I do not watch Glen Beck because I choose which entertainers I wish to watch. Quite some time ago, 'the news', as far as television goes, stopped being independant and became part of the 'entertainment' divisions of the various network-owning corporations.

For "news", I prefer "printed" sources - even if the 'print' is on the web.

Beck, Olberman, Limbaugh, Cuomo, Malkin, etc - they are, at best, commentators. They're certainly not 'newspeople'.

Why would I specifically avoid Beck? Because of his shilling for a gold-trading company while trying to cause a panic during his show (railing about how the economy is dying and people are moving their money to precious metals, then a commercial coming on for GoldLine). It hasn't exactly gone un-noticed: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts1022

He contradicts himself - sometimes in the same breath. Jon Stewart has gotten some mileage out of showing the clip where he says Obama hates white people and then, 70 seconds later, contradicts himself saying he doesn't think Obama hates white people.

At least when guys like Cronkite or Brinkley would do opinion pieces, they would write them down, think them through and deliver them with consistency.

I don't mean to pick on Beck singularly. I apologize that it was just the handiest example. This is something infecting news all over the place. I'm reminded of a cartoon I saw some years ago (Arlo and Janis for those who might remember). Arlo, the dad, walks in on his son, Gene, who is sitting on the couch watching TV. Arlo looks for a moment and says "Ok, I give up - which one is Beavis and which one is Butthead?". Gene replies "Dad.. This is CNN's Crossfire..."

That's a good summary of why I rarely, if ever, watch CNN/FOX/MSNBC