PHOTOS, PAGE 1

       Editor and prime reporter is Doug Terry, a veteran television and radio reporter in   Washington, DC, (details below)

The more liberal leaning columnists and commentators are having a lot of fun with the planned departure of Glen Beck from Fox News. Meanwhile, the NY Times reports that there were serious problems between Beck and the boss at Fox, Roger Ailes, almost from the start. They did not offer up many details, but strongly indicated, from sources, that Fox has been trying to undermine Beck even while he hosted the most popular show on the channel.

Here’s is a related clip from Dana Milbank in the WashPost. Click on the link to go to the column.

On Friday, the unemployment rate dropped to 8.8 percent, as businesses added jobs for the 13th straight month.

On Wednesday, Fox News announced that it was ending Glenn Beck’s daily cable-TV show.

These are not unrelated events.

When Beck’s show made its debut on Fox News Channel in January 2009, the nation was in the throes of an economic collapse the likes of which had not been seen since the 1930s. Beck’s angry broadcasts about the nation’s imminent doom perfectly rode the wave of fear that had washed across the nation, and the relatively unknown entertainer suddenly had 3 million viewers a night and tens of thousands answering his call to rally at the Lincoln Memorial.

But as the recession began to ease, Beck’s apocalyptic forecasts and ominous conspiracies became less persuasive, and his audience began to drift away. Beck responded with a doubling-down that ultimately brought about his demise on Fox.

I don’t know if Milbank’s conclusion is true or not, but it sounds like a reasonable theory and it is a lot more fun than just saying people finally figured out he’s like their crazy uncle. My own estimation is that it gets tiring to listen to his conspiracy fantasies after awhile. If you see a guy standing on a street corner with a sign saying THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN END, you might be concerned if you think he knows what he is yelling about. Two or three weeks in, you wouldn’t even glance over at him as you drove by, he’d just be part of the scenery, like a tree or a lamp post.

How many people are going to stick with Beck’s schtick over the long term? Someone who is on television batting at conspiracy theories like flies buzzing around him in the studio gets tiring.  After awhile, it starts to seem like you are being held prisoner and this is the torture. Only the true believers, those who really need to believe him, are going to hang around day after day, week after week. Everyone has an expiration date. It appears Fox News thinks his is past due.

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