Voices: A Fox News correspondent is seriously injured in Ukraine — while Russian memos praise Tucker Carlson
“Twitter and Facebook are proudly censoring any information that might, quote, ‘undermine trust in the Ukrainian government.’ Really? Since when are we required to trust the Ukrainian government or any government? Don’t ask.” That was Tucker Carlson, in March 2022.
“It is essential to use as much as possible fragments of broadcasts of the popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson.” That was a reported memo titled “For Media and Commentators (recommendations for coverage of events as of 03.03)”, from the Russian Department of Information and Telecommunications Support, also in March 2022.
It is impossible to imagine the Nazis promoting journalist Edward R. Murrow’s blistering coverage during the Second World War. Murrow became a legend for his truth-telling during the blitz of London, and throughout the remainder of the war. He was commended by Archibald MacLeish, who said, “You have destroyed the superstition that what is done beyond 3,000 miles of water is not really done at all.” Murrow used his platform to bring the horrific realities of the early days of that war into the living rooms of America, and to make Americans pay attention.
Sadly, the superstition MacLeish referenced has been revived by none other than Tucker Carlson of Fox News in 2022. In sharp contrast to the truly patriotic Murrow — who understood the difference between an ally and a nemesis — Carlson, with his numerous pro-Russia comments, as well as his frequent criticism of NATO, has been cheered by the Kremlin.
Carlson is one of the most prominent mouthpieces for an “America First” mentality that wants us all to ignore whatever doesn’t directly and immediately affect us — in effect, saying that what happens across the ocean should be none of our business. Worse, when he does remark on current events overseas, he parrots Russian talking points. Carlson has been an unrelenting apologist for Vladimir Putin for quite some time. As far back as 2019 he said on his show, “Why do I care what is going on in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia?! And I’m serious. … Why shouldn’t I root for Russia? Which I am.”
Putin’s outrageous and tragic invasion of Ukraine has done little to temper Carlson’s enthusiasm for the Russian autocrat. Just before the conflict erupted, Carlson mused on his top-rated program, “Why do I hate Putin so much? Has Putin ever called me a racist? Has he threatened to get me fired for disagreeing with him?” He went on to ask rhetorically if Putin had made fentanyl, attempted “to snuff out Christianity” or eaten dogs. “These are fair questions,” Carlson concluded, “and the answer to all of them is ‘no.’ Vladimir Putin didn’t do any of that. So, why does…Washington hate him so much?”
Carlson received a decent amount of bipartisan blowback following that segment, including from Republican Adam Kitzinger, who tweeted: “In 35 seconds here, @TuckerCarlson basically said: ‘Putin isn’t your enemy. Your fellow American is.’”
But Carlson has been completely undaunted, even as the conflict grinds on. Putin has given various unbelievable excuses for the invasion, including the (refuted) idea that there are bio-labs in Ukraine making chemical weapons that are funded by the United States. In reality, old Soviet bio-labs are being converted to safer facilities, but Carlson continues to push that falsehood, and therefore lend support to another Putin lie.
And so, Carlson clips are being widely shared by the state-controlled Russian outlets including Rossiya-1 and RT. To find a comparably wrong-headed media personality, The Bulwark’s William Saletan suggests Father Charles Coughlin, who on his radio program was a staunch and vocal pre-war defender of Hitler. Like Coughlin, Carlson is downplaying threats from a murderous dictator. But worse, he continues to bash Ukraine and defend Russian aggression while the war itself is being waged. Worse still, his words have become useful instruments for the invader, painting a false picture of an America that distrusts Ukraine, and agrees with Putin.
As Ukraine bravely struggles and suffers to survive with its precious democracy intact — and as brave dissenting journalistic voices within Russia are brutally crushed and even Fox News’ own correspondent Benjamin Hall is seriously injured in Kyiv while reporting from Ukraine — Tucker Carlson is enjoying the benefits of our free speech and free press to spout his dangerous nonsense here. Now, that nonsense is available on TV screens in Russia as well.
With “friends” like Carlson, who needs enemies?
