Beck targets BraveNew Foundation

Last week I called up Rupert Murdock and, in front of the entire industry analyst community and the media, I asked him how long he was going to subsidize the money-losing Glenn Beck show.

He said that Fox wasn’t subsidizing him. Beck has lost a minimum of 81 advertisers. All he has now are a few random ads, house ads and gold ads.

Race baiting and suggestions of killing political leaders might be popular on the right, but it doesn’t have to be profitable.

The hateful acts that occurred at the tea party rally in Washington this weekend were not isolated incidents — they are part of a growing pattern of violent rhetoric, racially charged imagery, and paranoid conspiracy theories emerging from the Republican party’s grassroots supporters.

Republicans officials have contributed to this atmosphere with fear-mongering and coded racism, and they have actively courted this element of their party. It’s time that Republican leadership is forced to address what it’s helped to create.

Please join us in confronting Republican leaders and demanding that they take responsibility for tamping down the bigotry and hate among their supporters, and that they disavow the fear-mongering that leads to it. And please ask your friends and family to do the same — unless we take a strong stand against this kind of hate, it will continue. We need as many people as possible — of every race — demanding that it stop.

Yesterday, for the fifth day in a row, the UK broadcast of Glenn Beck’s TV show was forced to run without any advertisements. This is thanks to efforts by StopBeck.com to pressure companies advertising on Beck’s UK broadcast.

It’s an amazing milestone in the larger effort to push advertisers away from Glenn Beck, which started last July. And at the same time, we’ve reached another important milestone — over 100 companies have now stopped their ads from appearing on Beck’s show.

It’s said that politics creates strange bedfellows. I was reminded how true this can be when I traveled to D.C. in recent weeks to figure out why several advocacy groups and legislators with histories of advocating for minority interests are lining up with big telecom companies in opposition to the FCC’s efforts to pass “Net Neutrality” rules.

Most unsettling about their position is the argument that maintaining Net Neutrality could widen the digital divide.

A few weeks ago, Rupert Murdoch said that Glenn Beck was right when he called Obama a racist, and since then he has been dodging questions about what exactly he meant. Through one of his staff, Murdoch issued a brief statement saying that he doesn’t believe Obama is a racist, but not explaining what he meant when he said he agreed with Beck. I wrote Murdoch an open letter asking for an explanation, and more than 135,000 people have signed petitions to Murdoch with the same message: Murdoch should either say clearly that he meant what he said and that he stands by Beck; or he should acknowledge there’s a problem with what Beck said and take responsibility for stopping the continued race-baiting at News Corp and Fox. But Murdoch has refused to respond.

Yesterday, Rupert Murdoch spoke at the Federal Trade Commission as part of a conference on the future of journalism. ColorOfChange organizers and others in the audience confronted Murdoch about his comments and asked for an explanation, but as you can see, Murdoch made a quick, silent exit:

The Harlem Gospel Choir just cancelled their performance as part of Glenn Beck’s “The Christmas Sweater,” a live performance that’s scheduled to be broadcast in movie theaters across the country this Thursday.

Yesterday, Rupert Murdoch told Sky News that Glenn Beck was right when he called Obama a “racist” with a “deep seated hatred for white people”:

We’re responding by sending Murdoch this open letter:

Great news today in our campaign against Glenn Beck. We’re announcing that nineteen more of Beck’s advertisers have stopped supporting his show. That number includes two British companies who just announced that they’ve pulled their ads from the UK broadcast of Beck’s show after hearing from customers.

Two companies–Waitrose (the British supermarket chain) and Metropolitan Talent Management–pulled their ads not only from Beck’s show, but from Fox News in general.

Over 280,000 of us have now called on advertisers to stop supporting Beck’s show. We are keeping Beck isolated and making sure that he continues to be a financial liability for Fox. Eventually, Fox will have to explain why they are continuing to give Beck’s race-baiting and fear-mongering a platform even as it hurts their bottom line.

Our campaign to hold Glenn Beck accountable for his race-baiting and fear-mongering has been a great success, with 62 advertisers making it clear that they don’t want their brands linked to Beck’s vile rhetoric. Up until now, however, there’s been a question of what the real consequences are for Beck and for Fox, especially as Beck’s ratings have soared. It’s starting to become clear.

Today, we’re announcing that Glenn Beck’s show has lost over 50% of its advertising dollars since just before our campaign started.