Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck (1964-) is a U.S. political opinion broadcaster and author, with a show on Fox News, and his own website, books and national tours. Among the top three talk hosts in listener size, he is strongly identified with American conservatism, and has started a movement called the 9-12 Project, strongly critical of liberal ideas and suspicious of large government.

Among Fox opinion commentators, Beck differentiates himself as a highly emotional "revivalist in a troubled land", with an apocalyptic vision, as opposed to Bill O'Reilly as an "outsider" and Sean Hannity as an ideologue. Conservative writer David Frum called Beck's success the “...product of the collapse of conservatism as an organized political force, and the rise of conservatism as an alienated cultural sensibility. It’s a show for people who feel they belong to an embattled minority that is disenfranchised and cut off." Beck calls himself an entertainer that challenges his critics: "I’m a rodeo clown...It takes great skill.”

Tom Rosenstiel, of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, speaks of his appeal in historical terms: “There was a lot of radio evangelism during the Depression. People were frustrated and frightened. There are a lot of scary parallels now.”

Early life

There is little question that he started broadcasting at the age of 13. There are, however, various versions of his early life. He grew up in Mount Vernon, Washington, a farm town that, in the 1960s, had a considerable counterculture component, although his father, William Beck, was known as a conventional bakery owner. Quoted by Salon.com, Beck said it was ethnically homogeneous: "the source of his lingering discomfort around Jews and other ethnic minorities. 'I'm the whitest guy you will ever meet," Beck never tires of saying. "The first time I saw an African-American, my dad had to tell me to stop staring.'" The family was active in the local Catholic church, and he and his sisters attended religious schools.

Redemption

The theme of redemption recurs in his own, and other accounts, of his career. According to his website, at age 30, he "was consumed by alcoholism and drug addiction. Coming to terms with his past and staying sober shifted his life direction." His second wife, Tania, required him to convert to Mormonism before they were wed.

He suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and credits religion and Alcoholics Anonymous for his stability.

Relations with Fox News

While he is not the highest-rated opinion broadcaster, he has been the most internally controversial to Fox staff. He is clearly supported by network president Roger Ailes. There is concern, among more traditional journalists, that his image is going beyond even the pro-Republican and conservative positioning of Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity. The Washington Post quoted television analyst Andrew Tyndall as calling Beck an "activist" and "comedian" whose incendiary style has created "a real crossroads for Fox News."

They're right on the cusp of losing their image as a news organization. "Do they want to be the go-to place for conservative populist ideas on television, or do they want to be a news organization? Ailes has done a good job of doing both.

One of the conflicts is his perceived separation from the Fox News team; he works in his own Mercury Radio Arts offices, not in the Fox building.

On-air comments

Beck's on-air commentary uses dramatic imagery, which different observers call everything from showmanship to demagoguery to loss of emotional control.

Violent imagery

In a skit with a woman wearing a mask of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, on 6 August 2009, he spoke of poisoning her.

So, Speaker Pelosi, I just wanted to — you gonna drink your wine? Are you blind? Do those eyes not work? There you — I want you to drink it now. Drink it. Drink it. Drink it.

I really just wanted to thank you for having me over here to wine country. You know, to be invited, I thought I had to be a major Democratic donor or a longtime friend of yours, which I’m not.

By the way, I put poison in your — no, I — I look forward to all the policy discussions that we’re supposed to have — you know, on health care, energy reform, and the economy.

On a CNN interview of Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota), the first Muslim elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, he questioned Ellison's loyalty to the United States. Beck said, with respect to Iraq, "You are saying, "Let`s cut and run." And I have to tell you, I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, "Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies." And I know you`re not. I`m not accusing you of being an enemy, but that`s the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way."

He mused about killing left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore on his show of 17 May 2005.

I'm thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I'm wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it. No, I think I could. I think he could be looking me in the eye, you know, and I could just be choking the life out -- is this wrong? I stopped wearing my What Would Jesus -- band -- Do, and I've lost all sense of right and wrong now. I used to be able to say, "Yeah, I'd kill Michael Moore," and then I'd see the little band: What Would Jesus Do? And then I'd realize, "Oh, you wouldn't kill Michael Moore. Or at least you wouldn't choke him to death." And you know, well, I'm not sure.

Social justice

In March 2010, he said,

I'm begging you, your right to religion and freedom to exercise religion and read all of the passages of the Bible as you want to read them and as your church wants to preach them . . . are going to come under the ropes in the next year. If it lasts that long it will be the next year. I beg you, look for the words 'social justice' or 'economic justice' on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!"

Later, Beck held up cards, one with a hammer and sickle and other with a swastika.

Communists are on the left, and the Nazis are on the right. That's what people say. But they both subscribe to one philosophy, and they flew one banner. . . . But on each banner, read the words, here in America: 'social justice.' They talked about economic justice, rights of the workers, redistribution of wealth, and surprisingly, democracy."

