However it is that you may feel about former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, you can’t deny that the man was willing to go against the establishment grain.
There’s a reason even his most ardent critics have had to give him credit in the past.
That brash sense of saying what’s right, even if it may not perfectly align with your best corporate or political interests, is something that Carlson brought with him to television every night.
Of course, even Carlson would occasionally toe the company line here and there, but the man is still a far more independent voice than anything you’ll find throughout the rest of the establishment media landscape.
That unique ability to break from the establishment is something the airwaves and Fox News are both sorely missing, as evinced by the latter’s crashing ratings.
Yet, despite all of the tangible proof that Carlson’s departure has been bad for the network, Fox News reporter Howard Kurtz thinks that Carlson’s ouster will ultimately lead to a “worthwhile outcome.”
Kurtz, speaking on Sunday’s edition of “MediaBuzz,” explained that the industry-shaking departures of Carlson and longtime CNN host Don Lemon could mean sterner “limits” meant to “rein in” on-air pundits.
“Now, the big picture raised by the dismissals at Fox and CNN is whether we are entering a new era in which some limits are imposed on what even the most popular hosts can say,” Kurtz said.
Translation: Carlson got his just desserts! Silence the dissenters!
Kurtz continued: “Management at all the networks may be more likely to rein in their top talent and insist on fact checking, rather than risk embarrassing or lawsuits for the airing of false information. That, if it comes to pass, might just be a worthwhile outcome.”
Translation: Better to say nothing than risk saying anything!
Seriously, Kurtz’s shameless bootlicking is embarrassing here.
First, quickly, lumping Lemon and Carlson together is absurd, and Kurtz immediately loses some credibility points there. The circumstances of the firings may be similar, but the context of the firings (not to mention that Lemon seems like a jerk and Carlson does not) needs to be pointed out if you’re going to put those two together.
Second, what, exactly, is Kurtz advocating for here?
“This has been the evening news brought to you by the RNC and Big Pharma”?
The point of journalism is to be a thorn in the side of the governmental elites, to call out corruption and report on everything the feds don’t want you to know about.
That concept has obviously been lost in recent years, rather badly, but to hear an establishment media talking head now say the quiet part out loud is genuinely jarring and a bad sign of the future of broadcast journalism.
If Fox News is insistent on being lockstep with its establishment brethren, those cratering ratings may yet still find another depth to stoop to.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.