A Visit with Glenn Beck
May 13th, 2010 by Timothy Pancoast
On Wednesday I went to see the Glenn Beck Program in New York City with some of the 9-12 Delaware Patriots. Russ Murphy and Tim Ryan (both have done guest posts for this blog) had the opportunity to participate in a segment of the radio show. Then we all sat in the audience to watch the TV show live.
In spite of a hectic schedule he took time to talk with us, swap stories, take pictures and sign a few things. The staff of both shows were also helpful and friendly to us even though they were in the middle of trying to run their respective shows. Anyways here is what I took away from the experience.
Glenn Beck is human. He isn’t evil enough to be a devil and he isn’t so good as to be a god. He has done some impressive things with his life, but he still behaves like a normal human being. He still takes time for other human beings and he cares about what is going on in our lives. What he does is actually pretty similar to what the 9-12 Delaware Patriots do. Only it is on a larger scale and he has more practice, a bigger budget, and better materials and equipment.
Glenn works with his staff to do thorough research and fact checking before he airs information. On the Wednesday T.V show he introduced a quote by Maurice Strong, about the governments of the world having a duty to collapse their own nations in order to save the world. Someone from Glenn’s team came in and said that the reporter who took down the original quote, back in the 90’s, got back with them. The reporter wanted to ensure that Glenn stated it was given in reference to a novel that Mr. Strong was writing. Glenn didn’t really want to add that disclaimer, so they went back and forth for a little while. You can see the end result towards the end of this link.
I think Glenn did a pretty good job of maintaining journalistic integrity, while also maintaining integrity with his audience. He did include the disclaimer so that the journalist’s position and intentions were preserved. However, he provided additional context to show that this quote can’t be explained away so easily. Because the fact is that Maurice Strong has yet to write a single novel in his entire life, but he is engaged in the very collapse of governments that he was fantasizing about for the novel he never wrote.
Was the staffer happy with how Glenn presented the information? Probably not. Was Glenn happy about including the disclaimer? Not really, but he found a way to do it and still present the full story to his audience. He has some members on his staff that don’t agree with him and he works with them on purpose. In my opinion his show turned out better because of it.
Next, Glenn does use a script, at least loosely. Glenn creates the script with the help of his team, and he changes it as needed. On Wednesday’s show Glenn ended up cutting out some portions of the show. Then the last segment he rewrote during a commercial break. Later he was talking to one of the cameramen about the topics of the show. Right before going back on air he said to cancel his original change. Instead he closed with what he was just talking about with the cameraman. Even when he uses the script there is a fair deal of ad-libbing on the show. What I saw was extensive research, planning, and preparation followed by continual revision and improvement. Glenn prepares for a show the best that he can, then he acts on the inspiration he gets, as he gets it while presenting the show.
Finally, and perhaps most important, Glenn Beck has a family. They behave like a normal family, just one with a few out of the ordinary situations to deal with. Glenn’s oldest daughter came in part way through the TV show. During a brief pause he left the stage and had a brief father daughter moment with her. She stood and watched the show the whole time. Then while we were waiting for our ride we saw them leave the studio together. I am sure this doesn’t happen every day, but it is good to see that family life still goes on with the media, even if it isn’t picked up by the camera. It makes me wonder how many other TV personalities have family members standing by and watching with them just outside of the range of the cameras.
Here is a picture from after the show with Glenn.
9-12 Delaware Patriots with Glenn Beck
From Forbes:
Beck is a shockjock who made $32 million entertaining nit wits like you last year. It is comforting to me that you found him to be human.
Thank you for the insults and name calling jason330, they are always appreciated. I am always glad to help comfort my fellow citzens and plan to provide you with more of that comfort for years to come.
Sounds like a great trip. It reminds me of the Rush TV show trip the 34th took back in the early nineties. Congratulations, and thanks for sharing.
Nice post, Tim. Glad you guys had a great trip!
Sucker, dupes and losers unite! Right Tim?
jason, you will go far in life with such a positive outlook..
I’m sure beck will deal with skeptics like me sternly in the 100 year plan for America that was revealed to him by SKYDAD himself.
Trust Fund is just jealous that Beck makes more than his gods Olbermann, Maddow and Ed Schultz combined. Oh, and that he actually does something to get that money.
I don’t know how 330 keeps up the bitterness and bile so constantly. Jesus God it gets so tiresome no matter how much fight one thinks one might have in response.
The mental illness called liberalism must somehow foster bottomless reserves of nasty anger and childish bitterness that can’t help but erupt in half-baked outbursts.
Take another week off Jason. Hell, take the rest of your life off.
Very cool, Tim. Thank you for sharing your trip. It is easy for people to put men like Beck on pedistools. It is nice to know that he is genuine.