There has been strong reaction from some of his Mormon coreligionists. Phillip Barlow, the Arrington professor of Mormon history and culture at Utah State University told the New York Times that while "A phrase like 'social justice' can be hijacked... One way to read the Book of Mormon, is that it's a vast tract on social justice. It's ubiquitous in the Book of Mormon to have the prophetic figures, much like in the Hebrew Bible, calling out those who are insensitive to injustices." Kent P. Jackson, associate dean of religion at Brigham Young University said "My own experience as a believing Latter-day Saint over the course of 60 years is that I have seen social justice in practice in every LDS [Latter Day Saints] congregation I've been in. People endeavor with all of our frailties and shortcomings to love one another and to lift up other people. So if that's Beck's definition of social justice, he and I are definitely not on the same team."

Bruce Springsteen

On his 11 March 2010 show, Beck said

You get filled with patriotic pride, and then you find out that Bruce Springsteen’s "Born In The U.S.A." is anti-American. ‘Born down in a dead man’s town/ the first kick I took is when I hit the ground/ you end up like a dog that’s been beat too much/ so you spend half your life just covering up…’ (He reads the entire lyrics in an incredulous tone of voice; manages to mispronounce 'Khe Sanh')Hmm. Yeah! [crosstalk] … It’s time for us to wake up out of our dream state. Out of the propaganda… This is the thing that people who come from the Soviet bloc or Cuba, they’re all saying, ‘How do you guys not hear this? How are you not seeing this?’ Well, because we don’t ever expect it.”

Ironically, Ronald Reagan, whom Beck claims as a hero, had used the same music as a campaign theme song until Springsteen issued a cease-and-desist.

9-12 Project

On March 13, 2009, Beck announced the creation of the 9-12 Project as a movement whose name invokes U.S. response to the 9-11 Attacks:

On 9/10 we were burying our heads in the sand or we were playing politics. It was about Republicans or Democrats. On 9/11 we were freaking out and no one knew who attacked us, where did this come from, what is this. On 9/12 no one in the government had to tell us what to do. We just did it.

According to his open letter of November 2009, Beck said, "Today, I have stopped looking for a leader to show us the way out because I have come to realize that the only one who can truly save our country… is us." On his show, he said "Coming this January, my whole approach changes on this program. This next year is going to be critical, and I think it's going to change and I think we are going to set it right, at least set our course right. And if that means the Democrats or the Republicans are destroyed along the way, well, good. Good. "

The project has no explicit funding, but its website content is produced by Beck's production company, Mercury Radio Arts, and hosted on Fox News' servers. There is considerable synergy between this and the Tea Party Movement. The project website, indeed, quotes analysis of an upcoming Republican senatorial primary as a confrontation between the Republican establishment and the tea party.

Some of Beck's announcements also tie with tours publicizing his book, Arguing with Idiots. Critics have said that Beck's change in direction, from general encouragement of his listeners to organize to active participation in action, tie to publicity for his book. Beck's direct participation in political activities may put the project under the jurisdiction of campaign finance law. Further complicating the political finance situation are campaigns for office by people associated with the project., such as Dan Eichenbaum in North Carolina's 11th Congressional District running against incumbent Democrat Heath Shuler.

Advertiser boycott

His calling called Barack Obama a racist over the Henry Louis Gates, Jr. arrest has triggered a boycott by some advertisers. According to MediaMatters, 80 advertisers reportedly dropped their ads since he called President Obama a "racist" who has a "deep-seated hatred of white people." Writing in The Atlantic, Conor Clarke does not see this as a free speech issue: "It seems to me that the right to free speech does not give you the right to massive corporate underwriting. Glenn Beck can defend "the white culture" and call Obama a "racist" in poverty and in private." Clarke said he can accept, however, the Fox statement that "'While the advertising boycott has generated substantial media coverage', Fox News said it has not impacted the network's revenues or Beck's audience. 'The advertisers referenced have all moved their spots from Beck to other programs on the network so there has been no revenue lost.'"

Supporters argue that this is left-wing bias by a "left-wing African American advocacy group named colorofchange.org. The group, founded by self-described communist Van Jones, now the Obama Administration’s ‘green jobs’ czar, claims to promote inclusion of minorities in the process of developing an environmentally-sound economy." A website, DefendGlenn.com, is encouraging a counter-boycott of firms that have dropped their advertising.

Conflict of interest allegations

His current advertisers do include gold sellers Goldline International, which offers investing in precious metals as a hedge against catastrophic economic events. While his personal financial interest in Goldline is described as obvious on his radio show, it has been questioned if he keeps proper separation when speaking of apocalyptic events on television, events against which gold buying is considered a hedge. Goldline's website calls him an endorser, and product endorsements is generally forbidden for Fox broadcast personnel. Joel Cheatwood, senior vice president for development for Fox, said an exception was made for him: "When we hired Glenn at Fox News, we hired him with the understanding that he had a well-established, burgeoning radio business, and we had to be accepting of certain elements of that."