Glenn Beck's Gold Deal Raising Questions at Fox

The Fox News Channel is only too happy to have the Midas ratings touch that Glenn Beck has been providing, but the golden words he may pour into the ears of his audience have raised questions at the news network. Most of those have concerned whether Mr. Beck, who often hails the virtue of buying gold on his Fox show (as a hedge against a coming economic collapse), had been identified as a "paid spokesman" for a company named Goldline International, which sells gold coins. Joel Cheatwood, the senior vice president of development for Fox News, said the network's legal department had recently sent a letter to Mr. Beck's representatives "seeking clarification" about his work for Goldline. "They sent back word that he is not a paid spokesman," Mr. Cheatwood said, adding that it would be "problematic without question" if Mr. Beck did have a position as a paid spokesman for a product. Fox News released a statement outlining its official policy about such issues: "Fox News prohibits any on-air talent from endorsing products or serving as a product spokesperson." Fox News stressed that it was not aware that Mr. Beck was listed on the Internet as a paid spokesman. But he definitely was, until very recently. On cached editions of the Goldline Web site over the last week to 10 days, a photograph of Mr. Beck was accompanied by an asterisk which led to a line at the bottom of the site that read: "paid spokesman."