Roger Ailes

Murdoch Media Ignores Charges Against Fox News Boss Roger Ailes

Posted by on February 25, 2011 at 3:23 am. 3 Comments :


Yesterday the New York Times published a bombshell story revealing allegations that Fox News chairman Roger Ailes asked an employee to lie to federal investigators to protect a close friend and political comrade.

The article said that Ailes had asked Judith Regan, then head of a publishing unit at News Corp’s HarperCollins, to conceal her affair with Bernard Kerik, whom President Bush had nominated to be Secretary of Homeland Security. Kerik was an associate of former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani who was mounting a presidential campaign. Giuliani was a friend of Ailes.

Giuliani’s nascent campaign might have been grounded before takeoff if news of Kerik’s affair had gotten out. Plus, there were concerns that Regan had information about Giuliani that would also have been embarrassing for the candidate.

Fragments of this story were revealed in a lawsuit that Regan had filed after Ailes fired her, but no names were disclosed. The new story in the Times fingers Ailes as the executive who had told Regan to lie to investigators.

This revelation could have harsh consequences for Ailes. His actions may constitute a federal crime. Short of that, it could impact his status at Fox News. Having a chairman who is potentially a criminal, and whose alleged criminal activity was aimed at protecting a political ally, is not the sort of thing a news network ought to condone. Lucky for Ailes, the only thing his network has to do with news is that they put it on their logo.

In keeping with their aversion to reporting the news, Fox News has blacked out any coverage of the story about Ailes. This story has been picked up by dozens of news enterprises including the New York Daily News, Forbes, USA Today, Politico, and the Hollywood Reporter, since having been reported first by the Times. But in the Murdoch empire it doesn’t exist. It is unquestionably newsworthy subject matter involving the head of one of the nation’s biggest media companies. It contains all the elements of compelling reading, including crime, sex, and political and corporate intrigue. Yet there has been no sign of it on Fox News, or in the Wall Street Journal, or in the New York Post, or on Fox Business Network. Neither has it been covered by notable conservative news outfits like the Washington Times, or Andrew Breitbart’s “Big” sites, or WorldNetDaily, or Human Events, or National Review, or NewsMax, or the Weekly Standard.

Perhaps even more disturbing is the fact that there has yet to be any mention of this by the big broadcast networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC. These networks in the past have taken pains to cover for Fox News when it has been under attack for shoddy and biased reporting. There seems to be a mutual defense treaty in the television news community that calls for members to support one another, even though Fox isn’t actually a news network by objective standards. But what other explanation is there for the broadcast nets to ignore this story while their colleagues in print are all over it?

This is our so-called “liberal” media at work. The chairman of the top cable news network is accused of a federal crime that involves political shenanigans, and much of the press averts their eyes and waves it off. And while the media at large deserve criticism for not honestly informing the public, the Murdoch empire earns extra condemnation for hypocrisy. After all, they have unrestricted access to the subject of this scandal, yet they choose to shield him.

[Update:] The industry trade paper AdWeek confirms that News Corp has failed to report on the allegations against Ailes.

WTF: Glenn Beck Says Reform Jews Are Like Islamic Radicals

Posted by on February 22, 2011 at 2:55 pm. 2 Comments :


In yet another exhibition of clueless hate-spittle, Glenn Beck declared this morning on his radio show that Reform rabbis are just like Islamic radicals (i.e. terrorists):

“When you talk about rabbis, understand that most people who are not Jewish don’t understand that there are the Orthodox rabbis and then there are the Reformed (sic) rabbis. Reformed rabbis are generally political in nature. It’s almost like Islam – radicalized Islam – in a way to where radicalized Islam is less about religion than it is about politics.”

First of all, there is no such thing as “Reformed” rabbis. Perhaps he is confusing them with reformed drug and alcohol abusers like himself. There are Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform rabbis, and all of them are practitioners of faith. They are all also permitted to participate in political affairs and there are as many Orthodox rabbis as Reform who do so.

Beck’s ignorance is both offensive and dangerous. He is deliberately misinforming his audience and fomenting hatred. What does he think the result will be when his disturbed congregation “learns” from him that most American Jews (because Reform Jews are a plurality (pdf) in the U.S.) are just like Islamic radicals? Does he think that will endear his followers to their Jewish neighbors?

This sort of anti-Semitic rhetoric is common amongst hate mongers who seek to demonize Jews and divide them from the community. It is how societies throughout history have advanced irrational prejudices and instigated Holocausts. And while many people recoil from Nazi analogies, the comparison here is just too close to ignore. You simply cannot associate a group of people with those who are your mortal enemies and expect to be excused.

Beck has a pattern of disparaging Jews and others he regards as different. He recently made a list of the nine people whom he said most contributed to the 20th century being the Era of the Big Lie. Eight of them were Jewish. His attacks on George Soros as a tyrannical “Puppet Master,” another common derogatory insult aimed at Jews, are infamous. And Beck has even perpetuated the intentionally incendiary allegation that Jews killed Jesus.

How is it that Beck doesn’t understand why people think he’s an anti-Semite? Even more perplexing, how is it that this repulsive, psychotic, purveyor of paranoid conspiracies and undisguised hatred manages to stay on the air despite dwindling ratings and scores of advertisers refusing to permit their ads to be aired during his hour of malevolent madness?

As disgusting as Beck is, we cannot let his protectors off the hook. Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch are just as culpable for providing the platform for Beck to disseminate his vile ravings. And so is Steve Lehman and the apologists at Premiere Radio Networks. They know full well what he is doing and have repeatedly expressed their support and agreement. On any other network, someone spewing the lies and hate that Beck does would have been fired long ago. Lucky for him he is employed by people who share his disdain for Jews, African-Americans, Muslims, Latinos, and anyone else they consider to be outside their exclusionary club.

