Yahoo! News: "Glenn Beck's gold-gate problem"
December 08, 2009 7:50 pm ET by Media Matters staff
In a December 8 article titled "Glenn Beck's gold-gate problem", Yahoo! News linked to a Media Matters item showing that Beck promotes gold while profiting from gold investment firms.
Yahoo! News writer Brett Michael Dykes wrote:
Yet another controversy appears to be brewing around Fox News host Glenn Beck. Some are accusing him of a blatant conflict of interest concerning his frequent on-air promotion of an investment sold by one of his main advertisers: Gold.
For some time Beck critics have cried foul over his relationship with Goldline International, a precious metalsvendor that features the TV and radio host's endorsement prominently on their website. Critics charge that Beck is guilty of misleading his audience by often advising them to purchase gold in advance of the potential collapse of the value of the dollar on the world currency market, without disclosing that he is in fact a "paid spokesman" for Goldline. Beck's on-air promotion of gold, which includes advising viewers to construct "fruit cellars" and to rely on a "three G system" of "God, Gold, and Guns" in the event of America's collapse, dates back to his time as a host for CNN Headline News.
Dykes also wrote:
Beck's promotion of gold presents a potential problem for Fox News, which strictly prohibits on-air personalities from making paid product endorsements. Whencontacted by Daily Finance for a comment on the matter, Fox News senior vice-president for development Joel Cheatwood said the network "makes an exception for its commentators who are also radio hosts," adding that they knew upfront that hiring Beck came with the understanding that he was also a radio host and that they "had to be accepting of certain elements of that." Nevertheless, a Fox spokeswoman said that the company is addressing the matter with Beck's agent, George Hiltzik.
Is he an SEC-registered investment advisor? With E&O insurance?
No problem, all he (and Fox) need to do is reassign him to the Fox Business Network Channel, because that's what their mission is: to influence the American people's opinions about their finances and investments, whether commodities or capital issues or bonds or whatever.
And as you know, this advocacy for buying gold is counter-productive to solving the current economic problems America faces, as it takes substantial sums of people's money and removes it from our consumer markets (unless you are gold sellers or anyone in their industry, as they get that money), which is the exact opposite thing America needs right now, a further recession of money from our consumer markets...
It's what we call 'hoarding', and it's terribly destructive to our current economic situation (which is probably why this beck hack is advocating it).
A recession of savings or other bank deposits, in favor of hoarding the useless commodity of gold, is every bit if not more destructive to our economy at this time, as is the recession of money from the consumer markets.