SALON

Thursday, Aug 5, 2010 1:01 AM UTC

Beck vs. Beck on the Sherrod facts

The right-wing broadcaster's duplicity underscores the hollowness of claims that "both sides do it"

By

Topics: Glenn Beck, Fox News, Shirley Sherrod

Beck vs. Beck on the Sherrod factsGlenn Beck and Shirley Sherrod

No sooner had last week’s thrilling episode about the smearing of USDA official Shirley Sherrod appeared in this space than the indignant letters and e-mails began. Evidently, Glenn Beck has his acolytes well-trained. “Damnable liar” and “fraud” were two of the nicer epithets. Supposedly, I’d “knowingly smeared” the Fox News weeper “to advance (my) agenda.”

Subjected to a similar barrage, a normally unflappable editor curtly informed me that “if you would double-check your facts, it might save us a whole lot of time.”

Ah, but I had, you see. And therein lies an instructive little tale.

First, here’s the offending passage from last week’s column: “The assault on Sherrod … was so mean-spirited, crass and dishonest, not to mention so astonishingly stupid, that even Fox News provocateurs like Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck — after initially falling for the hoax — were pretty much forced to apologize. I expect O’Reilly actually meant it.”

I gave O’Reilly the benefit of the doubt out of personal experience. The man can be a blowhard, and frequently goes off half-cocked. Having appeared as a guest on his program, however, I know that he also has the self-confidence to book dissenters from his worldview, and lets them finish sentences. That’s more than you can say about Beck, Limbaugh and talk-radio cult leaders generally.

What got Beck’s fans stirred up, however, was that his “apology” took the form of an elaborate falsehood. Because, in reality, the self-proclaimed “rodeo cowboy” (has anybody ever seen him in an arena?) had fallen for right-wing provocateur Andrew Breitbart’s deceptively edited video of Shirley Sherrod’s speech hook, line and sinker.

But something funny happened in between Beck’s morning radio program on July 20 and his afternoon TV show. Thanks to the Atlanta Journal Constitution and CNN, Breitbart’s little hoax had begun to fall apart. Sherrod had vigorously contested the mischaracterization of her speech to the NAACP. The “white farmer” whose property she saved defended her honor.

No sooner had a craven Obama White House forced Sherrod’s resignation than she began to look like an American heroine.

So Beck went on television to cover his tracks. “I don’t think Shirley should have been fired — or, I’m sorry, forced to resign,” he manfully announced. “Based on the facts that we have right now, this is something that I wouldn’t air and demand a resignation on.”

Beck said a fair-minded journalist like himself wouldn’t have broadcast the video clip of Sherrod because “context matters.”

Hence the barrage of furious e-mails from Beck’s credulous followers. Why, far from piling on Shirley Sherrod, he’d stood up for what the old Superman TV show called “truth, justice and the American Way.” Unlike me, Beck deals in facts, not innuendoes and lies.

Yeah right.

Alas, the fact is that Beck had already aired snippets of Breitbart’s tape on his radio program — out-of-context renderings of what was already out of context. Don’t believe me? You can still hear the fool thing on Beck’s website, or alternatively at Media Matters.

Here’s my transcription:

“We have videotape of a USDA administration official discriminating against white farmers,” Beck announced. “And she says ‘I just stood there and looked at this white farmer. And I sent him to one of his people.’ Excuse me? Have we suddenly transported into 1956, except that it’s the other way around?

“Does anybody else have the sense that there are some that just want revenge? Doesn’t it feel that way? That there are some, and I believe we are talking about a minuscule amount — I don’t think African-Americans buy into this at all — but the people like the Black Panthers, and whites like the Weather Underground … it goes to what we were talking about, this collective salvation. Make them pay. Make them pay. That’s not what salvation’s all about. … You tell me what part of the gospel is teaching that?”

There was more, all in the same vein.

No context, no skepticism, no journalism whatsoever. Hook, line, sinker.

Exactly one of the angry e-mailers to whom I forwarded the URL saw fit to apologize. Boo hoo hoo.

Time was when a journalist dissembling about his own recorded words, for heaven’s sake, would have fallen into disgrace and out of a job. At the provincial level, that’s still true. I’d expect to be sacked for such egregious misbehavior, which, possessing a sense of honor, I’d never imitate.

For the national political press, those days ended during President Clinton’s first term. Much of the “mainstream” media now operates by Hollywood rules: Stardom brings big money and freedom from accountability. So long, that is, as one can avoid offending the Soviet-style propaganda apparatus that’s arisen on the Republican far right.

But no, “both sides” don’t do it. Berated for years about “liberal bias,” many otherwise sensible citizens don’t understand that for better and worse, the Democrats have nobody like Andrew Breitbart or Glenn Beck.

Gene Lyons

Arkansas Times columnist Gene Lyons is a National Magazine Award winner and co-author of "The Hunting of the President" (St. Martin's Press, 2000). You can e-mail Lyons at eugenelyons2@yahoo.com. More Gene Lyons.

Next Article

You Might Also Like

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

Gripping photos: The people of the Turkey protests (slideshow)

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • The protests take on a festive element as police forces move out of the park and square. Wearing a gas mask, this young man dances to traditional Turkish music in front of Taksim Square’s Ataturk Monument.

  • In Gezi Park since March 31st, this protester, originally caught off-guard by the Government’s teargas and water cannons, went out and bought a Russian army mask from WWII, preparing for what was to come.

  • This rambunctious boy seems to be enjoying the chaos. After taking this picture he threw a stone at the already destroyed building in the background.

  • Forming a line, the police face off directly with protesters in Taksim Square. After a while, they retreated and there was a general cheer – a back-and-forth dance that has been common since the beginning of this protest.

  • An elderly woman in Gezi Park reads the news. The tent community occupying the park was violently destroyed on June 16th.

  • Many different groups had set up booths to promote their cause in Taksim Square and Gezi Park. Standing in front of one, this man waves his flag while posing with conviction.

  • Many home-remedies are used to minimize the effects of tear gas. This woman has put a milky solution on her face, removing her mask after the tear gas dissipated. Before sunrise, the police came again for another round of teargasing.

  • People capitalize on the uprising -- selling flags, beer, gas masks, sky lanterns and spray paint to name just a few of the popular items.

  • On Monday morning, June 11, the police execute a strong offensive. Many plain-clothed police officers, like the ones seen here, clash with protesters in the side streets away from the main stand-off in Taksim.

  • The authorities seem to be most aggressive in the night, pushing protesters away from the square and park. After being teargassed this young woman catches her breath with other protesters on Siraselviler Street.

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

More Related Stories

Comments

 49 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username ( settings | log out )

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: "We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves": Growing up primate

Recommendations