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Why Fox Is Saying Goodbye to Glenn Beck

Wednesday, 06 Apr 2011 06:56 PM
By David A. Patten

Fox News host Glenn Beck took viewers by surprise Wednesday with the announcement that his 5 p.m. program will “transition off” the network.

“I am going to leave this program later this year, but I am not leaving Fox," Beck told viewers at the top of his TV program Wednesday.

Beck’s program is the nation’s third-highest rated cable news program, attracting nearly 2.2 million viewers a night.

Fox News and Beck stated that they will continue to “produce a variety of television projects for air on the Fox News Channel as well as content for other platforms including Fox News’ digital properties.”

The news surprised millions of loyal Beck fans, but rumors had swirled for months that Beck might be leaving his 5 p.m. slot. There had been widespread speculation that Beck would be expanding his own subscription-based television programming and might even launch his own cable channel.

The news of Beck’s departure from the 5 p.m. time slot on Fox triggered mixed reactions from across the media universe.

Liberals predictably took their shots at a host whose ratings dominance was never even close to being challenged by competitors at left-leaning networks.

“Glenn Beck is leaving Fox. Where’s he gonna go? The Oprah Network?” tweeted The View co-host Joy Behar. She added: “I give him 20 minutes alone in a room with Rosie" O’Donnell.

Some left-wing activists suggested that their campaign of intimidation targeting Beck’s advertisers had contributed to the decision not to renew his 5 p.m. show.

TV advertising consultant Adam Armbruster, who has appeared regularly on Fox News, called Beck "controversial, a real lightning rod for many advertisers."

Advertisers, he observed, often prefer to avoid anything controversial.

"But you also have to remember that some enjoy controversy . . . Glenn Beck got a lot of attention for Fox News. The bottom line is that advertisers love attention," he said.

Controversy aside, Beck in many ways has redefined the standard for success in the 5 p.m. time slot. Although his ratings had cooled from the height of his popularity, he continued to provide Fox’s prime-time lineup with an extraordinarily strong lead-in viewership.

"I still think if he was not the bane of the liberal media opinion-leader world, there wouldn’t be this kind of pressure on Fox," Boston University communications professor Tobe Berkovitz tells Newsmax."I mean, who wants to get rid of someone with those kinds of numbers at 5 in the afternoon? Who the hell else is ever going to pull those kinds of numbers?"

Jeffrey M. McCall, a communications professor and analyst at DePauw University, said the announcement didn't surprise him.

"I think the timing, as we head to some really tough governmental decision that have to be made, and also heading into the election season in 2012, I think Fox probably just wanted to turn the page on this," he said.

Both Fox and Beck made every effort to demonstrate that the two sides look forward to working with each other going forward.

“Glenn Beck is a powerful communicator, a creative entrepreneur and a true success by anybody’s standards," Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes said. “I look forward to continuing to work with him.”



Beck in turn offered kind words to Ailes as well: “I truly believe that America owes a lot to Roger Ailes and Fox News. I cannot repay Roger for the lessons I’ve learned and will continue to learn from him and I look forward to starting this new phase of our partnership.”

Beck’s rise to media stardom followed a meteoric path since he joined Fox News in October 2008 just weeks before Barack Obama captured the presidency. With his black-rimmed glasses and chalkboard, at times he seemed like the living personification of Howard Beale, the fictional character in the 1976 film "Network," who persuaded Americans to stand up en masse and yell, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore.”

Beck's accomplishments transcended the ordinary role of media in the early days of the Obama administration, when the president’s popularity was riding so high that many other news personalities were hesitant to subject his policies to the normal level of press criticism.

But not Beck, who became a one-man media empire, with one of the nation’s most popular syndicated radio programs, a string of sold-out personal appearances, and a bevy of best-selling books.

As his notoriety grew, Beck went beyond merely commenting on the news and began to impact it. For example, he created a grass-roots organization called The 9-12 Project that played a major role in the huge tea party rallies and town hall demonstrations in protest of President Obama’s healthcare initiatives.

Beck’s exposes of radical associations and statements of key administration figures such as green-jobs adviser Van Jones, FCC chief diversity officer Mark Lloyd, and political strategist Anita Dunn, resulted in embarrassing revelations and resignations that blunted the momentum of the Obama juggernaut at a time when it appeared to be virtually unstoppable. In the process, he became the man the left most loved to hate on cable TV.

His "Restoring Honor" rally, which drew up to 500,000 people to the National Mall in August 2010 in support of traditional American values, marked Beck’s transition from talk host to cultural icon.

In some ways, Beck’s phenomenal popularity may have ultimately proved impossible to maintain at its apex.

“It’s the meteor theory of cable talk,” Berkovitz said. “If you’re too hot, you can burn up in the atmosphere. So maybe that’s part of it.”

