Advertiser Backlash Against Right Wing Ranter

Oh my, it's happened - some advertisers are tired of paid political pundits, inflammatory language and plain old bombast used to keep eyes and ears glued to their channel. Berkshire Hathaway's Geico, Walmart Stores and Men's Warehouse have, according to Advertising Age, "... taken steps to ensure that their ads will no longer appear during Fox News 'Glenn Beck Show'. Procter and Gamble and and S. C. Johnson said they never intended to advertise there and ads were placed there by mistake. Clorox Company has said it's taking its ad dollars out of all politically oriented talk programs" (For those unaware, Beck put his foot in it recently in a big way.)

It's about time folks realized that many (most? all?) of the pundits on TV, radio, the Internet and anywhere else have a primary goal: Keep high ratings. Being measured and balanced about their views doesn't get listeners and, without listeners, the folks carrying them will go out of business because no one advertises where no one goes. Folks forget that pundits are paid to be outrageous. It's that simple. You can defend them but, in the end, they're paid to be on the air and draw viewers or listeners.

You might say, "But what about the newspapers?" They're trying to draw you in, too, but folks who are in broadcast have to keep you glued for thirty or sixty minutes or more; that takes emotion. A newspaper reporter or columnist only has to keep you for one column's worth of time and there are different and (gasp) opposing opinions right next to yours. Going over the top makes you seem a bit daft because there's another article inches from yours that could seem sane by comparison.

The other side of the coin has an engraving that shows Joe Sixpack or anyone else who listens, spouts and repeats without doing any real research on their own. I once had a guy tell me that he listens to Rush Limbaugh because, "... he speaks my language. He thinks like I do so I know I can trust him." I asked him if he reads the newspaper, and he said, "No, they're just a bunch of liberal -------s." It's not about whether he does or doesn't read the newspaper. The conversation revealed that all he does is listen to folks who think like him. Willful ignorance is no excuse.

My beef isn't with people on the right or the left, it's with anyone who blindly takes others opinions without trying to figure it out on their own. Please note that I said opinions, not facts. If you know the facts, then you can sort out the opinions. All of the pundits - right and left wing - have their foibles, misstatements and outright intentional misinterpretations. I would just appreciate it if folks decided to do a little research and stopped parroting things simply because it sounds good to them.