Glenn Beck is a repugnant bigot with a diseased brain who needs to be, not just removed from the airwaves, but ostracized from society along with his Klan. Let him live in a mountainous compound with a militia of morons who believe he’s the Messiah, as he does himself. I am as strong an advocate of free speech as there ever was but, as we know, there are exceptions for incidents that incite imminent harm. Beck has already incited several cases of violence and we should not permit him to use the mass media to recruit more soldiers for his demented cause.

Now Beck has expanded his campaign of hate to tarnish a broad subsection of Judaism as akin to terrorists. A sane and compassionate culture ought not to tolerate this racist, Apocalyptic idiocy.

[Update:] After having his remarks denounced by the Anti-Defamation League as “bigoted ignorance,” and by the Union For Reform Judaism as “profoundly offensive,” Beck has issued an apology in which he concedes his ignorance and blames his repulsive comments on not having “done his homework.”

“To Abe [Foxman of the ADL] and everybody else, if I offended you it was not my intent. I see how I did that and I apologize for the action and the words. Nuff said.”

Nuff Said? Oh OK. Everything’s fine now and all of the other examples of bigotry, and the pattern of hate he has exhibited, is forgiven and forgotten. The attacks on George Soros, Francis Fox Piven, Cass Sunstein, Ezekiel Rahm, and his frequent use of Nazi and Holocaust analogies, none of which he has ever apologized for, are now wiped from the blackboard of accountability. Yeah sure. Beck’s apology wasn’t half bad until he got to the “nuff said” part. But it should be noted that he directed the apology to Abe Foxman and some vague “everybody else” rather than the real victims of his vitriol, Reform Jews. This shows that he is more intimidated by the ADL than he is remorseful toward those he offended.

Glenn Beck’s Sanity Questioned By (Almost) Everyone

Posted by on February 3, 2011 at 2:32 pm. 16 Comments :

Glenn BeckIf you are thinking about getting a net and a straight-jacket and trying to capture Glenn Beck so that he can be admitted to an asylum…..get in line.

For years Beck has been alienating even those who would be regarded as ideological allies. Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs denounced Beck as “an alcoholic, weeping, ranting, creationist talk show host who idolizes John Birchers and Ron Paul.” Eric Burns, formerly the host of Fox News’ News Watch said that he was glad that he does not “have to face the ethical problem of sharing an employer with Glenn Beck.” And former colleague Jane Hall said that Beck was a factor in her decision to leave Fox News.

But since his bizarre rendition of the events in Egypt earlier this week, Beck’s critics are rushing to disassociate themselves from him and his patently insane foreign policy delusions.

Here is just a sampling of the reviews:

Reason Magazine Senior Editor, Michael Moynihan:
This is seriously the dumbest thing ever broadcast on (non-cable access) television.

Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish Senior Editor, Conor Friedersdorf:
…Fox News Channel puts this man on the air fully understanding that large parts of his program are uninformed nonsense mixed with brazen bullshit.

U.S.News & World Report, Scott Galupo, former John Boehner aide:
The man has finally blown a gasket. His pattern-recognition machine is spewing smoke and shards of metal. In Beck’s bizarro world, the Ayatollah Khomeini and Abbie Hoffman are like the Ponch and John of anti-Americanism. All that rolling around naked in the mud at Woodstock was really a harbinger of Western women one day being forced to wear burqas.

David Frum, FrumForum:
Many people have suggested that since the crisis in Egypt began Fox News’ Glenn Beck sounds crazier than usual.

William Kristol, Editor, Weekly Standard:
[H]ysteria is not a sign of health. When Glenn Beck rants about the caliphate taking over the Middle East from Morocco to the Philippines, and lists (invents?) the connections between caliphate-promoters and the American left, he brings to mind no one so much as Robert Welch and the John Birch Society. He’s marginalizing himself, just as his predecessors did back in the early 1960s.

With all of these conservative analysts bailing out on Beck, it is notable that he still has the support of two very important people in his life: Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch. Ailes and Murdoch are toughing it out. They are amongst the last to still believe that Beck is a credible voice of conservatism. As such they must be regarded as agreeing with Beck’s fantastical theories of Muslim domination of Europe and America, and the worldwide implosion that is imminent. Remember, Beck has stated on several occasions that if anything he said was untrue, Murdoch would have fired him:

“Do you think he’s going to let a guy at five o’clock say a bunch of stuff, put this together, it’s completely wrong, and stay on the network? Do you think he became a billionaire because he’s stupid? No, so that’s not it. Because Fox couldn’t allow me to say things that were wrong.”

Neither Ailes nor Murdoch have ever disputed that statement. In fact they have both affirmed their agreement with Beck. Consequently, they must not think that there is anything wrong with what Beck is saying. Therefore, it is as if they are saying it themselves.

So if Glenn Beck is crazy, as is apparent, what does that make Ailes and Murdoch?

[Update:] Joe Klein, Time Magazine:

“I’ve heard, from more than a couple of conservative sources, that prominent Republicans have approached Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes about the potential embarrassment that the paranoid-messianic rodeo clown may bring upon their brand. The speculation is that Beck is on thin ice.”

Joe Klein is not the most reliable source, but it is encouraging to hear nonetheless. Two questions spring up: 1) Who are the “prominent Republicans” Klein references? And 2) What about the embarrassment that Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes bring upon their brand?

The Smoking Gun: Here Is Why Glenn Beck Should Be Fired NOW!

