More On Glenn Beck's Truthiness

Something happened ironical in the coverage of Glenn Beck's performance at the Benedum recently. While not spending much time covering what Beck said on stage, the reporting from the P-G and the Trib both focussed on individual reactions from members of the audience.

According to both pieces, there were 2500 tickets sold at $90.50 a pop. If you've spent close to a hundred bucks to see the guy, you're already a fan. So the "fan reactions" are hardly surprising.

In any case, there's this from Dan Majors' piece in the P-G:

"[Glenn Beck] teaches you how to become educated on things that really matter in everybody's life, especially your own. How you can make a difference in the world," said Rachel Kosko, 63, of Baldwin, who attended the show with her husband, Joseph.

Mrs. Kosko, a retired religious director of education now studying at Duquesne University, said she is not bothered by the controversy and criticism that have surrounded Mr. Beck.

"He's the only person telling us what's going on. The news programs aren't telling us anything," she said. "When you speak the truth, you always get criticism. People don't want to hear it. They just want to believe fantasy."

So according to Kosko, Beck's a much more reliable source for "what's going on" and certainly much better than the "news programs". To this audience member, Beck's a source for "the truth".

Then there's this from the Trib's Bob Bauder:

Ginny Kathary, 65, of Franklin Park said she has attended Beck shows that have been simulcast and she wanted to see him live for once.

"He gets in-depth into his knowledge of what he presents," she said. "He puts fact checkers on everything. He's just true to form, and I believe in him."

But is what Beck says, you know, at all true? I am sorry to say that neither piece quotes much of what Beck said on stage - so I have no idea whether what he said there was true. We can only go by what he's said elsewhere.

And much of that has been fact-checked. And guess what? Glenn Beck gets a lot wrong. A lot.

Take a look at this from Politifact:

Radio host and Fox News personality Glenn Beck has likened Wilmington, Ohio, to Bedford Falls, the fictitious town in the holiday classic, It"s a Wonderful Life.

Wilmington, Beck said on his Nov. 22 radio show, is ground zero of the recession because it has lost about 8,600 jobs since DHL Express, it largest employer, pulled out in 2008. What makes Wilmington really special, he continued, is that the town refuses government assistance.

"It went from the No. 1 most up-and-coming city, and a city everybody wants to live in, to ground zero. And this town hasn"t taken any money from the government. They don't want any money from the government," he said on the show.

PolitiFact Ohio checked the facts and found it was a great tale, but not the truth.

It's such a huge un-truth that they gave it their "pants on fire" tag.

The details:

• The city of Wilmington itself has received federal assistance, including money from the federal stimulus bill that Beck often rails against.
  
• Government and social service agencies that serve residents of Wilmington and surrounding Clinton and Clark counties have received state and federal money.
  

And:

Immediately after DHL announced the closing of its Wilmington air hub, elected officials at the city, state and federal levels began seeking help for DHL workers. The federal government awarded a $3.87 million national emergency grant to Ohio in November 2008 specifically to provide job training and other aid to DHL workers in Wilmington and the surrounding area. It was administered through the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. The area has since received a second national emergency grant worth $4.1 million.

Wilmington and Clinton County benefited handsomely from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, commonly known as the stimulus bill, that was passed in February 2009.

The tracking website for the stimulus program allows anybody, including Beck, to search by ZIP code to find the total money spent within the postal district.

Using Wilmington’s zip code – 45177, which includes the surrounding county – the site shows that the area received $7,009,811 in stimulus money through September

But Glenn Beck, reliable source for "the truth" who "puts fact checkers on everything" he says, said exactly the opposite.

Then there's the time he said the Guv'ment could take over your computer if you logged onto cars.gov during the "cash for clunkers" program.

Factcheck.org checked out that one. Know what? Beck got that one wrong, too.

And then there's the "parallels" between the US and Ancient Rome.

Beck said the transition from Republic to Empire was "without violence" and yet when Mediamatters contacted real live experts for, you know, the truth they found out something very different:

T. Corey Brennan, a classics professor at Rutgers University and current visiting faculty member at the American Academy in Rome, told Media Matters, "The triumviral period (from 15 March 44 BC down to Octavian's victory over Marc Antony at the battle of Actium in 31 BC) was one of the bloodiest and most deeply traumatizing in Rome's history." Roman history professor Ray Laurence, of the University of Kent, similarly stated by email: "This is way off. From 44 BC to 31 BC, entailed the most violent series of civil wars Rome had seen."

And this from New York University classics professor and Roman history expert Michael Peachin:

But just for example: "without violence" is absolutely incredible nonsense. Augustus began his career as a mass murderer - just think of Cicero, murdered, his hands cut off and tongue cut out, and these nailed up on the speaker's platform in the Forum. He was only one of thousands proscribed: i.e., their names published in lists hung up daily, announcing that these people were sought, and that anyone who brought the person, or the person's head, would receive a reward. And then, a series of horrific civil wars.

The ironical thing about the coverage goes back to Kosko's quotation.

The "news programs" aren't telling us the truth. About Glenn Beck.

It's a pity that that also means the P-G and the Trib's news divisions.