By: Andrea Shea King
The Radio Patriot
Cover story of Glenn Beck “Being Glenn Beck” in the New York Times Magazine grabbed my attention this morning as I’m sipping my coffee. Just finished reading it and Glenn’s now discussing it on his radio program.
Glenn: ”The story is the NYT hired a freelance reporter that didn’t want to do the story because he thought I’d be uninteresting, and he was fair, did his homework, there’s some things in here really I’m not happy about, and that’s OK. It was fair. Did he get everything right? The real story is the NYT writes a fair piece. The guy took three months to write this story. It is interesting.
There’s a part in here that talks about some of my business partners who aren’t happy with me and I just — cause the media’s going to make a big deal out of this, this is their point of interest — here’s what I would say: In what world does someone who speaks their mind and says things that are controversial and admits this is unpopular stuff… does everyone in that person’s life say “its the greatest thing ever”… I mean my wife doesn’t even say that.
But isn’t disagreement what makes us stronger? I don’t want everyone to be in lockstep. If there are naysayers around me, of course there are. In my own company! What’s amazing… the people who I hire don’t agree with me. I hire voices that challenge me every step of the way. I hire people who have principles. We agree on the big things. Value and principles.”
Here’s the portion Glenn’s referring to which — coincidentally? — I had already dropped in here to comment on (u/f emphasis mine):
To some degree, all of Fox News’s top opinion personalities have side ventures — speeches, books, radio — that can invite static from the network. In April, for instance, Fox News bosses vetoed a planned appearance by Hannity at a fund-raiser for a Tea Party group in Cincinnati. But more than any other person at Fox News, Beck operates as a stand-alone entity. He is the only major personality at the network whose office is not at Fox News headquarters in the News Corp building (Mercury is a few blocks down Sixth Avenue). He employs his own publicist, Matthew Hiltzik, a communications consultant who is the son of Beck’s agent, George Hiltzik. Beck receives a $2.5 million salary from Fox News, which bumps to $2.7 million next year, the last of the contract. It is a small fraction of Beck’s revenues, the bulk of which he brings in from his radio and print deals.
“There is always going to be the person within the organization who may take issue with or doesn’t like the way the network is programming certain things,” says Cheatwood, the Fox News executive who oversees Beck’s show. “I allow for that anywhere. But in terms of the relationship between Fox and Glenn, it’s extremely solid.”
Ailes, who declined to comment for this article, has generally been supportive of Beck. But he has also 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. Fox News devoted less news coverage to the rally than CNN and MSNBC did, which Beck has pointed out himself on the air.
Off-the-record sniping shoots in both directions. You can view some of this as positioning for what could be a contentious contract negotiation. But the friction is evident in many areas. When I mentioned Beck’s name to several Fox reporters, personalities and staff members, it reliably elicited either a sigh or an eye roll. 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.
While Beck’s personal ventures and exposure have soared this year, his television ratings have declined sharply — perhaps another factor in the network’s impatience. His show now averages two million viewers, down from a high of 2.8 million in 2009, according to the Nielsen Ratings. And as of Sept. 21, 296 advertisers have asked that their commercials not be shown on Beck’s show (up from 26 in August 2009). Fox also has a difficult time selling ads on “The O’Reilly Factor” and “Fox and Friends” when Beck appears on those shows as a guest. Beck’s show is known in the TV sales world as “empty calories,” meaning he draws great ratings but is toxic for ad sales. If nothing else, I sensed that people around Fox News have grown weary after months of “It’s all about Glenn.” I was sitting with Bill Shine, the director of programming, on the Wednesday after the “Restoring Honor” event, which was held on a Saturday and still drawing analysis in the news media four days later. At the end of a half-hour interview in which Shine spoke well of Beck, a look of slight irritation flashed his face. He shook his head slightly. “The president of the United States ends the war in Iraq,” Shine said, which Obama did the night before in a speech from the Oval Office, “and on Wednesday we’re still talking about Glenn Beck.”
Regular viewers of Fox News have seen evidence of the eyerolls (Shepard Smith) and have wondered out loud why the Fox Newsroom staff does not pick up on and run with the information Beck reveals. Why the news operation is seemingly divorced from the facts Beck brings forth through his research (he has his own team of researchers). And why the supposed “news operation” side isn’t doing their own digging for these indisputable facts?
I think it’s accurate to say the “news”room simply isn’t interested in appearing to be “controversial” beyond the guardrails and parameters Ailes has constructed. Not interested in possibly alienating viewers, advertisers, or — God forbid — those all important Washington connections — by pointing to the naked emperor (or empty suit, pick your own descriptor) in the White House and his communist/marxist pals. ”Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future,” Glenn often says.
Add that many of the reporters who inhabit the supposed “right leaning” news operation are liberals… one wonders if Ailes and his executives hire these journalists precisely because they are liberal and good looking. (Ever see a Candy Crowley type on Fox? Never. And you never will.) Someone recently observed that Fox News sells sex. All the world’s a stage and Ailes’ is peopled by bottle blonde, slick lipped, fake-eyelashed Barbie doll cheerleaders and perfectly coiffed and tailored Ken dolls whose personal point of view leans left. (Catch the smirk on “Campaign Carl” Cameron’s face when he’s reporting on conservatives like Palin or O’Donnell.) The amount of time devoted to glitzy tabloid journalism is a constant annoyance to those of us who want real news that matters about what our government and its minions in the unions, etc. are doing. Shepard Smith’s newsblocks filled with “alligator eats dog” or “plane lands with sparks at JFK” stories could disappear and I wouldn’t miss them. Would you?
Beck has one year left on his contract with Fox. Will he renew? No one knows at this point. But my prediction, one I’ve mentioned on these pages several times before — and for what it’s worth — Beck will leave Fox to continue producing programming from his own TV studio (his documentary about the 8/28 Restoring Honor Rally Behind the Scenes will “air” online tonight) where he will stream it for a fee, and perhaps syndicate his programming to other outlets. Maybe even create his own TV network.
Fox “News” is a stepping stone for Glenn. I think he knows it. Mercury Radio Arts, the media empire Beck is building, could very well one day eclipse Fox News’ faux reputation for “right leaning fair and balanced news.”
BONUS: Gallup says Americans really distrust the media. Quelle surprise!
In the meantime, here’s Glenn Beck TV show from yesterday. Any reports from the Fox Newsroom about this???