Posted by on January 17, 2011 at 2:45 pm. 30 Comments :

Glenn BeckI have documented numerous examples of right-wing advocacy of violence, as have many others. But nobody crosses further over the line, or more often, than Glenn Beck. And here is the ultimate display of deliberate hostile intent. It is an overt call for violence and an instruction to viewers:

“Tea parties believe in small government. We believe in returning to the principles of our Founding Fathers. We respect them. We revere them. Shoot me in the head before I stop talking about the Founders. Shoot me in the head if you try to change our government.

I will stand against you and so will millions of others. We believe in something. You in the media and most in Washington don’t. The radicals that you and Washington have co-opted and brought in wearing sheep’s clothing — change the pose. You will get the ends.

You’ve been using them? They believe in communism. They believe and have called for a revolution. You’re going to have to shoot them in the head. But warning, they may shoot you.

They are dangerous because they believe. Karl Marx is their George Washington. You will never change their mind.” ~ Fox News, June 10, 2010

This cannot possibly be justified as acceptable political discourse. This is not merely an expression of opinion. It is not metaphorical. It is a call to arms. And Beck’s audience is listening. They have heard him say that “The country will be washed with blood.” They have heard him warn that he may have to speak in code:

“I fear that there will come a time when I cannot say things that I am currently saying. I fear that it will come to television and to radio, and I will stop saying these things. Understand me clearly. Hear me now. If I ever stop saying these things, you will know why. Because I will have made a choice that I can only say certain things, and I haven’t lost all of the rights. But know that these things are true. And if you hear me stop saying these things, it’s because I can no longer say them to you. But hear them between the sentences. Hear them, please. I will be screaming them to you.“

One of those to whom Beck was screaming was Byron Williams who was apprehended following a police shootout as he was on his way to San Francisco to kill people at the ACLU and the Tides Foundation. In a prison interview he said…

“Beck is gonna deny everything about violent approach and deny everything about conspiracies, but he’ll give you every reason to believe it. He’s protecting himself, and you can’t blame him for that. So, I understand what he’s doing.”

That’s right, Byron understands what Beck is doing, and so do I. A new poll by Public Policy Polling reports that 13% of Tea Partiers say the that violence against the current American government is justifiable. While that may sound like a small percentage, there are two things to keep in mind: 1) It’s more than three times the percentage of non-Tea Partiers who say violence is justifiable. And 2) It only takes one lone nut to wreak havoc. One lone nut like Byron Williams or, perhaps, Jared Loughner, as we learned in Tucson a week ago.

Let me be crystal clear. I am not associating Loughner to Glenn Beck. There has been no evidence (yet) to link the two. However, there have been other lone gunmen in addition to Williams who were indisputably linked to Beck.

It is because of statements like the one above that Beck has forfeited his privilege of hosting national broadcasts. His language is brazenly irresponsible and he knows it. He cannot escape accountability for the tragic consequences it produces. And neither can Roger Ailes or Rupert Murdoch.

In addition to his hostile streak, Beck also has demonstrated a flagrant prejudice against blacks and Jews. I previously noted that a rather large proportion of Beck’s targets are black, beginning, of course, with Barack Obama. Media Matters recently made note of Beck’s program on “The Big Lie” wherein Beck cited nine individuals whom he implicated in a tyrannical plot to control the minds of Americans in order to advance a socialist agenda. Was it just a coincidence that eight of them were Jewish?

This racist, anti-Semitic, provocateur must not be be permitted to conduct his terror campaign on America’s airwaves. Now that does not mean that he should be subjected to censorship or suppression of his First Amendment rights, but the First Amendment does not guarantee everyone a television show. Radio and television networks, and the advertisers and audience that support them, must be persuaded to act responsibly. And that is our job.

You can go to Glenn Beck Unhinged and click on “Take Action” for a list of organizations that are working to hold the media accountable. Then pass the links around to spread the word.

The quote above is not an isolated incident. The results of such rhetoric are predictable. His disciples believe that he is giving them covert directions, and he encourages that belief. So we have to redouble our efforts to make people like Glenn Beck pay for the harm they do to our nation. And we have to do it before there is further violence or loss of life.

[Update to Inquire] Eric Fuller, a victim of the Tucson shooting, was arrested and involuntarily committed to a mental facility for psychiatric examination. This occurred after he attended a town hall meeting and said “You’re dead,” to a Tea Party leader while snapping his picture. That’s it. Just words. He had no weapon and made no threatening gestures or movements toward anyone. If that warrants arrest and commitment then why isn’t Beck undergoing a similar examination after explicitly advising his viewers to shoot their political adversaries in the head?

[Glenn Beck Responds] On his radio program Friday he complained bitterly that his remarks were taken out of context. That’s a pretty gargantuan heaping of irony from the reigning king of contextual misrepresentation. Without out of context references Beck’s show would be shorter than his commercials.

Beck’s contextual explanation is that he isn’t telling his viewers to shoot people in the head, he is telling people in the administration (and the media) to shoot people in the head. Is that really better? He’s advising government officials to murder American citizens. Thanks for clearing that up, Glenn.

However, the broader context of these remarks has to include Beck’s warning to his viewers that they have to “listen between the sentences,” as Byron Williams did. So Beck is still narrowing the context to fit his demented vision.

Glenn Beck’s Top Ten Reasons To Kill Your Congressman

Posted by on January 12, 2011 at 7:20 pm. 17 Comments :

Glenn BeckYesterday Glenn Beck introduced a petition that he described as a challenge to America. In truth it was nothing more than a self-serving stunt that enumerated a bunch of repetitive calls to denounce violence. This sets Beck apart from the millions of people in America whom he seems to think are clamoring for more of it.

