Tucker Carlson’s sycophantic interview with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, and his subsequent praise for Russia’s subways, supermarkets and cheeseburgers, was not journalism. It was propaganda.
In this photo released by Sputnik news agency on Feb. 9, 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson at the Kremlin in Moscow.
(Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Why is there such a Russian focus on the Second World War? Because it’s used to justify authoritarian states, the rule of dictators like Putin and Belarus’s Alexander Lukashenko.
Nolan Higdon, California State University, East Bay
Since the 1980s, cable news networks have focused on hyperpartisan news coverage to attract core audiences in an increasingly fragmented media market.
Dominion Voting Systems CEO John Poulos, second from left, with members of his legal team leaving the courthouse after a settlement with Fox News on April 18, 2023, in Wilmington, Del.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
Tucker Carlson and his employer, Fox News, had an incredible understanding of what their audience wants: a kind of authenticity that is not genuine but instead manipulative.
Dominion Voting Systems CEO John Poulos, third from right, leaves court with members of his legal team after reaching a reported $787.5 million settlement with Fox News.
Alex Wong/ Getty Images News via Getty Images
Despite Fox News’ questionable ethics, its last-minute settlement with Dominion Voting Systems was a win for all media.
Fictional anchorman Ted Baxter, center, flanked by newsroom boss Lou Grant and colleague Mary Richards, on ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’ in 1970.
Bettmann/Getty
Today’s anchors on politically slanted news programs feed anger and polarization with their wild claims. Their ancestor is a character from ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’ – with one big difference.
Donald Trump is one of many political leaders through history who has claimed he embodies the voice of ‘the people’ – but which people he means matters quite a lot.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Some fascists claim that democracy and fascism have the same goal – to give effect to the will of the people. But who the people are is where the ideologies divide.
Blythe Pepino, founder of BirthStrike, on the Tucker Carlson show.
YouTube
The Fox News host’s forthcoming documentary ‘The End of Men’ is part of a rich heritage of hustlers and politicians claiming that American men are becoming devitalized, lazy and effeminate.
Donald Trump, both as candidate and president, trashed the press.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
Press-bashing was a feature of the years Trump was president. But a new, more constructive kind of press criticism has also emerged that aims to improve journalism, not delegitimize it.
Fox and Friend: Fox News presenter Sean Hannity interviews Donald Trump at a rally in 2018.
Chris Szagola/PAWire/PAImages
The Murdoch-owned cable network was extremely close to the Trump administration and its fans. Now, perhaps not so much.
Democratic vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks during a virtual grassroots fundraiser in Wilmington, Del., on Aug. 12.
(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Kamala Harris has always had to deal with people mispronouncing her name. It’s an example of microaggressions that members of minority groups face on a regular basis.
Philanthropist George Soros has become a favourite target of right-wing groups that support Donald Trump.
(AP Photo/Ronald Zak)