Fox News star Glenn Beck could be facing the axe

According to the New York Times, Glenn Beck's future at Fox is under scrutiny.

By Liam McLaughlin Published 07 March 2011

The controversial Fox News host Glenn Beck, famous for his hour-long daily show, is apparently facing the possibility that his contract may not be renewed come December. In an article in the New York Times, it was said that executives are "contemplating life without Mr Beck".

Beck's conspiracy theories and bullish interview style have actually seen a yearly loss in viewers, falling from 2.9m in January 2010, to 1.8m in January 2011. This could explain Fox News' hesitance to continue his contract.

However, his more outrageous claims - that Barack Obama is a racist, for example - have also brought negative attention to Fox, and has resulted in them losing up to 300 advertisers on the show's prime-time slot, including Proctor & Gamble, Coca Cola, and Wal Mart.

The news about Beck's potential departure will be welcomely received by liberals, but the possible replacement for Beck - rumoured to be Fox business anchor Lou Dobbs - could provide more of a problem as his right-wing agenda is less sensationalist and more capable of wide appeal.

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View the discussion thread.

13 comments

Tue, 2011-03-08 02:52 — john verticchio (not verified)

The mere fact that ultra-conservative,religious fanatics like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin are so popular in the United States is in itself a nauseating indictment of how shockingly low American cultural standards have sunk. Not to mention an equivalent drop in intelligence levels.

Mon, 2011-03-07 12:39 — writeoff (not verified)

It would be marvellous to see his downfall, but Lou "here's what to think" Dobbs is hardly brimming over with gravitas. StopBeck twitter party!!

Tue, 2011-03-08 15:39 — Thomas Devine

john verticchio A) Cheap bigotry doesn't do anyone any good. Knee jerk Anti-Americanism simply makes you sound like a jerk.

B) What about MSNBC getting the liberal mesage out (remember Liberal is a good word in the states, it equals left-leaning progessive on this side of the pond), What about The Nation, Mother Jones, and a growing and vital progressive media? You pick-out only our faults and slam us.

C) Glenn Beck is losing popularity and Sarah Palin can't win a GOP activist vote for presidential canidates. Even FOX news recognises that neither she nor Huckabee will ever run for president because they know they're old news.

John Verticchio, learn something about America before you slam us. Your bigotry diminishes you and your nation.

Tue, 2011-03-08 16:56 — Hugh Markey (not verified)

This is a real worry. A Super-Guy like Glenn has the 'moxie.' to take off for Afghanistan and it'll be no time before things get sorted.

In Someone's Dreams

Tue, 2011-03-08 18:16 — OWalsh

If only the heading were more literal...

Mon, 2011-03-07 14:58 — James Dee (not verified)

A poorly written, confused article, totally, obviously and unapologetically plagiarised from the New York Times.

The final sentence doesn't even make sense.

Surely the NS can do better?

Mon, 2011-03-07 15:08 — mcquade

Seems perfectly well written and clear to me. Someone's obviously got an axe to grind. They're just not very good at grinding.

Mon, 2011-03-07 15:55 — Iden (not verified)

He will take his audience with him. Probably to a some weird, paranoid Beck-topia on the web that doesn't have to take FOX's corporate image into account.

I've seen some of the websites where the Beck lovers congregate. These people tend to hold political beliefs somewhere between 'concerned but ignorant and misinformed by friends/family/peers/FOX' and 'batshit crazy racist, homophobic, extreme christian' by way of 'regularly reads abovetopsecret.com but decided vote'.

They can't be reasoned with, as any information which doesn't confirm their beliefs is regarded as New-World-Order/ObamaNazi/EnviroNazi/New-Atheist/Muslim propaganda.

Mon, 2011-03-07 15:56 — Iden (not verified)

The post above should read:

"regularly reads abovetopsecret.com but decided to vote"

Oops.

Wed, 2011-03-09 15:37 — Thomas Devine

Newsmaker@ American TV networks make money by selling advertising slots. A highly rated show is more profitable to advertise on, thus gets higher rates and more profits. However, Beck's rants are driving advertisers away. Rachel Madow gets far lower ratings, but her shows is far more profitable because advertisers don't mind being linked to her.

Glenn Beck has made himself a drag on the Market.