Why Glenn Beck’s Show Was Cancelled [POLL]

The Twittersphere is exploding over news of Glenn Beck’s “transition” away from his daily Fox News program later this year.

Why did this happen? Let’s take a look at circumstances surrounding the cancellation of his show:

• Ratings dropped precipitously, from 2.9 million viewers in January 2010 to 1.8 million in January 2011. Many of those viewers were from younger demographics, according to PoliticsUSA.


• The language of the press release announcing the show’s end says Beck will be developing “a variety of television projects for air on the Fox News Channel as well as content for other platforms including Fox News’s digital properties.” Not good, Glenn. That sounds a lot like the announcement when Dan Rather was pushed out of the anchor chair at CBS News. Come to think of it, it sounds a lot like the announcement of Rather’s predecessor Walter Cronkite’s departure from CBS News as well.


• More than a third of Beck’s Fox audience was lost after his “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington.


• After Beck called President Obama a racist, ColorofChange.org urged consumers to boycott Beck’s advertisers, ultimately resulting in more than 400 Fox advertisers saying they didn’t want their commercials on Beck’s show, according to Forbes. That cost Fox News owner News Corp. a cool $600,000 a week.

Was the show’s cancellation justified? Now it’s your turn, readers. Sound off in our poll, and in the comments: