...Glenn Beck.
But I deleted it instead.
You can thank me later.
Updated: Seems I have bothered some people by posting this so I will in fact post what I was going to post previously. My apologies for the offense.
Phil Donahue appeared on The Joy Behar Show yesterday. During the segment Behar asks Donahue what he thinks of the rise of FOX/Limbaugh/Beck in the media and Donahue can hardly contain his excitement about Beck. The comment that Donahue made that particularly struck me was the following;
DONAHUE: I tell you, I watch him.
BEHAR: Yeah.
DONAHUE: I don't watch him every night.
BEHAR: Oh, you do.
DONAHUE: I do.
BEHAR: Keep your friends close and your enemies on TV?
DONAHUE: Well, I can't get over that. I can't get over that. I mean, to me, this is a fascinating story.
BEHAR: Yeah.
DONAHUE: How long are they going to last? Who are the Tea Party people? What do the Republicans think of them? This is, if we didn't have Glenn Beck, we'd have to invent him.
You can watch the video clip here
We, meaning the media, would have to invent Glenn Beck if he didn't already exist?
Let’s face it, Glen Beck has become "the story". Donahue’s fascination with him has nothing to do with the substance of what Beck is saying. Only with the reaction that it creates in those who either love him or hate him. This is the problem with how almost everything is reported in this country today. Yes, it’s part of the he said/she said equal time BS that is part and parcel of mainstream media today. But it’s beyond that. News reporting has completely devolved into what the reaction to a story will be rather than what the actual story is or what the merits of the story are. And Phil Donahue just lays it all out there. This is what the media wants. What it needs. And if it didn’t have it courtesy of Glenn Beck Incorporated the media would have to invent it itself.
Troubling.