a liberal or a progressive and truly believe that they're not an activist, they should seek the help of a mental health professional as reality is not within their purview.
For a guy who's finished, he sure doesn't seem to be going anywhere - indeed he's stronger than ever. The boycott has failed.
Beck was right when, in response to an incredibly stupid racebaiting statement by Obama, he called Obama a racist. To believe that blacks are perpetual victims (as many Democrats do) is as racist as wearing a white hood. Obama promised to be post-racial, I wish he actually was.
And this Van Jones character is the nations top watermelon (green on the outside, red on the inside). You would hope that someone with his important position would be doing his job rather than calling pointless boycotts against those who expose his radical roots. On the other hand, the less Obama's team accomplishes, the better for America.
Having one of Obama's czars call a boycott against a commentator that is critical of him and his beloved leader, and to watch it fail miserably...
Is that the hope and change you were expecting?
VAN JONES IS A COMMUNIST AND A BLACK PANTHER. VAN JONES SAID IT HIMSELF. OBAMA HAS PUT A COMMUNIST/BLACK PANTHER INTO OFFICE. FIRST THEY GET SAVAGE BANNED FROM BRITAN NOW ITS ON TO THE NEXT CONSERVATIVE RADIO TARGET. ONE AT A TIME THEY WILL TAKE THEM DOWN. THE MEDIA IS ATTACKING GLENN FOR STATING THE TRUTH. IS THIS DEMOCRACY??
VAN JONES IS A COMMUNIST AND A BLACK PANTHER.
VAN JONES SAID IT HIMSELF.
OBAMA HAS PUT A COMMUNIST/BLACK PANTHER INTO OFFICE.
IRST THEY GET SAVAGE BANNED FROM BRITAN NOW ITS ON TO THE NEXT CONSERVATIVE RADIO TARGET.
ONE AT A TIME THEY WILL TAKE THEM DOWN.
THE MEDIA IS ATTACKING GLENN FOR STATING THE TRUTH.
IS THIS DEMOCRACY??
Marketwatch says it is turning into "one of the more effective boycott campaigns in years". They are owned by News Corp. which also owns FOX News Channel. I have to agree with you that the mainstream media like FOX and Marketwatch can't be relied on to tell you the whole story but in this case maybe they have it right.
Hello you sick twisted freaks!!!! Did anyone else catch that show that featured Glenn yodeling in Lederhosen and then doing a handstand while reciting the entire Book of Job in pig Latin. Sure he's goofy, but his message is very clear. God fearing Christians should rule the world from a base in Utah then build a wooden rocketship to fly to Phlugerville Texas to dig up the ten commandments that Joseph Smith buried there in 1876.
'Marketwatch says it is turning into "one of the more effective boycott campaigns in years". '
Even if correct, stopping customers is not the goal of a boycott, it is the method. The Montgomery bus boycott was meant to eliminate the racist seating policy, not to keep blacks of the bus - and it succeeded, because after the boycott, blacks can now sit anywhere they want.
Beck is still on the air. The boycott might have been effective (giving the benefit of the doubt) in scaring away a few advertisers, but that was not the goal, the goal was to silence Beck.
That is why the boycott can only be considered a failure.
Boycotts usually don't take effect in a few days or even weeks. Advertisers may come back if Beck tones it down. They don't want their name associated with him but they don't want to leave FOX. We're coming up on the beginning of the Christmas season retailers will be trying to place their advertising dollars where it will do the most good which is always a gamble.
No one is trying to silence Beck. They just don't want to look like they support him even though they are. Appearances in America are often more important than reality. For example, if you fly a Chinese made American flag you are enriching the Chinese Communists at the expense of American workers but you look patriotic. It's like that. The sponsors look like they are not paying Beck but they are.
He'll always have freedom of speech. He could just go online with his own show like Maher did.
Give it a couple months.
I bet the hogs would consider Van Jones a tasty diet.
They're hungry.
Effect Operation Consequence on all the CZARS. We're not supposed to have CZARS in FREE America.
Oink, Oink, bring us something to eat!
David, I hope the last thing Beck does is tone it down.
I mean, imagine if Beck tones it down because of White House pressure, wouldn't that be tragedy for free speech and a free press!
