The day before the inauguration of President Obama, another man was put into office, but not the Presidential Office, the office at Mercury Radio Arts on 6th Ave is where the Glenn Beck aired his first show on Fox News. In less then 6 months Glenn Beck had 2.6 million views making it the #1 watched news show. With this new power Beck has become the face of the Fox News, the Tea Party, Mercury Radio and voice of so many people. Similar to Beck stand alone characteristics, there is Gilgemesh the great King of Urik a man of great pride and excellence. Two men of such large stature that able to be heard and known for there large power.
Within Fox News, Glenn Beck gets a large amount of criticism for the messages he spreads on the network, recently his lost 200 thousand viewers within a couple of months, people at the network have largely disagreed with his ideals. Numerous companies have made note to Fox News not to air their advertisements during his time slot because of his discredited broadcast. The New York Times says
“While Beck’s personal ventures and exposure have soared this year, his television ratings have declined sharply — perhaps another factor in the network’s impatience. His show now averages two million viewers, down from a high of 2.8 million in 2009, according to the Nielsen Ratings. And as of Sept. 21, 296 advertisers have asked that their commercials not be shown on Beck’s show (up from 26 in August 2009). Fox also has a difficult time selling ads on “The O’Reilly Factor” and “Fox and Friends” when Beck appears on those shows as a guest. Beck’s show is known in the TV sales world as “empty calories,” meaning he draws great ratings but is toxic for ad sales. If nothing else, I sensed that people around Fox News have grown weary after months of “It’s all about Glenn.
Beck is losing support from all sides for his self interest, similar to the lose of support that Gilgemesh gets when his men complain of him to the gods. Through the journey of Glenn Beck’s career there is a recent point where it seem that his actions have caught up with him, and seems unsure has become of him, his show and its consequences. Gilgemesh faces a crossroad just like Beck where Gilgemesh travels to because this is the first he encounters the idea that he isn’t the immortal King of Urik but a human and is responsible for his own actions, in The Epic of Gilgemesh you can see this where it says “Enkidu, my friend, whom I love deeply, who went through every hard ship with me, the father of mankind has overtaken him… I began to fear death, and so roam the wilderness”.
Unlike Gilgemesh, Beck did not chose to change and continues his program in the same way.
