Former Fox News host and TheBlaze founder Glenn Beck is the subject of this week’s New York Times Magazine interview. Beck talks about his offer to buy Current TV, living in Dallas, and the future of the network evening newscasts.
You’ve said The Blaze could put traditional TV news out of business. That’s a bold prediction.
I learned that when Barbara Walters came and did an interview with me. They had about 50 people in our studio for two days — more people in my offices than we had employees. All for an eight-minute segment.But do you really think that will happen?
The nightly news is doing a fine job of putting itself out of business. Who watches it? I mean really, besides my grandparents, who are both dead, who is watching the nightly news? I think we’ll be ready to put them out of business in the next three to five years.Advertisement
Beck’s boast is in fact bold. The nightly newscasts typically draw a combined average of around 20 million viewers, hardly chump change, with each of them out-rating every normal cable news program. That said, as with the traditional cable news channels, the audience skews old, with younger viewers more often choosing to get their news online, rather than in a TV digest.