Like Beck or hate him, surely you oppose government officials using their power to sideline critics!
Money is what's driving this. The advertisers don't care about Beck, they care about their profits. They usually have standards for their support although unless a fuss is made often they don't enforce them. I think the standards for some of them would make the present political discussions much more productive in the sense of talking about solutions to problems rather than ranting. Check out the standards for Clorox (which has jumped ship on Beck).
“Per our advertising standards, we don't advertise in programs that display exploitive sex or violence, treat ethnic, religious, or political groups in a disparaging manner, present facts inaccurately or distort them to blatantly partisan advantage, and treat individuals or groups in a demeaning manner”, said Adam Oberweiser, a spokesperson for Clorox.
How could anyone who wants to discuss our nation's problems have a problem with those guidelines?
I used to watch Glenn occasionally,since the boycott I've made it a point to join his email group and watch him regularly. Sometimes there are things worth boycotting,but when it's an attempt to shut up a critic(especially of government), I go the opposite way. Free speech is critically important and I'm for that any day.
This definitely not a free speech issue. No sponsors are even hinting at restricting Beck's right to free speech and couldn't take it away from him anyway. I haven't read anywhere that the advertisers want to remove Beck's right to free speech.
I see no restriction of a free press at all with this issue. There are 1000's of articles, blogs, and websites talking about this. Where is the loss of freedom of press?
Beck is free to talk about his opinions until doomsday and the press is free to report it. People are free to listen to whatever news they want, people are free to spend their MONEY where they want, the advertisers are free to advertise where they want based on where they think it will bring in the most MONEY, people are free to organize and use the power of their MONEY if they want, FOX is definitely within their rights to keep Beck or fire him if he cost too much MONEY. This whole thing is about MONEY.
No one's freedom of speech is threatened here.
This Shaidle woman is a joke. She says Olbermann and Rachel Maddow don't have as loyal a following. She obviously doesn't do much research when she sits down at her toy computer to blather away. Just another case of someone writing on the internet and people believe they have creds.
neena feels fine calling names but FAILED to back up her rhetoric.
Typical of the fascists on the left. All talk no FACTS.
The fact is neither the failed sports announcer or the dyke from Air America, the FAILED radio network, have anywhere near the ratings of ANY of FOX NEWS' programs.
Talk about name calling. No need to describe people the way you did, Happy. If you can't have a constructive discussion without such immaturity, that's pretty sad.
David, surely you must feel a twinge of concern when you hear that a government official is organizing a boycott against a journalist critical of the government. If you don't, then please imagine how you would feel if a year ago you heard that Karl Rove was secretly behind a boycott of, say, Olberman.
Let's face it, this is inappropriate. To say that even if a boycott got Beck fired from his show on the top cable network (unlikely, he's a huge ratings draw, and for every corporation worried about the fallout, there's a dozen excited about the number of viewers), he could still blog... well that's true in one sense, but untrue in the sense that the Obama Machine has pushed another critic onto the sidelines.
Beck was right when he called Obama out when Obama made his incredibly stupid race-baiting comments.
No wonder the White House is out to get him.
Which official is organizing what part of the boycott?
The only reason Fox has such strong ratings is because ignorant, uneducated, gun-toting, bigoted, holy rollers who watch them don't watch anything else! It's the one and only channel for such people. As for us L-word people, we have CNN, MSNBC, PBS, BBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, HBO with Bill Mahor, Comedy Central with Jon Stewart, and so on. Let's face it. The neo-cons and Republicans got whooped last November, and they have only one place to go to shed their tears, and that is Fox. More power to you all! You deserve each other.
David, surely you must feel a twinge of concern when you hear that a government official is organizing a boycott against a journalist critical of the government. If you don't, then please imagine how you would feel if a year ago you heard that Karl Rove was secretly behind a boycott of, say, Olberman.
Let's face it, this is inappropriate. To say that even if a boycott got Beck fired from his show on the top cable network (unlikely, he's a huge ratings draw, and for every corporation worried about the fallout, there's a dozen excited about the number of viewers), he could still blog... well that's true in one sense, but untrue in the sense that the Obama Machine has pushed another critic onto the sidelines.
