Fox Nation’s Tucker Carlson has been getting a lot of press lately. He has been defending his colleague Piers Morgan, reporting on the riots, and has been involved in a documentary project. But how does he fit into this new era of television?
a darkening arc
When Tucker Carlson took over the Fox News prime-time show, the network was in the midst of a civil war. An internal revolt raged against conservative pundits as well as pro-Trump prime-time hosts, and Carlson’s presence prompted a tense moment in the newsroom.
Carlson’s comments have been widely criticized, and the network has faced pressure to fire him. Still, Carlson’s far-right politics continue to draw support. He has been endorsed by various brands, and his Netflix show “Tucker Carlson Tonight” has attracted 102 advertisers in the first quarter of 2020.
The network’s bottom line depends on its subscribers. But it also faces increased competition from far-right viewers. During the first quarter of 2019, Carlson’s show drew 2.895 million viewers. That’s a huge boost, especially in a prime-time slot.
In the past, Carlson has taken on the role of a white nationalist, trafficking in the term “Great Replacement” and incendiary claims. His show emphasized big-city crime and immigration. Despite the fact that he has repeatedly dismissed allegations of racism, he still has a large following.
his reporting on the riots
Fox Nation, the right-wing streaming service, released a documentary series that promoted a conspiracy theory about the January 6th riot. In the series, Tucker Carlson claims that the riot was orchestrated by Trump opponents and the government.
Carlson has been promoting his theory since the day of the riot. He uses interviews with a select group of guests, from far-right media outlets, to promote his narrative.
The series is being promoted on Fox & Friends, the morning show of the top-rated cable news network. Although the episodes have not yet aired on Fox News, the promotional videos were aired late last week.
A few days before the series premiere, the documentary was criticized for cherry-picking footage from news sources. During one of the clips, a white police officer kneed a protester in the neck. That person, George Floyd, was later killed.
According to the Washington Post, between 2,000 and 2,500 people entered the Capitol. A few dozen planned violence. But only a handful of individuals were actually able to storm the building, and the crowd turned violent only after police used non-lethal munitions.
his defense of Piers Morgan
A new show, Tucker Carlson’s Fox Nation, recently kicked off. On it, host Tucker Carlson defended British media personality Piers Morgan after his departure from Good Morning Britain.
Carlson, who has been a fan of Morgan since the start, has not been shy about his support of Morgan, even going so far as to offer him a guest spot on his Fox News program. And the “Tucker Carlson” that viewers see on primetime is a lot different than the one they experience on daytime.
Piers Morgan has been a vocal voice for Prince Harry and the royals. As a result, he has received a fair amount of backlash. Some even call him a racist. He has made a lot of disparaging remarks about Markle and Prince Harry.
When he was on Good Morning Britain, Piers Morgan argued with a colleague about the validity of a couple of Markle’s claims. In fact, he has a five-page Meghan column in the Mail on Sunday.
his documentary project
In February, Fox Nation launched a documentary project entitled “Patriot Purge”. The 90-minute series is delivered to subscribers’ inboxes every week. It has been produced by Tucker Carlson.
It is a carefully crafted piece of propaganda. Carlson relies on outside sources and conspiracy theorists to make a number of strong claims
The documentary has a dark color palette and gloomy soundtrack. The film relies heavily on innuendo, half-truths, and a flimsy array of evidence. One line sums up the entire document:
“Patriot Purge” is a slickly-produced piece of propaganda that relies on several well-known conspiracy theorists. One of them is Alex Jones. Other prominent figures are Jack Posobiec and Mike Cernovich.
Although the documentary is slick, it is riddled with errors. A major conspiracy theory about Jan. 6 used to be relegated to fringe blogs, but has now been mainstreamed by prominent voices like Carlson.
The documentary attempts to link the events of Jan. 6 with a broader conspiracy theory about white supremacy and violence. The filmmakers argue that the government’s response to 9/11 and the Capitol Storming was pretext for a “War on Terror 2.0”.
The documentary also makes several forceful claims, but these are demonstrably false. Among other things, Carlson asserts that the Justice Department charged 650 people involved in the Capitol Storming, while the Washington Post estimated 2,000-2,500 people were inside the Capitol at the time.
