It's now clear that the three big names at Fox News are liars. But, of the three, Tucker Carlson's story is actually kind of sad. Michael Harris writes:
Back in his CNN days, he was a rare bird in journalism: a super-intelligent and articulate conservative, a kind of lineal descendant of William F. Buckley. In those days, he shared the stage with Bill Press, who represented the progressive point of view on a show called Crossfire. They were both so good at presenting their views that on any given day, a reasonable viewer could agree with either of them. So why did Carlson become the Benedict Arnold of journalism?
Harris believes it's an old tale about vanity:
Like Narcissus gazing into the pond and falling in love with his own image, Carlson looked into the vanity mirror of television and saw a titan who held public opinion in the palm of his hand, or at least he did weeknights from 8-9 p.m. At Fox, he became something he had never been before during earlier stints at the Weekly Standard, CNN, or MSNBC: a big star. Like a lot of right-wing media narcissists, his personal status eclipsed his obligations to his audience. Carlson’s own words, as revealed in court filings for Dominion’s defamation case, leave little doubt.
The vanity is all over Carlson's emails:
Here is what he said about the people at Fox News who correctly called Arizona for Biden in the 2020 election before any other network:
“We worked really hard to build what we have. … Those fuckers are destroying our credibility. It enrages me.”
Here is what Carlson texted to Ingraham when he found out that Trump belatedly disavowed Powell, and her Twilight Zone conspiracy lunacies about rigged election machines.
“Powell’s a nut, as you said at the outset. Totally wrecked my weekend. Wow, I had to try and make the WH disavow her, which they obviously should have done long before.”
Here’s what Carlson said when a Fox News reporter, Jacqui Heinrich, used her personal Twitter account to fact-check one of Trump’s tweets.
“Please get her fired. Seriously. What the fuck? Actually shocked. It needs to stop immediately, like tonight. It’s measurably hurting the company. The stock price is down. Not a joke.”
Harris paraphrases Thomas More in A Man For All Seasons:
“It profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world—but for ratings Tucker?”
Carlson isn't the first man to sacrifice so much for so little.
Image: Vox
9 comments:
I wouldn't call $6 million a year "so little." Of course, this is substantially less than other Fox rage farmers, like Bartiromo at $10 mil and Hannity at $40 mil. But then, Carlson's White Power Hour has almost no advertisers aside from Mein Pillow. Obviously, Ol' Rupert isn't keeping Father Coughlin 2.0 around for all the money he brings in.
Billy Bucky and Tucker ; spoiled rick kids , born on third base and thought they hit a triple. It's not surprising that their ideas were actually ideology and have not stood up. Intelligent conservatism seems to be all about oxymoronism.
The Father Coughlin reference is interesting, Cap. Father Coughlin came from Canada. Murdoch comes from Australia -- immigrants making it big in the Home of the Brave.
I don't see any intelligent conservatism these days, rumley.
Off topic....
"A spokesperson for the Supreme Court said Brown has been on leave since February 1.
"Unfortunately, at this time we cannot disclose why Justice Brown is currently on leave, to respect confidentiality," said Stéphanie Bachand."
This is the obscure Alberta legal-prof/blogger that Harper snuck onto the Supreme Court.
"Brown was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada on August 31, 2015.
Prior to taking up his seat on the bench of the top court, he was the chair of the Health Law Institute and the University Appeals Board and chair of the Professional Review Board at the University of Alberta."
I agree, TB. We need money to pay bills. It's a means to an end. When it becomes THE end, everything goes down the tubes.
Interesting, PoV. But since there is no connection to Carlson, are you trying to make another point?
apologies ... however
"are you trying to make another point?"
hence "Off topic ..." intro
The ghost of Stephen Harper still haunts us, PoV.
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