The genius of Glenn Beck: Pushing rivals to restore his ratings and relevance in rally coverage

[mike r]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-deggans/the-genius-of-glenn-beck_b_699147.html

The genius of Glenn Beck: Pushing rivals to restore his ratings and relevance in rally coverage
By Eric Deggans

Days after watching Fox News pundit Glenn Beck wrap himself in the mantle of the nation's greatest civil rights leader for a Restoring Honor rally which drew tens of thousands to the National Mall, the point is made once again: Beck is a master media manipulator... By creating such a massively controversial event on a typically slow news day, Beck pushed his competitors into a corner. If CNN wanted to serve its brand as an unbaised news source, it had to cover his rally significantly, despite the fact that it also gave significant, complimentary face time to one of its own biggest competitors. Indeed, as the rally was unfolding Saturday, C-SPAN (which aired the rally uninterrupted) and CNN covered the rally more than Fox News, which stuck with its originally scheduled programming rather than present continuous coverage. This meant Fox's competitors were spending a lot more time dissecting the massive crowd Beck brought the the Mall, presumably reaching viewers who might be interesting in checking out his show Monday to see more.

It's a sad development when political considerations keep a newschannel from covering an event which was talked about all week and was likely the biggest news event of the day. Often, media critics complain about politically-oriented newschannels overcovering events to serve their purposes; in the case of Beck's rally, you could argue Fox News undercovered it for the same reasons -- avoiding criticism for supporting one of its stars by downplaying an event of massive interest to its audience.

Why was a radio and TV pundit known for incisive political commentary hosting a supposedly apolitical rally starring conservative political star Sarah Palin? A cynical observer would suggest this rally channeled his fans' fear and need for a hopeful message while burnishing Beck's brand as figure who transcends politics. With Palin, one of the political right's most successful kingmakers at his side, the host leveraged powerful symbols of religion, civil rights achievement and martyrdom, reinforcing his dialogue with his masses of followers and discrediting pundits who predicted a massive desecration. At a moment when ultra-conservative Tea Party activists need to look more mainstream to independent voters before a crucial midtem election, Beck just handed them the blueprint for keeping conservative supporters in the fold while downplaying their most divisive beliefs.

Of course, Beck being Beck, he also contradicted himself. "We must get the poison of hatred out of us," he said at one point. "We must defend those who disagree with us." But in the past, Beck has called the President of the United States a Marxist, whose health care policy amounts to "reparations," insisting he is a racist who hates white people. He said on Fox News Sunday that "people aren't recognizing (President Obama's) version of Christianity." That sure felt like a veiled reference to persistent, mistaken beliefs that Obama is a Muslim, though Beck has criticized Obama's ties to controversial Chicago preacher Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Maybe Beck's move toward elminating hatred could start with his own radio and TV appearances...