Old Ducker
08-31-2010, 02:47 PM
Glenn and me
Commentary: A Talking Heads moment with the controversial talk show host
By David Weidner, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Glenn Beck welcomed me with a big hello and a goofy grin. I liked him immediately.
It was April Fool’s Day 2008, more than two years before his day in the Washington sun this past weekend. Bear Stearns Cos. had just been acquired by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. /quotes/comstock/13*!jpm/quotes/nls/jpm (JPM 36.07, +0.22, +0.61%) . The financial industry was spinning, but much of the world was still living in the bubble economy. Housing prices were holding. Oil prices were still north of $100 a barrel.
Earlier that day, I had been invited on his show. It was still on CNN. Beck moved to Fox News later that year. The topic was the price of oil. A producer called for a pre-interview. I had done a lot of reporting and writing on the subject. My take was that Wall Street speculation was largely to blame, not the oil companies. Read 2008 column on oil speculation.
Beck’s producer was smart and asked good questions. I explained to her how Wall Street traders pushed up energy prices in Europe where there were fewer market limits and how Goldman Sachs Group Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!gs/quotes/nls/gs (GS 137.54, +0.88, +0.64%) analysts were particularly influential in driving up prices by setting eye-popping price targets. It was a subject that had been under-covered by the media, in my opinion.
She explained to me that Beck wanted to know if oil companies were responsible. I said I didn’t think so, and we made arrangements for my visit to the studio.
Made bigger by TV
At the time, I was familiar with Beck, but not a regular viewer. His billboards were ubiquitous on the sides of city buses. His interviews didn’t make much of an impression on me, or at least I didn’t remember anything if I saw one.
His monologues were the thing that really awed me. I didn’t always agree with him — rarely, actually — but as someone who writes and talks commentary, I admired his skills. He’s a fantastic and persuasive speaker in the way he uses cadence, pauses and nuanced words.
A radio guy at heart, Beck’s transition to TV made him even more powerful. He isn’t a handsome guy. He looks like your local insurance agent. But the folksy persona matches the message.
When I arrived at the studio, I was ushered into the makeup room and that’s where I first met Beck. In person, he’s not much different than what you get on the tube. He is, perhaps, a little more rumpled. He was wearing Converse sneakers. I’ve bumped into him a few times here in the News Corp. building. I’ve never seen him in a suit.
On the show
After giving me his big hello, Beck rushed off to somewhere, probably his stage. I was sent to a dark small booth with a camera pointed at a tall chair. These “remote” studios aren’t that unusual. They use them to save space on the main stage, or just create the illusion that someone is beaming in. But for Beck they served a purpose I would soon discover.
There was a monitor so I could watch the show. Beck was doing his monologue. Then, he interviewed someone on a different subject. Finally, he turned to the subject of oil prices.
My memory of what followed may not be perfect. I contacted CNN to get a clip of the show and they didn’t respond. It’s not on YouTube, which is surprising, since it seems everything is. But my conversation with Beck left a lasting impression.
Beck introduced me. A light on the camera turned red. I smiled. The light went off. Beck didn’t begin with a question, but more of a statement. He said he knew that I thought speculation was to blame. He said he knew I thought Wall Street had a role. But wasn’t, Beck said, the real problem Congress?
April Fool’s Day, indeed. Beck bum-rushed me by dismissing the answers I had given to his producer earlier. He turned a discussion of the causes of high oil prices into a political debate, one I wasn’t really interested in or prepared to talk about.
Disoriented, I probably didn’t start my reply well, but when I got my wits about me, I argued that his thesis was wrong. I said it wasn’t a political issue but a trading issue. My answer probably started to sound hostile.
And here’s where Beck had what we all do from time to time, a Talking Heads moment. He stopped making sense.
Beck followed up with a question — again it was more of a statement — about how government policy was responsible for higher oil prices. It was a theme he would return to all summer as oil prices inched higher.
Again, I said I didn’t see it that way and before I could elaborate, Beck began talking over me, that little red light went off and he turned to another guest in Washington who seemed to agree with him before my audio was turned off.
It was over. Gone in 30 seconds, if that.
‘Restoring honor’
I was angry and disappointed. On one level, I understood. This was his show. It was his game. It was entertainment, not a real debate. It happens. Whether CNN, CNBC, MSNBC or Fox, shows are hosted in a way in which guests are brought on to simply break up the monotony.
We’re fodder for the stars. Beck wanted a guest who played into his narrative that we shouldn’t blame the oil companies for high prices; we should blame the government.
But on another level I was profoundly disturbed that Beck had used a news device — interviews — to advance an agenda.
The price of gas is pivotal to our economy. What influences its price is complicated. Yes, there’s plenty of room for debate even over whether speculators are fueling the price. But the way Beck dealt with the subject was dishonest. Ours was a mock interview, perhaps designed to be contentious and keep the viewers watching.
What it wasn’t, was an intelligent discussion. It wasn’t even a discussion. Perhaps I was naive, but I still can’t help but feel I was duped and set up. Small consolation: I watched a few of his shows and found I wasn’t the only one.
And that’s why when I saw my old friend Glenn Beck leading “restoring honor” marches on Washington as he did Saturday, I wondered what kind of “honor” he’s talking about. Honoring guests? Honoring ideas? Honoring points of view?
Who knows? But knowing how Beck doesn’t like things complicated, I’ll make an observation and keep it simple.
Restoring honor? You have to have some to begin with.
