Campaign to Pull Glenn Beck Off the Air Gains Momentum, Here and Abroad

The movement to pressure Fox News into assessing the financial viability of Glenn Beck's controversial talk show is gaining steam -- particularly overseas. In the United Kingdom, as of Tuesday, Beck's show had run without a single paid advertisement for six days in a row.

Beck, whose popularity and infamy have grown due to his propensity to cry -- literally and figuratively -- for the state of America as he sees it, is the target of a couple of campaigns aimed at connecting the dots for advertisers who pay top dollar (and pounds) for commercials that run during his hourly TV show, which airs every weekday.

On Tuesday it was announced that British advertisers and viewers have resolutely rejected Beck's program, which has become notorious for spewing storylines that have a great deal of traction among right-wing groups. Famously, Beck claimed that Americorps, a federal program which funds community service work, is a covert plot to create a "civilian army" of community organizers -- apparently a terrifying prospect to right-wingers. He also called health care reform "Obama brand reparations" for blacks and Native Americans.

For nearly a week now, Sky, a channel partially owned by News Corp. that airs Fox News programs in Britain, has been running local weather updates and news headlines, instead of paid commercials in the ad slots that bookend Beck's show. This likely comes as a direct result of campaigns by both StopBeck.com and ColorofChange.org, which launched in July last year.

The campaigns were launched as a reaction to Beck's on-air claims that President Obama is a racist who "has a deep-seated hatred for white people." While the remarks actually came during a guest appearance on another Fox News program, "Fox & Friends," the two anti-Beck organizations viewed the incident as part of a "larger pattern of race-baiting and fear-mongering" by Beck.

According to StopBeck.com, which organized the U.K. campaign, the number of dropped sponsors for the Glenn Beck show is now up to 116. ColorofChange.org, a Web-based grassroots civil rights group, says domestic dropped sponsors total 97, though the number is certainly "well over 100" when adding on the dropped British sponsors.

The move to stop Beck mirrors the move last summer to banish Lou Dobbs from his program at CNN. The Basta Dobbs campaign, led by Presente.org, was fueled by widespread anger at Dobbs' relentlessly anti-immigrant rhetoric, which was bolstered by the same racist fears that fuel a lot of Beck's own hateful brand. By November last year, Dobbs had left CNN in what was officially labeled a resignation, but was probably influenced by the populist pressure to oust him.

While CNN said Dobbs was leaving to pursue his special form of "advocacy journalism," which was no longer in line with CNN's mission as a news organization, it's not necessarily clear that Fox News cares about putting up a newsy front. After all, as Dani McClain, a campaign manager at ColorofChange.org, points out, "Fox has a lot of gall to position itself as a news organization," particularly when advertisers are bowing out left and right. This shows "Fox is a propaganda machine, not a news outlet."

ColorofChange.org's anti-Beck petition has gathered over 285,000 signatures so far. And those numbers have brought results.

Among those who've been moved to drop their sponsorship of Beck's show is Best Western International. "As a global, family-oriented brand with guests of all persuasions and viewpoints, we seek to avoid any controversial programming, regardless of political affiliation," said the hotel chain's spokesman, Troy Rutman, adding that the company doesn't intend to have any additional ad placements during the program.