Al Jazeera America made its debut on American television sets on Tuesday. And, perhaps predictably, it didn’t take long for Glenn Beck to weigh in on the Qatar-based network’s arrival.
On his show, Beck called Al Jazeera “the voice of the enemy.” Going over-the-top has never been a problem for the conservative commentator, but Mediaite points out that Beck’s remarks had a whiff of sour grapes because cable operators that picked up Al Jazeera America have largely refused to carry his own conservative news network, TheBlaze. Still largely relegated to Internet streaming, Beck issued a simultaneous promotional rallying cry, for his own network. Here’s more from Mediaite:
Essentially turning the segment into an infomercial to get TheBlaze on cable, Beck said “today’s the day” to call your provider and demand they put his channel on. “They are taking money from your cable bill,” Beck said, “and they are sending it overseas to Al Jazeera so Al Jazeera can pump propaganda into America. They not only have Saudi oil money, they have your cable bill. You are funding Al Jazeera.”
“This is not a marketing ploy,” Beck said, before informing the audience where to go on his network’s website to learn how to contact their cable operators.
I repeat, not a marketing ploy.