Today Beck spent almost the whole hour whining that only 14 members of congress signed his silly petition. That’s a pretty dismal showing of support. Considering that congress now has 289 Republicans (House and Senate), Beck only managed to snare about 5% of his ideological allies. He was obviously devastated at having been snubbed so brutally. He heaped scorn on those who rebuffed him, blaming them for playing politics. He went on ad nauseum about not being able to understand how anyone could refuse to sign the farce that he regarded as so well-intentioned.

Other than Beck, no one should be surprised that his petition was so universally dismissed. It would be like McDonalds circulating a petition denouncing junk food. Beck is perhaps America’s foremost purveyor of violence-soaked hate speech and has no intention of changing. His history of incendiary language is rich with examples that are indefensibly bloodthirsty. And despite his denial, this sort of rhetoric can motivate the weak, the gullible, and the paranoid. So without further ado I present Glenn Beck’s justifications for political assassination.

Glenn Beck’s Top Ten Reasons To Kill Your Congressman

  • January 19, 2010: The progressive movement is sucking the blood out of each of the parties. This is their opportunity to finally win and progressives will, admittedly, do anything to win. They’ll lie, cheat, steal. Do you really think you can pull them off your neck with a ballot box? You must drive a steak through the heart of this movement. … [Obama]’s not a Democrat. He is a progressive.
  • June 10, 2010: Shoot me in the head if you try to change our government. I will stand against you and so will millions of others. We believe in something. You in the media and most in Washington don’t. […] They believe in communism. They believe and have called for a revolution. You’re going to have to shoot them in the head. But warning, they may shoot you.
  • November 13, 2009: Barack Obama and Congress are selling you a bill of goods. It is only when you take down the mask of sunshine and lollipops that you will see the real thing – the real image. Destruction. These bills are creating the path to America’s destruction.
  • July 23, 2010: They’ve already taken over health care. Is there any greater control than that of deciding the fate of someone’s life?
  • July 23, 2010: The financial regulation that the president signed into law yesterday is an unprecedented assault on our economy, our ability to do business and, quite honestly, the republic as we know it.
  • October 30, 2009: When you pull back the curtain, you will see that free speech is being eradicated for controlled speech: Control over the media; control over the Internet; control over you.
  • March 8, 2010: There is an effort to indoctrinate [our kids]. … Even President Obama, in his own Web site, targeting our children. … Get the kids out of this indoctrination or our republic will be lost.
  • April 24, 2007: I have been telling you for months now that illegal immigration is creating a new civil war in this country.
  • September 2, 2009: I’m going to show you the beginning of something that should scare the living daylights out of you. It is propaganda in America. The National Endowment for the Arts is now holding conference calls.
  • December 14, 2009: The climate cult wants more than just your recycling bin. … what they want is total submission.

Glenn Beck has assembled a pretty comprehensive list of things that will doom the republic. They include health care, religion, financial regulation, education reform, Network Neutrality, immigration, art, global warming, cap and trade, the census, cash for clunkers, and even food safety. Did I leave anything out? Yes I did. How about…

People that don’t attend his rallies?: There are people now who are saying: I don’t know if I am going on 8/28. I don’t know if I’ll go to another Tea Party. Well, if you’re done, then the republic truly is done. If you’re done, they will take your liberty as well.

And how about…

Sarah Palin? Sarah, as you know, peace is always the answer. I know you are feeling the same heat, if not much more on this. I want you to know you have my support. But please look into protection for your family. An attempt on you could bring the republic down.

As it turns out, our republic must be pretty weak. Almost anything can bring it down according to Beck. I wouldn’t sneeze too hard if I were you. But one risk that Beck stubbornly refuses to acknowledge is that inflaming people’s fears about the end of the world that they know and cherish could drive certain individuals to take extreme measures in what they regard as the protection of their family and country. If you believed that our government were actually behaving in the manner described by Beck, that it was deliberately steering toward slavery, tyranny, and ruin, you might consider it your duty to take out a congressman or two in the name of patriotism. Beck fails to acknowledge this even though it has already happened on a number of occasions; even though he has been warned; even though he caters to advertisers whose products are dependent on such fears; even though his boss Roger Ailes told him to “shut up, tone it down, make your argument intellectually.” And that may be where Beck gets tripped up.

There has been a lot of debate lately about rhetoric and imagery. I think some of it has concentrated too much on trivialities. I don’t think Beck or Palin are responsible for the shooting last Saturday. I don’t think that maps with crosshairs are going to motivate anyone to commit murder, although they may seem horribly inappropriate after a tragic event like the one in Tucson. However, repeatedly using irresponsible language that dehumanizes rivals and casts them as mortal enemies and foes of goodness and Godliness is tempting fate. It is fomenting a hatred and/or fear of government and fellow citizens. That can turn an ideological opponent into an imminent threat. That is what Beck does every day and it has to stop.

If our republic is to survive (now I’m doing it) we need to be able to have partisan divisions that don’t devolve into civil malignancies. All people in public life need to reflect on this in pursuit of their political goals. And if Beck won’t stop out of a sense of moral decency, then it is up to those who have such morality to counter his repugnancy and work to evict him from the public platform that he does not deserve.

Top Ten Ways Fox News Made An Ass Of Itself And/Or Its Viewers In 2010

Posted by on December 29, 2010 at 10:53 am. 2 Comments :

In a year of transformational events that included a divisive debate over health care, environmental devastation in the Gulf of Mexico, a tragic Haitian earthquake, and a power shift in Congress, Fox News still managed to manufacture more trauma and fables than any other “news” source, with the possible exception of the Cuckoo’s Nest Weekly Gazette.