David Weidner covers Wall Street for MarketWatch.
http://theburningplatform.com/blog/2010/08/31/glenn-beck-restoring-honor/
Commentary: A Talking Heads moment with the controversial talk show host
By David Weidner, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Glenn Beck welcomed me with a big hello and a goofy grin. I liked him immediately.
It was April Fool’s Day 2008, more than two years before his day in the Washington sun this past weekend. Bear Stearns Cos. had just been acquired by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. /quotes/comstock/13*!jpm/quotes/nls/jpm (JPM 36.07, +0.22, +0.61%) . The financial industry was spinning, but much of the world was still living in the bubble economy. Housing prices were holding. Oil prices were still north of $100 a barrel.
Earlier that day, I had been invited on his show. It was still on CNN. Beck moved to Fox News later that year. The topic was the price of oil. A producer called for a pre-interview. I had done a lot of reporting and writing on the subject. My take was that Wall Street speculation was largely to blame, not the oil companies. Read 2008 column on oil speculation.
Beck’s producer was smart and asked good questions. I explained to her how Wall Street traders pushed up energy prices in Europe where there were fewer market limits and how Goldman Sachs Group Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!gs/quotes/nls/gs (GS 137.54, +0.88, +0.64%) analysts were particularly influential in driving up prices by setting eye-popping price targets. It was a subject that had been under-covered by the media, in my opinion.
She explained to me that Beck wanted to know if oil companies were responsible. I said I didn’t think so, and we made arrangements for my visit to the studio.
Made bigger by TV
At the time, I was familiar with Beck, but not a regular viewer. His billboards were ubiquitous on the sides of city buses. His interviews didn’t make much of an impression on me, or at least I didn’t remember anything if I saw one.
His monologues were the thing that really awed me. I didn’t always agree with him — rarely, actually — but as someone who writes and talks commentary, I admired his skills. He’s a fantastic and persuasive speaker in the way he uses cadence, pauses and nuanced words.
A radio guy at heart, Beck’s transition to TV made him even more powerful. He isn’t a handsome guy. He looks like your local insurance agent. But the folksy persona matches the message.
When I arrived at the studio, I was ushered into the makeup room and that’s where I first met Beck. In person, he’s not much different than what you get on the tube. He is, perhaps, a little more rumpled. He was wearing Converse sneakers. I’ve bumped into him a few times here in the News Corp. building. I’ve never seen him in a suit.
On the show
After giving me his big hello, Beck rushed off to somewhere, probably his stage. I was sent to a dark small booth with a camera pointed at a tall chair. These “remote” studios aren’t that unusual. They use them to save space on the main stage, or just create the illusion that someone is beaming in. But for Beck they served a purpose I would soon discover.
There was a monitor so I could watch the show. Beck was doing his monologue. Then, he interviewed someone on a different subject. Finally, he turned to the subject of oil prices.
My memory of what followed may not be perfect. I contacted CNN to get a clip of the show and they didn’t respond. It’s not on YouTube, which is surprising, since it seems everything is. But my conversation with Beck left a lasting impression.
Beck introduced me. A light on the camera turned red. I smiled. The light went off. Beck didn’t begin with a question, but more of a statement. He said he knew that I thought speculation was to blame. He said he knew I thought Wall Street had a role. But wasn’t, Beck said, the real problem Congress?
April Fool’s Day, indeed. Beck bum-rushed me by dismissing the answers I had given to his producer earlier. He turned a discussion of the causes of high oil prices into a political debate, one I wasn’t really interested in or prepared to talk about.
Disoriented, I probably didn’t start my reply well, but when I got my wits about me, I argued that his thesis was wrong. I said it wasn’t a political issue but a trading issue. My answer probably started to sound hostile.
And here’s where Beck had what we all do from time to time, a Talking Heads moment. He stopped making sense.
Beck followed up with a question — again it was more of a statement — about how government policy was responsible for higher oil prices. It was a theme he would return to all summer as oil prices inched higher.
Again, I said I didn’t see it that way and before I could elaborate, Beck began talking over me, that little red light went off and he turned to another guest in Washington who seemed to agree with him before my audio was turned off.
It was over. Gone in 30 seconds, if that.
‘Restoring honor’
I was angry and disappointed. On one level, I understood. This was his show. It was his game. It was entertainment, not a real debate. It happens. Whether CNN, CNBC, MSNBC or Fox, shows are hosted in a way in which guests are brought on to simply break up the monotony.
We’re fodder for the stars. Beck wanted a guest who played into his narrative that we shouldn’t blame the oil companies for high prices; we should blame the government.
But on another level I was profoundly disturbed that Beck had used a news device — interviews — to advance an agenda.
The price of gas is pivotal to our economy. What influences its price is complicated. Yes, there’s plenty of room for debate even over whether speculators are fueling the price. But the way Beck dealt with the subject was dishonest. Ours was a mock interview, perhaps designed to be contentious and keep the viewers watching.
What it wasn’t, was an intelligent discussion. It wasn’t even a discussion. Perhaps I was naive, but I still can’t help but feel I was duped and set up. Small consolation: I watched a few of his shows and found I wasn’t the only one.
And that’s why when I saw my old friend Glenn Beck leading “restoring honor” marches on Washington as he did Saturday, I wondered what kind of “honor” he’s talking about. Honoring guests? Honoring ideas? Honoring points of view?
Who knows? But knowing how Beck doesn’t like things complicated, I’ll make an observation and keep it simple.
Restoring honor? You have to have some to begin with.
David Weidner covers Wall Street for MarketWatch.
http://theburningplatform.com/blog/2010/08/31/glenn-beck-restoring-honor/