2.18.2011

STAMP: Support this anti-violence mail project

As part of an ongoing effort to pressure Fox News into pulling the plug on the Glenn Beck Show, here is a standard petition letter addressed to Fox News CEO Roger Ailes. Please feel free to copy the text of this letter and paste it into your letterhead - adjusting type size and font style as needed:

(Date)

Roger Ailes
Chairman and CEO, Fox News Channel
News Corporation
1211 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10036

Dear Mr. Ailes:

After the shooting rampage in Tucson that left six people dead and 13 injured, you offered this appeal for civility: “I told all of our guys, shut up, tone it down, make your argument intellectually. You don’t have to do it with bombast.

Weeks after Tucson, nothing has changed. Glenn Beck has turned up the volume on partisan hate speech. The poisoned atmosphere unleashed by Glenn Beck means any citizen - Democrat, Independent or Republican - can be defamed in public and targeted for persecution. Beck’s messages provoke unstable persons to act on impulse, and news headlines have shown that violent rhetoric leads to violent acts:

Prison Term for Man Who Threatened Speaker Pelosi

Mother of Accused Man Blames Fox News

Renowned Professor Terrorized After Glenn Beck Broadcasts

League of Women Voters Targeted by Glenn Beck Fans

Two California Highway Patrolmen Shot by Glenn Beck Fan

Three Pittsburgh Policemen Killed by Glenn Beck Follower

There is no plausible deniability that can wipe the blood off Beck’s hands or absolve the Fox News Channel of responsibility for reckless incitement. Shooting sprees, murder, malicious defamations and infamous provocations: these have no place in a free society. When toxic television threatens public safety, all citizens of all persuasions have grounds for alarm.

Glenn Beck has crossed boundaries that should never be crossed. It is time to pull the plug on the Glenn Beck Show before more people are terrorized, injured and killed.

Sincerely,

(Name and Signature)

Just copy and paste the letter into your document format and print. Within a few days, please look for another petition letter addressed to Fox News advertisers (i.e. the boycott letter). A startup list of advertisers will be included with that post.

Five minutes and a STAMP can make a difference. Thanks!

3 comments:

Tiny said...

Thanks, BJ, for making it easy for us to participate in this even more than we have before. So a big salute to you for doing the heavy lifting on this one too.

Nance said...

We're sharing this initiative, with all thanks to Octo for his effort. See you on the petitions!

(O)CT(O)PUS said...

Consider this a hypothetical possibility. Suppose Fox News starts to perceive Beck as a liability. As the letter points out, suppose Fox News is concerned about one more crazed lunatic incident bringing in the FCC or the DOJ, or perhaps lawsuits from injured victims and the adverse publicity that would forever sully their reputation.

If you buy any of these assumptions, then Glenn Beck is vulnerable, and Fox News is more likely to pull the plug. Then right-wingers can hardly blame liberals since it would be Fox News divesting itself of a major liability.

At least that is logic as I see it. Nevertheless, a letter to advertisers will increase the pressure on the network.