After reviewing the cornucopia of crazy from 2010 that best exemplifies the brand of journalistic malpractice perfected by Fox News, I have compiled the year’s top ten ten ways Fox News made an ass of itself and/or its viewers. It is a list that also reveals Fox News to be the go to source for disinformation and the champion of phony hysteria. So without further ado, the winners are…..


 		 Ashamed And Sickened By Roger Ailes
Even Rupert Murdoch’s own family can’t stand Roger Ailes. This is what Murdoch’s son in law has to say about him: “I am by no means alone within the family or the company in being ashamed and sickened by Roger Ailes’s horrendous and sustained disregard of the journalistic standards that News Corporation, its founder and every other global media business aspires to.”

 		 Has It Really Come To This: Boob Bombs?
The Fox paranoia machine was running overtime when they reported as fact that “Muslim doctors trained at some of Britain’s leading teaching hospitals have returned to their own countries to fit surgical implants filled with explosives. […] Women suicide bombers recruited by al-Qaida are known to have had the explosives inserted in their breasts under techniques similar to breast enhancing surgery.”

 		 Fox Nation Scare Tactics: Armed IRS Agents To Enforce Obamacare
In a fit of psychotic bluster, the folks at Fox Nation posted an article with a headline that was manufactured from whole cloth. There is nothing in their reporting, or the column to which they linked, that remotely implied the message in the headline which, of course, was not true. The source for the Fox Nationalists was a column in the ultra-rightist Daily Caller, published by Fox News contributor Tucker Carlson.

 		 Crime Inc: Glenn Beck’s Corrupt Advertisers
Beck spent several shows diagramming on his blackboard a cabal of evildoers he dubbed “Crime Inc,” an alleged conspiracy contrived by the climate change gang, which includes everyone from Al Gore to General Electric to the United Nations. However, it appears that the real Crime Inc is the assembly of advertisers who sponsor Beck’s show (minus those who fled in disgust). As it turns out, many of them are running less than reputable operations that have run afoul of the law.

 		 Fox Alert! The Taliban Is Recruiting Monkey Mercenaries
This story, sourced to the People’s Daily in China, was published by at least two Murdoch properties, Fox Nation and the New York Post. And if you weren’t frightened by the prospect of terrorists sneaking into the country with explosive breast implants, then maybe the thought of radical Islamic macaques and baboons armed “with AK-47 rifles, machine guns and trench mortars” will set you to squirming.

 		 The Lord Smites Glenn Beck With Blindness
Glenn Beck broke down again as he revealed to his congregation that he may or may not go blind in the next year. As a devout Mormon and Christian, he might want to look up Deuteronomy 28:27-29, which describes the plagues God will inflict upon sinners, most of which Beck is already suffering from – including hemorrhoids and madness.

 		 Why Fox News Is Racist
Well, we have the answer now. According to Brian Stelter of the New York Times, the African-American segment of viewers of Fox News in primetime this season is only 1.38%. That compares to 19.3% for MSNBC, and 20.7% for CNN, numbers that are much closer to the 14% of African-Americans in the population at large.

 		 Shocking Glenn Beck Expose: The Puppet Master
In three horror-filled episodes of Beck’s program on Fox, Beck made good on his promise to reveal the “Puppet Master” behind every diabolical scheme orchestrated by America’s enemies. Except that Beck’s profile fits his boss Rupert Murdoch, much better than his intended target, George Soros.

 		 Election Flawed: Rupert Murdoch Plays Politics For Profit
After it was disclosed that Rupert Murdoch had contributed a million dollars each to the Republican Governor’s Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, an analysis reveals that Murdoch actually earned a tidy profit on his donations when his beneficiaries turned around and spent that money on advertising on his network. This is a thinly disguised kickback scheme that would have landed any other businessman in jail.

 		 Study Confirms That Fox News Makes You Stupid
Yet another study has been released that proves that watching Fox News is detrimental to your intelligence. Researchers at the University of Maryland conducted a survey of American voters that shows that Fox News viewers are significantly more misinformed than consumers of news from other sources. What’s more, the study shows that greater exposure to Fox News increases misinformation. The more you watch, the less you know.

In retrospect, it strains credulity to imagine that so many people still take Fox News seriously. This is the network that subjects its viewers to the apocalyptic sermonizing of a weeping conspiracy theorist; the network that dispenses invented crises from the New Black Panthers stealing elections to Islamic extremists constructing victory mosques in Manhattan; the network that twists medical advance directives into death panels and cold weather forecasts into proof that global warming is a hoax; the network whose owner makes million dollar contributions to Republicans and still says it is fair and balanced.

Nevertheless, we can all look forward to 2011 with the certainty that Fox will attempt to fill it with the same sort lies and propaganda that they have made their hallmark. And, consequently, conscientious news consumers, and all patriotic citizens, will have their hands full correcting the record and repairing the damage done to the gullible victims of Foxification.

Have a Happy and Delirium-Free New Year.


Glenn Beck’s Ratings Sink into Irrelevancy

Posted by on December 2, 2010 at 5:37 pm. 26 Comments :

If there is one thing for which Glenn Beck deserves some measure of credit, it is his ability to promote himself and inflate his influence on the media, and in society, outside of all proportion to reality. The way he is portrayed in the press would give a neutral observer the impression that he is the most beloved public figure in the country with a growing following that dwarfs his contemporaries.

Of course the truth is that Beck is hated as much as he is loved. And in most polls the highest percentage of respondents are those that have no opinion or haven’t even heard of him.

