NYT inflates the bogus legend of Glenn Beck, ignores 9/11 hypocrisy

[MinM]

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/NYT_inflates_the_bogus_legend_of_Glenn_Beck.html

Today's New York Times features a lengthy profile of right-wing pseudo-populist talker Glenn Beck. While it half-heartedly takes some obligatory -- and when I say obligatory, I mean they feel exactly like that -- potshots, on the whole it could have been crafted by the PR department at the Fox News Channel, which must be doing some back-flips this evening. The tenor of this predominantly puff piece is captured in the headline: "He's Mad. Apocalyptic, Tearful, and a Rising Star on Fox News."

This is not to say that Beck isn't newsworthy -- his huge jump in popularity since he was shown the door by CNN's Headline News and moved to his rightful home at FNC, and his so-real-it-may-even-be-ilegal calls for an anti-Obama insurrection merit some kind of coverage -- but this article by Brian Stetler and Bill Carter feels in the midst of March Madness like a giant airball. My biggest complaint is that the article reads like Beck landed on Planet Fox in a flying saucer a couple of short months ago to save American Jesusland -- without the much-needed context that this is just the latest act for an "entertainer" who is a clown at his best and spews hate at his worst...

You know it took me about a year to start hating the 9-11 victims' families? Took me about a year. And I had such compassion for them, and I really wanted to help them, and I was behind, you know, "Let's give them money, let's get this started." All of this stuff. And I really didn't -- of the 3,000 victims' families, I don't hate all of them. Probably about 10 of them. And when I see a 9-11 victim family on television, or whatever, I'm just like, "Oh shut up!" I'm so sick of them because they're always complaining. And we did our best for them.

Before you give Beck some slack for making one outlandish comment, you should understand the context that this was a part of a much longer rant...trashing Hurricane Katrina victims. No, I didn't make that up. And yet this man continues to work in American media and is in fact climbing his way up the ladder of fame and fortune. Meanwhile, the good people at Media Matters have chronicled some 256 cases of outrageous remarks, including misleading statements and outright lies, by Beck over the years. Did Stetler and Carter bother to check any of this out? It doesn't look that way...

[bahrbearian]

1. I hope he fails.

Glenn Beck that is.