Turn Off FOX in Public

FOX's extreme rhetoric inspired Byron Williams' mass-murder  plot. If you've ever seen Glenn Beck's show, you know how paranoid, mis- leading and hateful his rants can be. But it's even worse than that. The extreme rhetoric espoused by Beck and others on FOX News is  scary because it's easy to see how this rhetoric could inspire violent  acts against progressives. Unfortunately, a new report makes clear  that's exactly what happened in at least one near-tragic case.1 Three months ago, a heavily armed man named Byron Williams  was on his way to kill people at two non-profit organizations in  San Francisco when he got into a gun battle with police. Luckily,  they arrested him before he could carry out his plot. Now, in an  interview from jail, the "progressive hunter" has revealed that in  fact Fox News' Glenn Beck was a major inspiration: "Beck will never say anything about a conspiracy, will never  advocate violence ... But he'll give you every ounce of  evidence that you could possibly need."2 Byron Williams is just one example of the very real and growing  danger of political violence from the far-right — and FOX's  continued promotion of hatemongers like Glenn Beck only fans  the flames. That's why we've partnered with Color of Change to launch a  campaign to reduce FOX's poisonous, dangerous influence on  our nation. More than 200,000 people have signed the petition  asking businesses and public places to stop playing FOX News.  Will you add your voice? Watch the video and sign the petition to Turn Off FOX on  public TV's in your neighborhood. This story is personal. Byron Williams came frighteningly close to  killing our friends at the offices of the Tides Foundation and the  ACLU — which is less than one block from CREDO. While many Americans are aware of the ACLU, the Tides  Foundation is an organization that most people had never  heard of — until Glenn Beck started demonizing and spreading  false information about them. Since Beck's show premiered,  he has pushed conspiracy theories involving Tides on nearly  30 episodes. During the same time period, Tides was never  mentioned on other news channels.3,4 According to the interview with Williams just released by  Media Matters, he was driven by a bizarre and false  conspiracy theory involving the Tides Foundation that  Glenn Beck pushed multiple times on his television show.5 It's stunningly irresponsible for FOX to continue legitimizing this  baseless and incendiary nonsense under their "news" banner.  Will you join us in asking businesses to Turn Off FOX on their  TVs, and stop promoting this dangerous rhetoric in our  communities? Watch the video and ask local businesses to Turn Off FOX's  dangerous rhetoric. Williams is the clearest example we have of someone who  was motivated by FOX News to engage in political violence  — but he's part of a consistent pattern of violence from  far-right extremists that underscores the danger of the hateful  rhetoric and misinformation that's commonplace on FOX  News and the right-wing noise machine.6,7 Beck's program in particular is so extreme that 296 organizations  have asked FOX to pull their advertisements from his show.  (Beck's show is known as "empty calories" because it draws few  advertising dollars but substantial ratings.)8 Yet despite this  significant pressure from advertisers, and clear evidence that  FOX News broadcasts have lead to real-world violence, FOX  continues promoting hate and fear, packaged as news. This rhetoric is amplified every time it's played on a TV in a  bar, restaurant or other public business. We can send a  strong message to FOX, and reduce the reach of FOX's  dangerous messaging, by encouraging businesses near us to  turn it off. Thankfully, police were able to stop Byron Williams before he  committed a massacre. But it can happen again — let's do  everything we can to stop it. Thanks, Elijah Zarlin, Campaign Manager CREDO Action from Working Assets 1. Media Matters, 10-11-10 2. Ibid. 3. Media Matters, 10-11-10  4. Media Matters, 7-23-10  5. See reference 1. 6. Anti-Defamation League, 4-8-09  7. Salon, 5-31-09  8. New York Times Magazine, 9-29-09