Author of Time's Beck profile digs a deeper hole

[babylonsister]

http://mediamatters.org/blog/200909180007

Author of Time's Beck profile digs a deeper hole

September 18, 2009 9:30 am ET by Jamison Foser


Charles Kaiser offers this pitch-perfect description of Time's profile of Glenn Beck: "Von Drehele's piece is so humiliating on so many levels, it's hard to know where to begin."

Kaiser interviewed Von Drehle about the Beck profile, with hilarious results. Like this, from Kaiser's Full Court Press post:

Von Drehele identified the boycott as "a boon" to Beck's ratings; but he didn't say that it now includes more than sixty corporations, including Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and Procter & Gamble.

FCP asked Von Dehele if sixty wasn't a rather large number-one perhaps worth mentioning in his piece. "Well," he replied. "There are millions of companies."

See, Von Drehle didn't mention the fact that 60 companies are boycotting Beck's show because there are millions of other companies that aren't. Got it? Millions of companies that have never advertised on Glenn Beck's show make the fact that 60 companies that used to do so now refuse to meaningless.

Oh, and Detroit automakers are doing just fine. Sure, they've lost a lot of customers over the years -- but literally billions of people haven't stopped buying their cars! Bonuses all around!

Then there's Von Drehle's justification for drawing an equivalence between Beck and Keith Olbermann:

Von Drehele also seems to think that the progressive hosts on MSNBC are really just like the right-wing crazies on Fox. But when FCP pressed him about that, he admitted that had no basis whatsoever for making any comparison:

"I haven't seen Keith Olbermann for at least a year and a half," the Time writer said. "And I've never seen Rachel Maddow. I have four children and a wife. I don't sit around watching cable TV. I don't understand why anybody watches any of these shows. I know what these opinions are based on: they're based on nothing."

David Von Drehle doesn't watch Olbermann or Maddow, you see, because he already knows their opinions are "based on nothing." The hypocrisy is jaw-dropping.

[spooky3]

1. I'm sure Enzyte and Extenze were very sorry to have to stop advertising.

Beck's show attracted all of their target customers.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

2. I wish MSNBC would drop Extenze...........

MSNBC shows their commercials 2-3 times an hour. Don't mistake me, I'm sorry if some guys are having willie troubles, but the frequency of those commercials is ludicrous.

[PADemD]

5. Extenze Commercials

I thought I was the only one who hates Extenze commercials. I flip to another station until they're over. In my opinion, they are vulgar.

[icymist]

9. We are lucky to have a DVR.... we just record KO and skip the Extenze adds!

Makes watching TeeVee a little easier. :)

[spooky3]

16. oh, ExtenZe couldn't stay away

I see they were back for more Beck yesterday:

http://mediamatters.org/blog/200909180039

So was the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Admin. (part of HHS)!

Go to where your audience is...

[Lucy Goosey]

3. He doesn't watch Keith and Rachel because what they say is "based on nothing"?

Whatever, idiot. The real reason you don't watch Olbermann and Maddow is pretty clearly because you are too stupid to understand what they are saying. :eyes:

[Gold Metal Flake]

4. All hail Time Magazine, the leader of the Liberal Media!

The corporate conservative media are our greatest enemies. They must be destroyed.

[csziggy]

10. Has Rupert Murdock purchased Time Magazine, too?

That would explain a lot.

[damntexdem]

6. Stop breaking my jaw!

And it isn't doing the floor any good to be hit by the jaw, either.

[DCKit]

7. The man lives in a vaccum yet, somehow, has the credibility to comment on the issue?

Jeez, as if I needed another reminder why I haven't read Time or Newsweak since 1984.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

8. "I don't sit around watching cable TV."

Um, isn't Beck on "cable TV"?

[Berry Cool]

11. How can he write about what he doesn't know about?

How can he intelligently compare Beck to Olbermann or Maddow when he doesn't watch Olbermann's or Maddow's shows? And sit there making excuses for the false equivalency he wrote of? "I have four children and a wife." What?? Is that the journalistic equivalent of "The dog ate my homework"?

[bullwinkle428]

12. When people like this Von Drehle are in the position of "informing the public",

is really any great fucking mystery why there are so many screaming ignoramuses running around with signs about keeping government out of their Medicare?

[Stephanie]

13. If he doesn't watch the shows why is he writing about them?

That's just lazy.

[donheld]

14. Would it be beyond hope to get the 60 boycotting companies to expand

their boycotts to all of FOX till Beck goes away?

[TomCADem]

15. Its A Bullshit Whitewash Of Glenn Beck - Filled With False Equivalence