Fox News 'Contemplating Life Without' Glenn Beck: NYT

The New York Times' David Carr reports that executives at Fox News are "contemplating life without" Glenn Beck after his contract with the network expires in December.

If Beck's contract were not renewed, he would leave a network whose power boosted his profile and his reach significantly over the past two years.

To be sure, networks have always played hardball with their talent in the run-up to contract negotiations, and anonymous leaks to the press are often a part of that strategy. Moreover, Beck still retains a substantial media empire independent of Fox News.

But it has not been the easiest year between Beck and the network. As far back as March of last year, Howard Kurtz was reporting that there was a "deep split" within Fox News over Beck's effect on the credibility of the network. And in September, the Times' Mark Leibovich wrote about the tensions between Beck and Fox News over Beck's outside media ventures, some of his more controversial statements and what CEO Roger Ailes felt was an insufficient acknowledgment of Fox News' importance to his career.

Beck has also landed in hot water over his frequent attacks on liberal billionaire George Soros, which were condemned by Jewish organizations and hundreds of rabbis.

More importantly for the network's bottom line, over 300 advertisers have pulled their commercials from the show, and Beck's ratings have fallen. In November, he fell from his perch as the third-highest rated show in cable news, and has not recovered the position since. (Bret Baier and Shep Smith, two of the network's news anchors, now regularly beat him in the ratings.) (He is still far and away the most popular host in his time slot, and his ratings were boosted substantially in 2010 by the long fight over health care and the midterm elections.)

Joel Cheatwood, the Fox News executive responsible for the show, told Carr that he has talked to Beck about lightening the relentlessly apocalyptic tone of the program.

"It is really important that no matter how dire he thinks things are or what horrible direction things may be going from his perspective that the show maintains a sense of hope," Cheatwood said.

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Comments

[tinka]

11:16 AM on 03/30/2011

Glenn Beck managed to lose roughly a million of his Fox News viewers in 2010, and his slide has continued into 2011. Mr. Beck’s viewership numbers have gotten so bad that he has been only able to top 2 million viewers three times in the month of January. His ratings decrease by half, and there seems to be no end in sight for the viewer exodus from his program. www.politicususa.com

[William Fisher]

11:31 AM on 03/22/2011

I can smell the fear of Fox News on here stronger than a bunny rabbit in a coyote's mouth. Why is everyone so afraid of hearing the opinions of the other side? Just because you don't agree with something doesn't make it wrong. We have become a nation divided and frankly the liberals have become thin skinned and mean. You didn't see the conservatives shutting down the Capitol when the health care bill passed while total disregard for authority reigned in Wisconsin. And Richard Trumka says "you ain't seen nothing yet." Where I live, during elections, conservative candidates signs are defaced while Democratic candidated go untouched. The conservatives are more respectful. One day the tide will turn. I'm really glad we are clinging to our guns. I'm afraid we'll need them for self defense one day. Because when you guys don't get your way you are terribly childish and unpredictable. We are curreently silent as a sect of America. But when the liberals take that one step too far you will hear us. I predict you'll hear us in a far more respectable manner though.

[sandracoston]

04:12 PM on 03/23/2011

Why you ask are people so afraid of hearing the other side, I would say to you that Beck goes way further than just opinion..I think that the democrats have just decided to fight back on all the hateful ugly rhetoric that has bombarded them in the last two years...It makes me wonder if this president were white would they have been more respectful..You should ask yourself why you think that it is ok to hold up signs that depict or president as an african tribesman or even worse spreading lies about his citizen ship...how long to you expect those of us on the left to keep tolerating this mean and vile behavior. and guess who spreads these lies to people like you and makes you so afraid that you are willing to take up arms..if this is what you consider respectable behavior then we are really in trouble in this country..I beg you to challenge the lies by opening your mind to what is really going on.. You are being used by people like Beck ..Check who really is the head of Freedom Works..Big corporation want you to believe that the tea party are just plain Folks..and the more they make you afraid the more they can control you..this is the truth and you can choose to ignore it or at the very least check it out ..

[William Fisher]

09:43 AM on 03/24/2011

I'll reply point by point. 1.) Beck treated Bush with the same gloves off treatment. But he was on CNN and when it was Bush he was investigating the Left was quite OK with it. It had nothing to do with skin color. 2.) No I don't think it's OK to hold up tribesman photos. Despicable even. 3.) I'm not a birther but citizens have a right to question his citizenship. Why doesn't he just produce the darned document and get it over with? Really! It would end all this sniping. Further, Why does he hide his college transcripts? He's the first President EVER to do so.And why is it hateful to request that info? We deserve to know who our President is. 4.) I'm not afraid. But it is a 100% fact that Van Jones is Communist. Undeniable. I have seen video of him saying so. It is 100% fact that Obama made Kevin jennings, an outright pedophile sympathizer, in the position as Safe School Czar. Now you can choose to ignore those facts or not. I think he should be impeached over the Kevin Jennings thing alone. But that's just me. I think as a man it's my job to protect children not expose them to literature that depicts pedophilia for 12 year olds. What else do you want to know?