The most recent ratings for his Fox News program bear out these statistics. Even though Beck gets far more attention than his Fox colleagues, his program is not a top performer and it is not growing. In fact, it is the network’s biggest loser.


In the past year Beck has dropped from 2.67 million total viewers to 2.30 million, down 14%. In the key 25-54 year old advertising demographic it’s even worse. He sank from 678,000 to 434,000, a drop of 36%. Keep in mind that the mid-term elections this year ought to have made his program more pertinent and compelling to his audience rather than less, yet he still underperformed last year’s numbers by a huge margin.

Beck’s deteriorating numbers came on the heels of his vaunted “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington, DC. Apparently that did nothing to restore his ranking. And two months later Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert rubbed salt in his wounds by hosting an even bigger rally. It is also notable that in the same time frame both Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow improved their ratings.

During the past year Beck trotted out some unusual news that some cynics may regard as attempts to boost viewership. On one program he announced that he might be going blind. A few weeks later he disclosed that he was being treated for some sort of nerve ailment that resulted in a loss of feeling in his hands and feet (the Stigmata?). He has said nothing about these traumatic incidents since.

The scope of Beck’s ratings failure is not trivial. his decline far exceeds those of his Fox comrades. He routinely places fourth in the Fox lineup behind O’Reilly, Baier, and Hannity. That is pretty low for someone who is being hailed as the network’s star attraction. His ratings are a full 40% below Bill O’Reilly, who doesn’t get nearly as much press as Beck, at least since Beck came aboard. That’s gotta buzz Billo’s beak.

Along with Beck’s dismal ratings picture, he is also a money drain on Fox News. Over 140 American advertisers have pulled their ads from Beck’s show. In the UK Beck has been airing for months with no advertising at all.

You have to wonder why Fox News keeps Beck around when he is neither a source of ratings or revenue. And increasingly he is the network’s greatest source of embarrassment. His ravings are becoming ever more distant from reality (see Glenn Beck Unhinged for copious documentation). The range of his dementia begins with the eminently mockable frightfest he hosted surrounding his assertion that the government is plotting to induce mass starvation via the Food Safety Act. But just when he seems like the rodeo clown he calls himself, he veers into the repulsive bigotry and overt anti-Semitism of his disgraceful and lie-riddled series on George Soros. It would be naive to dismiss him as the joke he often appears to be when he is also capable of incendiary hate speech that has already incited real world violence.

There are only two plausible excuses for keeping someone like Beck on the air:

1) Beck represents the views of the people who employ him and their determination to advance those views supersedes their obligation to produce popular or profitable programming. That would fit the profiles of both Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch. Ailes is unambiguously partisan and has crammed the Fox lineup with staunch conservative activists in the role of reporters and hosts. At least four potential candidates for the GOP nomination for president are currently on the Fox News payroll. Murdoch has demonstrated his preference for ideology over profit by deficit financing many of his notoriously biased news operations for many years. And the disclosure of his million dollar donations (via News Corp) to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Republican Governor’s Association remove all doubt as to his activist intentions.

2) Beck’s bosses are afraid to terminate him due to the rabid idolatry of his fan base. Even though Beck’s audience is relatively small and shrinking, they are an unstable lot and they would make a fierce roar of anguish were Fox to cut Beck loose. Whether that would manifest violently with threats to the network or its principles is unknown, but not implausible. They would certainly create a media maelstrom. The cultish worship of Beck approaches Messianic proportions. He even speculates on air that he is the target of death threats and that evil, clandestine forces are gathering to silence (crucify?) him. Just imagine how he would spin his cancellation as persecution, and all of his disciples would believe it.

If the suits at Fox News had any integrity they would cancel Beck tomorrow. That’s how television networks work. You bring in either money or viewers or you get the axe. It’s not censorship. It’s called a free market, and I thought right-wingers were supposed to support that. News Corp and Fox executives have a fiduciary duty to shareholders to return profit on their investments, but they are shirking that duty for either ideological of cowardly reasons.

Perhaps it is the shareholders who should revolt and demand that action be taken to restore fiscal responsibility. Either Beck goes or the brass that are too incompetent to do what’s right and necessary do. I’m holding my breath starting . . . . . . . . Now.

The Nazi Talk On Fox News Starts At The Top

Posted by on November 18, 2010 at 11:28 am. 13 Comments :

If you have ever wondered where Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity et al, get their propensity for accusing every liberal or Democrat of being a Nazi, the mystery is solved.


Roger Ailes is the chairman and CEO of Fox News. As such he can be considered the role model for his staff and the authority on the network’s journalistic doctrine. In an interview this week with The Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz (Part 1, Part 2), Ailes demonstrated precisely the sort of example he hopes to set for his team. In response to a question about Juan Williams’ departure from NPR, Ailes said:

“They are, of course, Nazis. They have a kind of Nazi attitude. They are the left wing of Nazism. These guys don’t want any other point of view. They don’t even feel guilty using tax dollars to spout their propaganda. They are basically Air America with government funding to keep them alive.”

That’s right. The folks at NPR are synonymous with a genocidal regime that murdered millions and sought to create a vast tyrannical empire for a “master race.” I always suspected that Lake Woebegone’s predominately white, Christian residents were secretly fascists.

This wasn’t a slip of the tongue. He said it three times. And if this is what he says in public to a reporter for The Daily Beast and CNN, just imagine what he says privately to direct the activities of his news producers, correspondents, and anchors. And what must Mara Liasson, an NPR correspondent and Fox News contributor, think of Ailes trashing her primary employer this way?

