Even calling the President of the Unites States a racist will not see the demise of one, Glenn Beck, at Fox News Channel. Yet.Despite having over thirty advertisers pull their spots from Beck's cable show, his popularity is still very high and he still commands many viewers, (by cable standards) and both his books and nationally syndicated radio show, are still enourmously popular. The radio show is in the top 10 according to Talkers magazine, and Beck still sells millions of books. He is, as they say in the trades, a media machine, and would be scooped up in a minute by some other network, should FNC let him go. Not likely.
Fox was wise to nudge Beck to take a week off in hopes of diffusing the "racist" comment against Obama; a comment so off the charts, even some of his fellow conservatives mocked them. Fox was quick to distance itself from the remark, but also stated Beck had the right to air his opinion.
Even so, advertisers have pulled their spots, (although some simply placed them on other FNC programs) and the initial fallout from this would seem to have had an effect. Beck is due back from his vacation Monday night and I'd bet there's a good chance that he will either apologize to Mr. Obama and/or give a thoughtful few moments to the basis of his words about the leader of the free world.
Either way, it will be interesting to see and hear what Beck has to say; the irony? Probably better than average ratings for Monday night's predicted mea culpa.
~ San Francisco Gate
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