Beck was right when he called Obama out when Obama made his incredibly stupid race-baiting comments.
No wonder the White House is out to get him.
David, surely you must feel a twinge of concern when you hear that a government official is organizing a boycott against a journalist critical of the government. If you don't, then please imagine how you would feel if a year ago you heard that Karl Rove was secretly behind a boycott of, say, Olberman.
Let's face it, this is inappropriate. To say that even if a boycott got Beck fired from his show on the top cable network (unlikely, he's a huge ratings draw, and for every corporation worried about the fallout, there's a dozen excited about the number of viewers), he could still blog... well that's true in one sense, but untrue in the sense that the Obama Machine has pushed another critic onto the sidelines.
Beck was right when he called Obama out when Obama made his incredibly stupid race-baiting comments.
No wonder the White House is out to get him.
Re:Johnny 100 Pesos
Who is the government official that is officially behind the boycott?
Van Jones.
He is Obama's Green Jobs czar, and he founded Color Of Change, which is behind this ineffective boycott.
He is (or was) a communist. He was jailed for violence during the Rodney King riots. No wonder Obama gave this guy government authority.
He is also a textbook watermelon: green on the outside, red on the inside.
Its all gravy for Beck. Mean while the left shoots itself in the head yet again. I love it when they do this. Shows them for what vicious vindictive haters of men that they are.
JMO
These are guidelines from one of the sponsors jumping ship on Beck.
“Per our advertising standards, we don't advertise in programs that display exploitive sex or violence, treat ethnic, religious, or political groups in a disparaging manner, present facts inaccurately or distort them to blatantly partisan advantage, and treat individuals or groups in a demeaning manner”, said Adam Oberweiser, a spokesperson for Clorox."
Any person who has the ability to reason could express themselves within these simple rules unless they really have nothing rational to say.
BTW - Van Jones was not arrested for violence. He was ILLEGALLY arrested at a peaceful demonstration against the Rodney King arrest, not a riot. The District Attorney dropped the charges and Jones along with others won a legal settlement against the police. Unless you consider protest a crime, and an illegal arrest justice, he didn't do anything wrong.
Illegal political based arrests radicalize all kinds of people.
It was good to see McCain stand up for civilized debate. Watching McCain's town hall meeting today it was encouraging see him have a woman removed from the building because she just wouldn't stay quiet long enough for him to answer questions. What is the use of yelling at the speaker and not letting them get on with trying to discuss ideas instead of anger?
Thank you Senator McCain for helping to civilize America.
Gee, when Bush was president if you dissed him you were Un-American? And Mccain is "civilized" for tossing out a heckler? Yet loud obnoxious people that will not allow anyone to speak at a Dem town hall meeting are just "concerned grass roots ordinary Americans"? Where is Beck on falafel man Oreilys' pinhead or patriot rating system? Fox viewers are just plain idiots!
Re:Ron
No, loud obnoxious people at a town hall meeting are NOT just 'concerned grass roots ordinary Americans' if they come in screaming and completely disrupting everything. That was my point. The organizers have let the situation get out of hand. The meetings should have some sense of order if we are to discuss problems. Protest is part of our society, which is a good thing, and I am all for taking to the streets in a peaceful fashion. A town hall meeting is often going to be somewhat chaotic but if our politicians never have to face the public and answer unscripted questions we're doomed as a democracy.
I was thanking McCain because a lot of people seem to support the disruptions as long as they are only affecting the left. We'll see how they react to this.
Dissing Bush is as American as apple pie. What a disaster for America that clown was.
FOX is faux.
is shocking that FOX would put someone like Beck on the air who obviously is mentally ill.
then again nothing fox does shocks me anymore
RE: David 8-25
If you think your freedom of speech on radio, tv, newspapers, blogs, etc are not in jeopardy...check out Obama's new "communication diversity czar" Mark Lloyd. Your 2nd amendment rights are surly going to be compromised very soon.
Way to go Glenn Beck!! Finally a person with enough intestinal fortitude to seek out and expose those radicals living in the White House. You have just made a huge contribution in preserving America and our Constitution.
God Bless you.
Robert Moon is spamming The Activity Pit again: twi.cc/lAlq
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