Ailes is guilty of a typical anti-Semitic tactic of trivializing the Holocaust in an attempt to dampen its historical impact and ultimately deny its existence. This is illustrated further when Ailes defended Glenn Beck’s atrocious smear of George Soros as a Nazi collaborator. Ailes dismissed the criticism directed at Beck by disparaging an imagined cabal of…

“…left-wing rabbis who basically don’t think that anybody can ever use word, Holocaust, on the air.”

Of course, there is no support for that statement. The Jewish organizations that condemned Beck’s programs are not averse to using the word, they merely object to it being used to slander actual Holocaust survivors, and to turning it into a colloquial insult. However, Ailes apparently believes the word should be used more frequently, no matter the context, and aimed at any progressive individual or institution that he doesn’t like. And his network is evidence of that belief. (See Lewis Black’s Nazi Tourettes)

The interview revealed several other examples of the inherent bias of a network that calls itself “fair and balanced.” On President Obama, Ailes advanced the notion that he is somehow “foreign” saying that…

“He just has a different belief system than most Americans.”

That must be why most Americans voted for him and still prefer him to every potential Republican opponent. They also prefer him to our previous president, George W. Bush, whom Ailes praised saying…

“This poor guy, sitting down on his ranch clearing brush, gained a lot of respect for keeping his mouth shut.”

I may have to give him that one. Keeping his mouth shut may be the only way Bush could ever gain respect. However, Ailes must not be paying attention because Bush hasn’t set foot in Crawford since he left the White House. His faulty attention span also missed some critical facts regarding Rupert Murdoch’s political contributions:

“Rupert Murdoch’s worked for 60 years. He’s the biggest media mogul in the world. I don’t think anyone can tell him what to do with his money. That’s sort of his right.”

Except that the millions of dollars that Murdoch donated to partisan GOP campaigns didn’t come out of his pocket. It was from News Corp, so it was the shareholders who were paying for his electoral largesse.

Finally, Ailes couldn’t help taking a swipe at a perennial foe whom he apparently thinks is another enemy of America: Jon Stewart.

“He openly admits he’s sort of an atheist and a socialist. […] He hates conservative views. He hates conservative thoughts. He hates conservative verbiage. He hates conservatives. He’s crazy.”

OK, let’s just set aside his hyperbolic derision of Stewart’s faith and patriotism. Ailes casts Stewart as crazy and hateful toward conservatives. But he sure gets along well with Bill O’Reilly, Newt Gingrich and many other conservatives who have been guests on his show. But here’s the fun part:

“If it wasn’t polarized, he couldn’t make a living. He makes a living by attacking conservatives and stirring up a liberal base against it. He loves polarization. He depends on it. If liberals and conservatives are all getting along, how good would that show be? It’d be a bomb.”

Couldn’t you make almost the exact same comment about Fox News? Just switch liberals and conservatives as the objects of attack and you have the Fox business model. And he’s right. Without the constant liberal bashing and polarization Fox would bomb. That’s because they don’t have any actual news to support their network.

Ailes exhibits a stunningly dense appreciation for reality. He is oblivious to what every objective analyst sees with crystal clarity. But the worst part remains his personal affinity for the sort of rhetoric that divides our nation. His embrace of Nazi and socialist slurs is a crucial part of the broadcast philosophy of Fox News, and now no one can wonder who set that repulsive and hostile tone that the rest of the network emulates.

Update: Roger Ailes has issued an apology of sorts. He sent a letter to Abe Foxman of the ADL saying that he regretted his use of the term “Nazi attitudes.” However the rest of the letter was a surreal justification for his language.

First he blamed it on his anger at NPR for having fired Juan Williams. Then he shifted gears and blamed it on a couple of rabbis with whom he had met to discuss Glenn Beck’s frequent comparisons of Nazis to Democrats, progressives and other Beck targets. He also defended Beck’s Smear-laden programs on George Soros by saying that his “Brainroom” had found the programs valid. For an apology he sure had a lot of other people to fault for his wrongdoing.

But the real flaw in the so-called apology is that Ailes sent it to the ADL. But it wasn’t the ADL whom he had called Nazis. It was the folks at NPR. I don’t think you can call it an apology if you don’t address it to the people you actually offended. It was more of a cowardly PR gesture.

Phil Griffin: MSNBC’s Embeded Fox News Groupie

Posted by on November 5, 2010 at 6:58 pm. 3 Comments :

I was reminded of an article I wrote last May by a Twitterer who apparently knows my work better than I do. Below are a few choice excerpts that paint a clearer picture of the man that just put Keith Olbermann on suspension.

Phil Griffin Of MSNBC ♥’s Roger Ailes Of Fox News
 

Roger AilesPhil Griffin, president of MSNBC, was interviewed by the Chicago Tribune and provided an outstanding example of the sort of clueless, illogical, journalistic myopia that is rotting away the American press. When asked about his rival Roger Ailes at Fox News, he gave an almost fawning response that makes one wonder if they are really rivals at all.

“He’s changed media. Everybody does news differently because Roger’s changed the world. Roger early on figured it out and was brilliant.”

Indeed. Roger Ailes changed media – for the worse! His “brilliant” idea was to transform the news into a rancorous, talk-radio style, shoutfest that manufactured conflict and spun every story as far to the right as their ideological wheel could turn. The inspiration behind Fox’s brand loyalty is talk-radio, soap operas, and tabloid news vendors like the National Enquirer.

[…]

If Griffin really believes that his mission is to emulate Fox from the opposite end of the political spectrum, he will only succeed in further debasing the media. In addition, he will miss the opportunity to effectively compete in the cable news marketplace. He needs to realize that, not being a news network, Fox is no more his competition than is Nickelodeon (which I’ve said before is a better source than Fox for news and plays to a smarter audience).

