NEW YORK — The rumoured pending demise of Glenn Beck's controversial show on Fox News Channel became fact Wednesday as he and the cable network announced it will come to an end "later this year."
The euphemism used in a mutually released press announcement was that Beck is "transitioning off" his 5 p.m. hour-long slot, but that he and Fox will continue to do business together in the form of special programming.
While some will suggest he got the push because of a 40 per cent ratings drop from the show's peak and a boycott by many advertisers, Beck nevertheless remains a huge personality on the U.S. political scene — strong enough to branch out on his own to further his unique brand as a conservative who upsets not only Democrats, but Republicans too.
The joint statement said Mercury Radio Arts, Beck's production company, and Fox News will work together to produce a "variety of television projects . . . as well as content for other platforms."
Critics of the conspiracy-theorizing broadcaster quipped in the wake of the announcement that liberal-leaning satirists will be among the saddest to see Beck's show end.
His nightly lectures about leftist-spun threats to bedrock American values had become increasingly inspirational for the likes of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
But Beck's chalkboard-illustrated "linkages" between those advocating progressivism — which he calls a disease — and extremist concepts such as communism and Islamism produced results.
Two casualties of the first year of his show in 2009 were Van Jones, a "Green Jobs" special adviser to an environmental council established by U.S. President Barack Obama, and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).
An African-American activist, Jones resigned following revelations by Beck and others that he had signed a petition suggesting former U.S. president George W. Bush had knowingly allowed the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to occur.
The U.S. Congress, meanwhile, cut funding to ACORN after Beck and other conservative commentators linked the group to apparent instances of voter registration fraud during the 2008 presidential election that put Obama in the White House.
Beck's show hit its peak last summer as three million viewers made it among the most popular on cable TV. Tens of thousands attended his Restoring Honor rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, which focused on what he and his keynote speakers — former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin and activist Alveda King, the niece of Martin Luther King Jr. — believed was needed to restore a "broken" nation.
Still, it was also last summer that Beck admitted he'd had a "big fat mouth" when he declared, back in 2009, that he believed Obama to be a racist. He explained in an interview he'd misinterpreted Obama's portrayal of himself. Though Beck had not made the comment on his TV show, it led a number of advertisers to pull their ads from the program.
Recently, many say, Beck has seemed to struggle as he's sought to recast the uprisings sweeping the Middle East as a giant leap toward an Islamist-communist takeover.
It was a little more than a year ago when Fox News chief Roger Ailes visited the network's Washington bureau to warn staffers not to bad-mouth Fox News colleagues. The Washington Post had just run an article citing anonymous Fox News sources to back up a claim that "many journalists . . . worried about the prospect that Beck is becoming the face of the network."
Ailes was still praising Beck Wednesday, describing him in the joint news release as a "powerful communicator" and a "creative entrepreneur." But while Beck said he had "learned and will continue to learn" from Ailes, the release described the reduced business relationship between the show host and the network.
http://www.canada.com/Glenn+Beck+leaving+later+this+year/4569718/story.html#ixzz1InGjrjeq
Beck ending show on Fox
Fox News Channel anchor Glenn Beck will end his daily show later this year to develop and produce a variety of television projects to air on the channel, according to a release Wednesday.
The new agreement between FNC and Mercury Radio Arts will ensure Beck appears on the television network and through other "digital properties."
"Glenn Beck is a powerful communicator, a creative entrepreneur and a true success by anybody's standards. I look forward to continuing to work with him," Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes said in a statement.
"Glenn Beck" launched in 2009. The host previously hosted a show on CNN's sister network HLN.
Howard Kurtz, Washington bureau chief for The Daily Beast and host of CNN's "Reliable Sources" said the split was a "divorce many months in the making."
"By the end, both sides wanted out," Kurtz said in an email. "Beck's show proved too radioactive for Fox, and the network became an uncomfortable home for Glenn Beck."
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/06/beck-leaves-daily-show/?hpt=T2
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