Filed under: News, Profiles, Politics, President Obama, Race and Civil Rights
On Wednesday afternoon, it was announced that the much-maligned Glenn Beck would no longer be on Fox News.
Many on the left -- and even some on the right -- basked in delight that this day had finally come.
No more melodramatic nonsensical monologues that stoked this country's baser stereotypes and fears. No more headlines that found new ways to insult and defame the sensibilities of all who choose to actually think.
Glenn Beck's had quite a run on Fox. Joining the decidedly right-wing channel in January of 2009 from CNN's "Headline News," Beck's already successful career was put on steroids -- at his highest, Beck had more than 3 million viewers for his 5 p.m. eponymous show.
And just how did he rise to the top?
Beck arrived on the scene at the sane time President Barack Obama was sworn in as commander-in-chief. Many Americans who rejected the Obama fervor sweeping the nation were dazed that a black president had finally come to pass. It wasn't that long after, that disbelief morphed into anger, and Beck -- more than Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and at one point even Bill O'Reilly -- distilled this world-is-ending sentiment like no other.
Up until about last summer, Beck reigned supreme. BlackVoices.com covered much of Beck's parachoically bizarre pronouncements one headline at a time. Below are a few of Beck's most stellar moments:
- Glenn Beck Compares Tiger Woods to O.J. Simpson
- Glenn Beck: Obama's America Is Like 'Planet of the Apes'
- Glenn Beck's Attack on Malia Obama: A New Low for Fox
- Glenn Beck Mocks Michelle Obama's Healthy Foods Campaign
But alas, all good runs come to an end.
Right before his ridiculous Restoring Honor rally, Beck's viewership began what would come to be a steep decline. While folks on the left kept wondering how it was possible Beck's antics would continue to mesmerize -- and antagonize -- the public, his viewership -- albeit belatedly -- finally began to lose interest in Beck's chalkboards and doomsday spiel.
By 2011, Beck's ratings dropped to half of his 3-million glory days. Regarding Beck's dramatic drop, Business Insider contextualized it this way:
"[It's] worth noting, just in the context of this January, that the month was dominated by hard news, in the form of the [Gabrielle] Giffords shooting.
In other words, at the top of this year, when Giffords was shot in the face, 19 people were shot and 6 were killed, Sarah Palin and right wingers in general were blamed. Many said that after months and months of racist and often violent rhetoric, the chickens had come home to roost and a Jared L. Loughner was moved to action.
Suddenly, the right didn't seem all that sexy anymore, and as Palin and company attempted to back pedal from the homegrown terrorist attack, the public was moved to take another look at what these entertainers-posing-as-hard-newsmen were really representing.
Or so the thinking went.
Still, media sites, such as The Daily Beast and and Newser, predicted months ago that Beck would be dumped, because no one can argue with the numbers, and while it seems that a highly dysfunctional era may be ending, don't pull out your karaoke joints just yet.
According to the New York Times, Beck, who is being compared to Arianna Huffington and Howard Stern, seems poised to run off in to the sunset toward a media empire of his own, which would serve as a new home to his loyal fan base:
"Mr. Beck could follow a road paved by Oprah Winfrey when she started OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network in January. He could schedule his own talk show and the shows of others on one of the many cable channels seeking a ratings jolt. Or, following Martha Stewart's road to the Hallmark Channel, he could start smaller, taking over a few hours of a channel's schedule.
...
"Mercury Radio Arts [Beck's company], which is privately held, has not released any figures for the $9.95 subscription service. Last April, one month after Insider Extreme started, Forbes magazine estimated that the web operations earned Mr. Beck $4 million a year, twice as much as the $2 million he earned from Fox."
So there you have it, folks. Beck, who has made millions making conservative Americans more paranoid and hateful may very well create an even bigger empire post-Fox News.
Only in America can someone make a fortune corrupting the public's minds with racist apocalyptic faux news and become a multi-millionaire.
On the other hand, a leader can't be one without a following.
Clearly there are hundreds of thousands of people that support Beck and his Fox cohorts. As we involuntarily speed in to what is to be an even uglier 2012 election -- I almost didn't survive 2008 -- President Obama will have to contend with a massive Beck-Fox News-Palin-Hannity-O'Reilly-Limbaugh following that is diminished but powerful.