With "The Blaze," Beck Promises Journalism Inspired by You
BY Nancy Scola | Wednesday, September 1 2010
Radio, check. Television, check. Rallies down on the National Mall, check. Now Glenn Beck wants to conquer the Internet.
Meet The Blaze. No, not the school newspaper on "90210," original show and remake. The Blaze, says Beck, is inspired in name by the work of 18th century evangelical preacher George Whitefield and in spirit by Beck's awakening to the deficiencies of modern American journalism. "Nobody will pursue the stories that we think should be pursued," said Beck on his radio program. "I've only got an hour of television and three hours of radio," he went on. "I know that sounds like a lot, but when you're trying to do the job that all of the newspapers and all of the television stations are doing, it's pretty difficult."
Describing itself as "a news, information and opinion site brought to you by Glenn Beck and a dedicated team of writers, journalists & video producers," The Blaze's model is one of blending what you made call traditional investigative journalism fueled by the sort of social-media driven editorial decisions we've been talking about this week.
"It would be really, a site where a lot of the stuff would be generated by you," said Beck to his listeners, describing how he sold his boss on the idea. "I've been saying for a while that the reason why we're ahead of the curve is because we listen to the audience. We actually are plugged in to you. This island hasn't infected us." Beck broadcasts from New York City, island of Manhattan. "I've actually told journalists, 'You know, the best thing you can do is read Twitter and Facebook," explained Beck. "Listen to people. Listen to them. Look what they're talking about. They're onto it. They know the stories better than anybody in journalism. What you have to do is sort through them and see which ones are true and which ones aren't."
He went on. "I trust you, that you have a gut on what's going on, and you know where the stories are. But now I need journalists to actually go through those things and see which ones are right and which ones are wrong."
The managing editor of The Blaze is Scott Baker, co-founder of Breitbart.tv who is described on the site as "a veteran broadcast journalist, commentator and web news editor with a quarter-century of experience covering news stories of all kinds." Mocking the amount spent on launching the Huffington Post, Beck painted The Blaze as scrappy upstart. "I believe we spent fifty dollars. I may have missed a zero," he said, laughing. "It may have been five hundred dollars."
Leading the site at the moment is a story titled "Obama Adm Uses Child-Indoctrinating Socialist to Promote Illegals Pay Program." Translation: The U.S. Department of Labor is using United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta to promote a program that encourages the full payment of wages to agricultural workers. Other front paged stories today include, "Actor John Cusak Calls for 'Satanic Death' of Fox News, GOP Leaders," "Diamond in the Rough: Dolphins Players Comb Field for Missing Earrings," and "Love-Sick California Doctor Dies in Slide Down Boyfriend's Chimney." The three ad spots on The Blaze are occupied today by advertisements for Beck favorite Goldline, which counsels citizens to invest in precious metals.
Promising that the site will have everything from historical insights on modern events to recommendations on kid-and-adult-friendly movies, Beck said, "It's a whole lifestyle. The Blaze." You can also track the spread of The Blaze on Twitter, at @theblaze.