chicot60
04-07-2011, 11:21 AM
By Gary Levin, USA TODAY
Controversial host Glenn Beck will exit his Fox News TV show sometime this year, but the two will work together on projects for both the cable channel and Fox's Web properties, Fox and Mercury Radio Arts, Beck's company, said in a joint statement Wednesday.
The news capped a sharp ratings decline for Beck's show, still the third-most-watched in cable news, and advertiser boycotts.
Though many conservative-minded viewers applaud his populist stance, liberal detractors decry his repeated attacks on progressivism as a "cancer," doomsday scenarios and branding of President Obama as racist. Such commentary sparked White House assertions that Fox News was "a wing of the Republican Party."
Beck, who got his TV start in 2006 with a successful weeknight show on CNN's Headline News, continues to host a popular radio show and is the author of several best-selling books. Forbesestimated Mercury's recent annual revenue at $32 million.
In January 2009, just as Obama was inaugurated, he moved to Fox News. His audience grew, peaking at 2.8 million viewers that fall — a big number for his 5 p.m. ET/PT time slot — as he railed against Obama's health care proposals. But a year later, ratings had plummeted 30%, to 1.9 million.
Opponents reacted swiftly. "The only surprise is it took Fox News months to reach this decision," said a statement from David Brock, founder of Media Matters, which monitors "conservative misinformation." He added Fox must choose whether "to eliminate all violent rhetoric from the network."
ColorOfChange.org, an African-American political group, claims Beck's show has lost 300 advertisers since the organization began a campaign against his "vitriolic and divisive commentary" in 2009. "Fox News clearly understands that Beck's increasingly erratic behavior is a liability to their ratings and their bottom line," said executive director James Rucker.
"We felt Glenn brought additional information, a unique perspective, a certain amount of passion and insight to the channel, and he did," Fox News chief Roger Ailes told the AP in a joint interview with Beck. "That story of what's going on and why America is in trouble today, I think he told that story as well as could be told."
Ailes emphasized that Fox News and Beck would continue to work together. "We like each other. We're not drawing pictures of each other on the walls, having staff fights and stealing each other's food out of the refrigerator or any of that stuff."
http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2011-04-07-beck07online_ST_N.htm?csp=hf
Controversial host Glenn Beck will exit his Fox News TV show sometime this year, but the two will work together on projects for both the cable channel and Fox's Web properties, Fox and Mercury Radio Arts, Beck's company, said in a joint statement Wednesday.
The news capped a sharp ratings decline for Beck's show, still the third-most-watched in cable news, and advertiser boycotts.
Though many conservative-minded viewers applaud his populist stance, liberal detractors decry his repeated attacks on progressivism as a "cancer," doomsday scenarios and branding of President Obama as racist. Such commentary sparked White House assertions that Fox News was "a wing of the Republican Party."
Beck, who got his TV start in 2006 with a successful weeknight show on CNN's Headline News, continues to host a popular radio show and is the author of several best-selling books. Forbesestimated Mercury's recent annual revenue at $32 million.
In January 2009, just as Obama was inaugurated, he moved to Fox News. His audience grew, peaking at 2.8 million viewers that fall — a big number for his 5 p.m. ET/PT time slot — as he railed against Obama's health care proposals. But a year later, ratings had plummeted 30%, to 1.9 million.
Opponents reacted swiftly. "The only surprise is it took Fox News months to reach this decision," said a statement from David Brock, founder of Media Matters, which monitors "conservative misinformation." He added Fox must choose whether "to eliminate all violent rhetoric from the network."
ColorOfChange.org, an African-American political group, claims Beck's show has lost 300 advertisers since the organization began a campaign against his "vitriolic and divisive commentary" in 2009. "Fox News clearly understands that Beck's increasingly erratic behavior is a liability to their ratings and their bottom line," said executive director James Rucker.
"We felt Glenn brought additional information, a unique perspective, a certain amount of passion and insight to the channel, and he did," Fox News chief Roger Ailes told the AP in a joint interview with Beck. "That story of what's going on and why America is in trouble today, I think he told that story as well as could be told."
Ailes emphasized that Fox News and Beck would continue to work together. "We like each other. We're not drawing pictures of each other on the walls, having staff fights and stealing each other's food out of the refrigerator or any of that stuff."
http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2011-04-07-beck07online_ST_N.htm?csp=hf