[huffingmad]

08:23 PM on 03/23/2011

Project much?

[PuffDragon]

12:55 AM on 03/22/2011

If Glenn Beck is actually considered to pose a threat to Fox News "credibility", you know he has got to smell worse than last week's tuna fish.

[Sunlightswim]

08:15 PM on 03/21/2011

If you really think that fox news is concerned about credibility I got a perished little boat to sell you cheap it's a fixer upper called the titanic. Will sell for best offer

[sandracoston]

04:16 PM on 03/23/2011

Just like the right wing governors have done so has Fox,,they have gone to far and now the country is starting to question all they say...so maybe this is why Fox is worried..I don't believe they are to big to fail and my hope is that when they fall they fall hard and fast...We might just have a chance as a country without the propaganda machine around ...If Beck goes I say we boycott all advertisers on Hannity's show...

[Sunlightswim]

08:09 PM on 03/21/2011

Hahaha his name is cheatwood lol. That's almost as good as Bernie madoff it's amazing

[escribacat]

01:49 AM on 03/18/2011

Imagine Fox being worried about their credibility. Can't imagine why.

[giatny]

04:30 PM on 03/14/2011

More wishful thinking by Soros, Media Matters, moveon.org,
etc.

[builderman55]

09:43 PM on 03/12/2011

And I still can't get over that Beck's spokesman's name is CHEATwood. Sometimes the Universe really shows its sense of humor...

[GlennBeckReview]

11:24 AM on 03/11/2011

"It is really important that no matter how dire he thinks things are or what horrible direction things may be going from his perspective that the show maintains a sense of hope," Cheatwood said.

I've been pointing out that Beck is a living paradox, and this points to one example. On one hand Beck has been harping on his "faith, hope and charity" for over a year now, and on the other hand Beck is a seer of doom and gloom. Media Matters has reviewed the many fears that Beck has expressed over the years, and I'll soon write a piece, "Fears of a Clown." So he exhibits other paradoxes as well:
http://www.sharethisurlaboutglennbeck.com/2011/03/becoming-paul-revere.html

While I'm on his faith, hope and charity ideas, let me add that he does not use the platform, the stage he occupies at Fox to actually raise money for the needy. Ever. When it comes to charity, Beck talks the talk but does not walk the walk. This is not a paradox: it is one more example of many that I've documented of how Beck is a hypocrite. One of 18 examples, and I did not add how he complains that bloggers (like me) "just name call." That was claimed on the same week he called the President's men "weasels."
http://www.sharethisurlaboutglennbeck.com/2011/02/reviewing-becks-hypocrisies.html

[GlennBeckReview]

02:22 PM on 03/15/2011

I watched his first show back from vacation last night to see if he was going to do any fund raising for Japan. He started out describing his "charitable moment," i.e., he had read the NY Times. That was it. No charity for Japan, but he did draw a nuclear reactor on his chalk board and model one using...get this... M & Ms. You can't make this stuff up.

Also, one of his fans caught him screwing up the facts last night too. Check out Comment #13.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matt-hadro/2011/03/14/npr-resorts-using-glenn-becks-publication-discredit-sting-video

If more of his fans would catch him and his profound ignorance, Beck would be gone by now.

[bridge to somewhere]

02:21 PM on 03/10/2011

Fox Credibility Math Word Problem for today:

"There was a 'deep split' within Fox News over Beck's effect on the credibility of the network"

Solve the equation set to determine the credibility of f(Fox) and f(Beck).

Fox + Glen = 0
Fox - Glen = 0
Fox(Glen) = 0
Fox / Glen = Cannot Divide by Zero

[sgtsarcasm]

12:40 PM on 03/10/2011

Glenn Beck=Old Yeller

A useful dog put down when he became rabid...

[Man Of Manners]

10:50 AM on 03/10/2011

Beck will start his own channel on cable and compete against Oprah for least number of viewers.

[GlennBeckReview]

02:34 PM on 03/10/2011

That's not as absurd as it seems. I voted yes in the poll above, but I don't see it happening soon. I think he'll go if his supposed macular degeneration actually renders him unable to function. Then I could get my life back. Meanwhile, Beck and Murdoch are the terrible two:
http://www.sharethisurlaboutglennbeck.com/2010/12/corruption-ispart-iii-beck-and-murdoch.html

[Sydroky]

10:31 AM on 03/10/2011

I don't think the Fox organization is capable of real journalism or "fair and balanced" reporting, but they are business folks and they can tell when the market is starting to turn.

[vietveter]

10:01 AM on 03/10/2011

I will not watch faux snooz with or without beck

This story is a 2 on an ICCFL scale

[Penandcaper]

07:53 AM on 03/10/2011

He should have been fired by Fox way before CBS had the balls to fire Sheen.