Saturday, May 21, 2016

Glenn Beck, Tucker Carlson Beef Over Facebook Meeting

Glenn Beck
Radio/TV Host Glenn Beck is criticizing his fellow conservatives after a group of them met with top Facebook executives to discuss how the company could be more diverse and include right-wing voices, according to CBS News.

"I sat through a meeting that, to me, felt like I was attending a Rainbow Coalition meeting, that people (not me) had come with a list of demands," Beck wrote in a blog post on Medium Thursday. "It was like affirmative action for conservatives."

The highly-scrutinized Wednesday meeting, hosted by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the company's headquarters, involved more than a dozen conservative media leaders, including Beck, who broadcasts a TV show, a radio show and owns TheBlaze. The gathering was a response to the Senate Commerce Committee's recent investigation into allegations of liberal bias in Facebook's "trending topics" website feature.

Facebook's CEO denied the accusations of liberal bias in a post on the social media site, saying they found "no evidence" that the report was true.

But after meeting with Zuckerberg to assess how the company could improve its product to be more conservative-friendly, Beck left the Facebook meeting with his beliefs about the social media company intact -- "that it was a good, if not perfect actor."

Tucker Carlson
"Walking out of the meeting, I was convinced that Facebook is behaving appropriately and trying to do the right thing," the radio and television host wrote. "[I]n my opinion, there is no evidence of a top-down initiative to silence conservative voices."

Also attending was Tucker Carlson, Daily Caller editor-in-chief and Fox News contributor. Carlson was not happy with how Glenn Beck acted at the Facebook meeting for conservatives, according to Politico.

In an interview, Carlson blasted the radio and television host, saying he was sucking up to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

"I went to that meeting expecting Beck to cry, rend his garments while quoting James Madison, but that's not at all what happened. He began the most extended assiduous suck-up I think I've ever seen a grown man commit. He acted like he was auditioning to be Mark Zuckerberg's manservant — it was awe-inspiring,' Carlson said.

"I don't know what his agenda is; it's either he's looking to put his tanking Web properties up for sale or he just can't help himself. There's a billionaire there, so he sniffs the throne."

In April, Beck's company The Blaze laid off about 40 employees and announced that it was relocating its operations almost entirely to Texas, where it is headquartered.

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