Glenn Beck's Top 5 Least Credible Sources

5. Mahathir Mohamad. As part of his long-running smear campaign against George Soros, Beck said that "many, including the Malaysian prime minister, believe it was billionaire speculator George Soros who helped trigger the [Southeast Asian] economic meltdown" in 1997, a reference to former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's false and anti-Semitic claim that Soros was part of a Jewish "agenda" to collapse Southeast Asian currencies. In an October 10, 1997, report from the Malaysian newspaper Berita Harian (excerpted by BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, accessed via Nexis), Mahathir was quoted as saying: "We do not want to say that this is a plot by the Jews, but in reality it is a Jew who triggered the currency plunge, and coincidentally Soros is a Jew. It is also a coincidence that the Malaysians are mostly Muslim." Matahir later met with Soros and disavowed his allegation, saying: "Mr Soros said he was not involved in the devaluation of the Malaysian currency and that other people were involved. And I have accepted that." [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 10/5/10]

4. G. Edward Griffin. Beck has repeatedly used his Fox News program to present G. Edward Griffin as a credible authority on the Federal Reserve. But Griffin has an extensive history of promoting wild conspiracy theories, including 9-11 conspiracy theories, the notion that HIV does not exist, and the claim that cancer is a dietary deficiency that can be cured with "an essential food compound." [Media Matters, 3/26/11]

3. Joel Richardson. Beck has hosted author Joel Richardson to discuss religious and social issues. Richardson has a long history of antagonism toward Islam, having written in his book The Islamic Antichrist that Islam will be the "primary vehicle" "used by Satan to fulfill the prophecies of the Bible." He agreed with Terry Jones, the Florida pastor who planned to burn Qurans, that "Islam is of the devil," and wrote a column headlined "What Obama and the Antichrist have in common." [Media Matters, 2/17/11]

2. Eustace Mullins. Beck promoted Eustace Mullins' book Secrets of the Federal Reserve as a resource on the history of the Fed. Mullins was a 9-11 truther who has been described as an "anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist" and a "nationally known white supremacist"; the Anti-Defamation League called the book Beck promoted "a re-hash of Mullins' anti-Semitic theories about the origins of the Federal Reserve." [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 9/22/10]

1. W. Cleon Skousen. Beck has frequently touted the work of fringe anti-communist activist W. Cleon Skousen. A promoter of New World Order conspiracy theories, Skousen claimed that there "exists a relatively small but powerful group which has succeeded in acquiring a choke-hold on the affairs of practically the entire human race." Skousen also published an American history book, The Making Of America, which presented a "story of slavery in America" that cast slaveowners as the "worst victims of the system." Skousen was a staunch defender of the John Birch Society. In a September 2009 Salon.com article, Alexander Zaitchick wrote that Skousen "aligned himself" with John Birch Society founder Robert Welch's accusation that Eisenhower was a "dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy." [Media Matters, 9/30/09]