[…]

If Griffin were to apply basic fundamentals of entertainment to a more journalistically ethical approach he could attract a much larger and more loyal audience. He needs to give news consumers a little more credit for being discriminating, skeptical, curious, and capable of understanding the issues that bear directly on their lives. The last thing we need is more of the cheapening of journalism that Ailes has proffered. And we certainly should not be honoring him for the damage he has already done.

Why does MSNBC have a president who idolizes Roger Ailes? He should not be a role model for anyone who reveres journalism and public service. If there is any justice in this world Olbermann will be back on the air next week and Griffin will be suspended for incompetence and a debilitating lack of vision.

Glenn Beck Admits He Disgusts Himself. He’s Not Alone

Posted by on September 30, 2010 at 4:15 pm. 3 Comments :

In a new profile of Glenn Beck for the New York Times, Beck summarizes how most of America feels about him:

“You get to a place where you disgust yourself…Where you realize what a weak, pathetic and despicable person you have become.”

It’s about time. The article, by Mark Leibovich, is an in-depth examination of the Fox News prophet of paranoia. It covers a fair bit of ground personally as well some highlights (and lowlights) of his professional career. As for the causes of Beck’s self-hatred, there is sufficient justification for it in his past behavior:

“He was in therapy with ‘Dr. Jack Daniels.’ He smoked marijuana every day for about 15 years. He fired an underling for bringing him the wrong pen. And, according to a Salon.com report, he once called the wife of a radio rival to ridicule her – on the air – about her recent miscarriage.”

Now it’s bad enough that he was an abuser of drugs and alcohol, and a world class jerk who didn’t care about anyone but himself, but those things occurred during a difficult time in his life and prior to his having entered rehab and finding God. So let’s give him the benefit of a doubt and take a look at how sobriety and religion changed him and how he mellowed to merely…

“…joking about poisoning the speaker of the house or talking about choking the life out of a filmmaker or fantasizing about beating a congressman ‘to death with a shovel’ (as Beck did for Nancy Pelosi, Michael Moore and Charles Rangel, respectively).”

I think I liked him better when he was tokin’ doobies. At least none of his delusions invoked bloody murders. Also since his “recovery” he has embarked on a non-stop campaign to convince his followers that President Obama and a phalanx of progressives are amassing to destroy America, revoke all freedom, confiscate every penny you earn, defile your daughters, rebuke your Lord, and otherwise end civilization as we know it. Then, after making the case for how these heathens are plotting to unleash a millennium of evil, he softly interjects that their Satanic onslaught should not be met with violence. But nevertheless, you must not allow them to get away with it. And thank God for the Second Amendment.

Mixed signals? Not really. Beck knows very well that his disciples will take up arms to defend themselves against the Hellish regime of slavery that he prophesies. Who wouldn’t if they really believed that was imminent?

Glenn Beck

The ramifications of Beck’s rhetoric stretch ominously into Apocalyptic territory. His rants run the gamut from political extremism to fanatical, pseudo-evangelistic cultism. More often than not he makes no sense at all, but that hardly matters. His audience can read between the lines, as he once begged them to do:

“[I]f you hear me stop saying these things, it’s because I can no longer say them to you. But hear them between the sentences. Hear them, please. I will be screaming them to you.”

It’s that sort of madness that has many wondering if Beck is doing more harm than good (including Beck who wrote that very question in an email to Sarah Palin). It isn’t just liberals who are wondering this. According to the article in the Times Beck’s raving is causing some consternation amongst many conservatives and even his colleagues at Fox:

“Several Fox News journalists have complained that Beck’s antics are embarrassing Fox, that his inflammatory rhetoric makes it difficult for the network to present itself as a legitimate news outlet. Fearful that Beck was becoming the perceived face of Fox News, some network insiders leaked their dissatisfaction in March to The Washington Post’s media critic, Howard Kurtz, a highly unusual breach at a place where complaints of internal strains rarely go public.”

This is nothing new. In recent months former Foxies have been all too willing speak up. Jane Hall, an associate professor in the School of Communication at American University, and a Fox News contributor, quit Fox in part because of Beck. Eric Burns, the former anchor of Fox News Watch told the press that he is grateful that he no longer has to “face the ethical problem of sharing an employer with Glenn Beck.” And it isn’t just jealous on-air competitors. The Times went on to reveal that Beck’s bosses are also having second thoughts:

“The cross-promotion can be a sore spot at Fox News, particularly for its president, Roger Ailes, who has complained about Beck’s hawking his non-Fox ventures too much on his Fox show.” […]

[Ailes has] been vocal around the network about how Beck does not fully appreciate the degree to which Fox News has made him the sensation he has become in recent months. In the days following Beck’s Lincoln Memorial rally, which by Beck’s estimate drew a half-million people, Ailes told associates that if Beck were still at Headline News, there would have been 30 people on the Mall.”

While Ailes is a potentially dangerous enemy, he has enemies of his own. Members of Rupert Murdoch’s family, who will inherit his media empire, have not been shy about their distaste for the programming style of Ailes. Murdoch’s son-in-law publicly said that he was ashamed and sickened by Ailes.

In all likelihood, Beck probably feels that he can afford to weather these storms. He sees himself as a messenger from God with a congregation of devotees who will support him and, if necessary, avenge him. Fox would be treading on thin ice if they contemplated canceling his show. This is one of those situations where Beck would have to be caught with either a dead girl or a live boy before he could be cast off. In this case we can add any connection to the sort of acts of domestic terrorism that his outrage inspires.

So even though Beck disgusts you, and me, and his fellow hosts, and his bosses, and even himself, he is going to have to slip up pretty bad to lose his perch.