One of the most colourful figures in American talk radio and TV commentary may part company with Fox News when his contract expires at the end of this year, The New York Times has reported.
Glenn Beck, an icon of the Tea Party movement and hate figure for many on the Left, has seen ratings for his hour-long 5pm show drop 35 per cent since last year. It still draws more viewers than all of its cable news rivals combined but Mr Beck has attracted criticism for interpreting the revolutions in the Middle East as a Muslim plot to install a new caliphate. Executives at Fox News, whose parent company also owns The Times, declined to confirm the rumours about Mr Beck’s future.
Dozens of mainstream advertisers have stopped buying time on the show in which Mr Beck espouses a conspiratorial world view. He has accused President Obama of “hatred of white people” and drew comparisons between Adolf Hitler and Al Gore, the former Vice-President, for Mr Gore’s alleged suppression of dissenting views on global warming.