Murdochs Oust Carlson
By TEDDY CAPOZZI ‘24
Amid the firing of news goliath Tucker Carlson, viewers should give time to reflect on their media consumption and challenge the value mainstream news networks are able to bring them.
As certain news anchors deviate from their journalistic duties to provide people with untampered facts and raw news, the rise of misinformation increases, potentially putting the cable news model in peril.
The departure of Carlson provides a great example of the foolish practice cable news is becoming, as Carlson’s weekday program veered away from reporting and presenting unbiased information. In a transition between reporting and journalism, Carlson’s show started to resemble something closer to reality TV. Chasing and creating storylines that excited but also incited controversy amongst his audience seemed to take precedence over reporting news.
In multiple episodes Carlson would bring light to, and at times entertain, certain conspiracy theories. These included 2020 presidential election fraud, the ‘great replacement theory,’ and during an August 2019 airing calling white supremacy a “hoax.” Carlson had a certain amount of autonomy at Fox which allowed him to bring these far-right ideas into his traditionally right-leaning audience. This was shown through bringing in guests such as Alex Jones (a right wing conspiracy theorist). While pushing these ideas on audiences was harmful, there is no evidence of Fox executives patrolling this type of behavior.
His demise would ultimately come due to his infatuation with conspiracies regarding fraudulent voting in the 2020 election.
In a recent lawsuit between Dominion Voting Systems and Fox News, the network was charged for defamation of Dominion, alleging that their voting machines assisted in casting more votes towards President Joe Biden. One of the culprits, Carlson claimed that “it is clear the 2020 election was a grave betrayal of American democracy” and later claimed that the supposed fraud of Dominion removed “confidence in democracy.”
During the investigation, Carlson’s text messages were leaked. He was promptly fired from Fox. Amongst deprecating messages about colleagues and his growing ego within the network, the slew of racist texts found in Carlson’s phone would ultimately end his tenure at Fox.
The implications for Fox will be large. Carlson frequently pulled in over three million viewers per night and was their most watched prime time host. Heads of Fox father-son duo Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch had to make a difficult decision in releasing Carlson. In advertising revenue alone, Carlson’s show brought in $77.5 million last year. Since Carlson left, the audience from his 8-9 p.m. time slot has decreased by almost 50 percent.
Carlson currently stands out because of recent news surrounding him. However, he should serve as an example for other media members we can follow. The antics provided on his show reflect a wider problem for the partisan unrest American politics is currently subject to. In the case of Carlson’s involvement in the Dominion lawsuit and allegations of 2020 election fraud, his only objective was to put down and furthermore, defraud the opposing party. This inability to provide actual news and replace it with misinformation, defrauding the opposing side not only creates distance from parties but perpetuates such behavior. These efforts are frequently overlooked because media outlets are becoming more and more polarized. As a result, the audience of popular news networks become blind to fallacies they may be present with. Additionally the euphemism “political commentary” easily justifies and overlooks attempts to disparage the opposing side. While political commentary should be a description of current political events, baseless opinions often take the place of this.
This raises the questions of whether certain forms of media coverage have become too dramatized. Other anchors such as Anderson Cooper, George Stephanopoulos and Sean Hannity all surpass salaires of eight figures per year. They are treated more like athletes with large contracts than the informers carrying out journalistic duties who they should be. There seems to be a conflict of interest; the now glamorous and grandiose lifestyle that comes with being a news anchor seems to add an element of entertainment in reporting that provides no extra substance for the audience.
On the other hand, other forms of news such as social media provide their own challenges. The accessibility within apps like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook make the spread of information incredibly efficient, something large cable networks, for example, cannot provide. However this works as a double-edged sword—the ease of access could potentially grant the wrong people a stage to present misinformation.
The recent news involving Tucker Carlson highlights many of the issues and controversies involved in his show. During this period it is easy to examine his wrongdoings. However, observant media consumers should use this time to examine what is wrong with mainstream media. The many issues it presents seem to have no clear-cut resolution. It is now up to consumers to interpret and curate their own information.
