Former top Fox News host Tucker Carlson is facing harsh media backlash after announcing the first Western interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin since Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Carlson traveled to Moscow to speak in-person with the authoritarian leader this week.
Critics were aflame with indignation that Carlson would give a platform to the former KGB leader turned autocratic ruler of Russia. Carlson’s supporters countered that an interview with Putin serves the vital truth-seeking mission of journalism, and point out that more liberal networks have aired interviews with controversial figures like radical Islamic terrorist Osama bin Laden and white supremacist Timothy McVeigh.
Carlson said that Americans “have a right to know all they can about a war they’re implicated in” and that he is providing needed visibility to Putin’s narrative that the Western media won’t share.
“Americans are not informed. They have no real idea what’s happening in this region, here in Russia or 600 miles away in Ukraine. But they should know, they’re paying for much of it,” Carlson claimed.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov echoed this claim, stating Carlson was allowed to interview Putin precisely because of his contrarian stances toward the West’s “one-sided position” on Ukraine thus far.
But critics allege this gives an unwarranted platform to a dictator’s deadly propaganda.
CNN’s Erin Burnett blasted Carlson as a “Putin supporting celebrity” and a Kyiv Independent op-ed likened it to interviewing Hitler.
The move is the latest in a conversational period for the conservative media firebrand.
Carlson’s Fox News show was abruptly cancelled last April without clear explanation. In a biography published in mid-2023, Carlson reveals he believes liberal political pressure relating to Dominion Voting Systems’ $787m lawsuit against the network drove his ouster.
“They agreed to take me off the air, my show off the air, as a condition of the Dominion settlement,” Carlson wrote in his book. “I know it was.”
Now launching his own subscription streaming venture after the Fox fallout, Carlson pledged to distribute the Putin interview widely for free online.
He maintains that provocative stances often deemed controversial are vital to America.
“Freedom of speech is our birthright. We were born with the right to say what we believe,” Carlson said. “That right cannot be taken away no matter who is in the White House. But they’re trying anyway.”
Supporters argue that exposing all perspectives to the light is a good thing for democracy.
Detractors counter that Carlson may act as a totalitarian ruler’s unfiltered mouthpieces, which would do more harm than good.
These familiar partisan battle lines leave little middle ground.
But expect Carlson to continue defending his role of proud conservative provocateur that he says brings needed context to liberal media narratives.
Take a look at the bombshell Tuesday announcement from Carlson for yourself —
Why I'm interviewing Vladimir Putin. pic.twitter.com/hqvXUZqvHX
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) February 6, 2024