NEW YORK -- The Associated Press reports Fox News Channel today announced it has canceled Glenn Beck's afternoon talk show due to sinking ratings and suffering financially due to an advertiser boycott. Fox and Beck have reportedly stated the show will end later this year.
Beck's show debuted on the Fox News Channel in January 2009 finding a conservative populism fan base while providing fodder for Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert who frequently spotlighted what he described as Beck's "crank up the crazy and rip off the knob" moments.
Beck's statements often got him in trouble. Last summer, critics appealed to advertisers to boycott Beck's show after Beck stated President Obama had "a deep-seated hatred for white people." More than 400 Fox advertisers refused to have their commercials air on Beck's show.
Although Beck is wildly popular with ultraconservative Tea Party activists, his viewers began turning away in droves this year. Beck's 5 p.m. show averaged 2.7 million viewers in the first three months of 2010 but a year later, he'd lost nearly 800,000 viewers with the sharpest decline among younger viewers sought by advertisers.
Although Beck is wildly popular with ultraconservative Tea Party activists, his viewers began turning away in droves this year. Beck's 5 p.m. show averaged 2.7 million viewers in the first three months of 2010 but a year later, he'd lost nearly 800,000 viewers with the sharpest decline among younger viewers sought by advertisers.
According to the Associated Press article, David Brock, one of Beck's most prominent critics and founder of the liberal watchdog Media Matters for America — said "the only surprise is that it took Fox News months to reach this decision."