Popular New York City-based, syndicated talk show host Steve Malzberg tells Newsmax: “I think whatever he does, he will continue to be successful. He’s very unique, and he has a huge, huge following.”

Added Malzberg: “He’s going to blow them away no matter where he goes, no matter what his next venture is going to be, no matter where he’s going to take his media talents.”

Beck closed his program Wednesday by saying to his viewers: “We will find each other. I’m developing other content for Fox — there are specials and other things — on television and beyond. I will continue to tell the story, and I’m going to be showing you other ways for us to connect.

“But I have other things to do. And not because it’s good or bad for business, but I think you out of all the people will truly get this: Our only business is the business of freedom and our country at this time. It’s why I’ve told you . . . at the beginning of the year — prepare to be a leader, educate yourself, be the mouthpiece — never rely on anyone else to spoon feed you.

“Now today — now today, you have to carry more weight, you must know what you believe; you must be prepared to be the person that explains it to others.

“Fox is one of the only places you will find truth — spread the word, stick together — and together, we will do the right thing for our country and for our world.”

© Newsmax. All rights reserved.

AMEN!!!!

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Will the rule of law be dictated by the whims of the political elite and the MSM or by the Constitution?

The coming meltdown of Barack Obama

- Lawrence Sellin Friday, April 8, 2011

Politics has recently replaced the Constitution as the basis for the rule of law in the United States. It is a recipe for chaos, if permitted to continue.

More and more Americans are beginning to realize that Barack Obama is an illegal President and/or has a potentially damaging personal history.

The desperation now being displayed by Obama sycophants is proof positive.

The race card is increasingly being played. Expect much more of it.

Donald Trump is the earthquake. A tsunami of revelations will soon follow, which will have a yet unforeseen impact on the legitimacy of our political system and the integrity of the main stream media (MSM).

Having largely dismissed Constitutional considerations since 2008, the political elite and the MSM, perhaps not now, but ultimately will find politics a poor substitute as the final arbitrator of our national discourse.

I will provide a libretto for the political comic opera now underway.

The Democratic left-wing will continue to support Obama. Moderate Democrats, behind the scenes, are already seeking an alternative. The Clinton machine is waiting for an opportunity to make its move.

The Republicans smell electoral blood and consider Obama the most vulnerable of the probable Democratic Presidential candidates. For that reason, they would prefer revelations about a damaging personal history rather than an illegal Presidency.

The MSM are in a win-win situation. They will continue to back Obama until he is replaced by a potentially stronger Democratic candidate. If that happens, expect a ruthless assault describing Republicans as racists and haters, who hounded poor Barack Obama out of office. In that case, the MSM will also help re-energize the Democratic faithful for the new standard-bearer.

The Constitutional questions raised by the election of Barack Obama will be ignored, either forever or as long as possible, because the political elite and the MSM were likely either complicit in or acquiesced to its infringement.

The breach created in the Constitution sets a precedent for its further erosion. Regrettably, many of our political elite favor a situation, where the Constitutional rights guaranteed to Americans become negotiable according to the political caprice of party leaders.

The debate about Barack Obama’s eligibility to serve as President is over. It is his responsibility to establish his eligibility for office, not the task of ordinary Americans to prove that he is not.

The content and intent of the Constitution are clear. The Founders did not use the word “citizen” but the term “natural born citizen” to describe eligibility for the Presidency.

The authors of the Constitution no doubt based their understanding of the term “natural born citizen,” on the 1758 book “The Law of Nations” written by Swiss philosopher and diplomat Emerich de Vattel, who wrote:

“… natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens. … children naturally follow the condition of their fathers, and succeed to all their rights. … The country of the fathers is therefore that of the children…”

That is, someone who is born in the US of citizen parents at the time of birth is a natural born citizen.

In the early days of our country, it was specifically designed to prevent a British usurper from gaining office and undermining American independence.

Accordingly, Barack Obama is a priori ineligible. In that regard, it does not matter where he was born or if we ever see a real birth certificate.

It does not mean, however, that Obama should not show his birth certificate to prove that he was born in Hawaii as he claims. Unfortunately for him, the Certification of Live Birth, which has been posted on the internet, is not sufficient proof. In addition, it has never been legally validated by the State of Hawaii and may even be a forgery.

Another shibboleth used by Obama defenders is the newspaper clipping announcing his birth. Seriously? Just try using a newspaper clipping to get a driver’s license. What’s next, Monopoly money to pay down the national debt?

Barack Obama should step down or be Constitutionally removed from office.

The American people are now faced with an urgent and critical choice.

Will the rule of law be dictated by the whims of the political elite and the MSM or by the Constitution?

I choose the latter.

Source: http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/35283

Lawrence Sellin, Ph.D. is a recently retired colonel with 29 years of service in the US Army Reserve. He is a veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Lawrence Sellin, Ph.D. receives hate mail at lawrence.sellin@gmail.com