Glenn Beck (TV Program) - Reception

Reception

"Beck’s Fox News show intersperses history with weeping laments, melodramatic calls to faith and vehement attacks on 'progressives.' He also mixes in campy stage props and laughs straight from the Morning Zoo playbook. One moment, he is giving an impassioned plea for the would-be builder of Park51 to build elsewhere; the next moment, he is discussing possible names for a hypothetical Islam-friendly gay bar next door (such as) 'Turban Cowboy', (or) 'You Mecca Me Hot.'"

— New York Times Magazine

Beck's shows have been described as a "mix of moral lessons, outrage and an apocalyptic view of the future ... capturing the feelings of an alienated class of Americans." Beck has referred to himself as an entertainer, a rodeo clown, and identified with Howard Beale "When he came out of the rain and he was like, none of this makes any sense. I am that guy."

Beck's style of expressing his candid opinions have helped make his shows successful, but have also resulted in protest and advertiser boycotts. In late July 2009, Beck argued that reparations and social justice were driving President Obama's agenda, discussing issues of diversity and institutional racism. That week in response to the Henry Gates controversy, Beck stated that Obama has repeatedly exposed himself as having, "a deep-seated hatred for white people, or the white culture." He concluded that, "I'm not saying he doesn't like white people. I'm saying he has a problem. This guy is, I believe, a racist." These remarks drew criticism from MSNBC commentators, the NAACP, and resulted in as many as 80 advertisers boycotting both Beck's show and FNC. Beck later mentioned that he regretted calling Barack Obama a racist, saying that, "I have a big fat mouth sometimes".

Time describes Beck as "the new populist superstar of Fox News" saying it is easier to see a set of attitudes rather than a specific ideology, noting his criticism of Wall Street, yet defending bonuses to AIG and denouncing conspiracies against FEMA but warning against indoctrination of children by the AmeriCorps program. Time concludes that "what unites Beck's disparate themes is a sense of siege" but notes that Beck describes his (radio) program as "the fusion of entertainment and enlightenment."

According to Nielsen ratings, Beck had one of the highest rated 5PM cable news shows as of March 2009, consistently beating his competition's combined total viewership. Beck was up 96% in 2009, from Fox's previous year 5 p.m. time slot. However, the show's ratings for the month of January 2011 were 39% lower than their January 2010 number, representing the steepest decline of any cable news show. A significant factor in Beck's overall ratings drop is his viewership among the prized 25- to 54-year-old advertising demographic, which declined by almost one-half in 2010.

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