Beck Is Too Crazy Even For Fox

Some of us have been wondering when Fox News would cut Glenn Beck loose. Now it looks like it is finally happening. Yesterday, the network announced that Beck's show will be ending some time this year. There had been rumors from some anonymous sources at the network that the Fox executives were considering the move, and now it looks like those sources were correct.

Many are saying it is because the show has been losing viewership and advertisers. A year ago Beck's show had 2.7 million viewers, but that has since dropped to under 2 million (and the drop has been especially sharp in younger viewers -- the ones prized by advertisers). And the advertisers have been fleeing in droves. Over 400 of the network's advertisers have said they don't want their ads run on Beck's show.

I'm sure that didn't help Beck's cause, but I don't think that was the primary reason the network is dumping him. Nearly two million viewers is a pretty good number for a cable network, and it could have still been a good lead-in for other shows -- shows that made money. No, I think they dumped him because he forgot the purpose of the network.

Murdoch wants the network to further the conservative cause. They always present the right-wing side of every story. They could defend that by saying that all the other networks were part of the "liberal media". It's not true (except for maybe MSNBC), but that didn't matter because the excuse would suffice for their conservative viewers, and they could continue to propagandize for the Republicans (and putting Republicans in power allows the rich to get richer, which is what Murdoch really wanted).

But Beck is no longer just supporting the conservative line in an entertaining way. He has taken to preaching about wild conspiracies and making accusations that make even right-wingers nervous. Instead of furthering their reputation as the conservative network (which they like), he was starting to give them a reputation as the "nutty" network. And they did not like that, because it could destroy what little credibility they had.

They were really left with no choice. The nuttier Beck got, the more the reputation of Fox News was endangered (and he kept getting nuttier with each passing month). Instead of furthering the conservative cause he was besmirching it. They could put up with a little "crazy" from Beck, but it had reached the point where bringing the crazy seemed to be his primary goal.

Fox News and Beck's company, Mercury Radio Arts, said they would work together to produce future specials for the Fox News network, and I'm sure they will. But you can bet that Fox News will have a much bigger say in what those specials will contain, and there will be more restraint shown in them.

Glenn Beck just got too crazy for Fox News (and that's pretty amazing).