New York Times journalist Nicholas Confessore once said that if you wish to partake of the practice of real journalism, you must interview people and engage in extensive research. Even if you're writing a scathing expose about certain people, you have to interview those involved. You may not be able to interview the grand poobah, but you can interview often those around him or her.
If your journalism is trying to uncover some kind of conspiracy then you're obligated to get to the heart of the matter by using things like sources and documents. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward engaged in months of extensive digging to uncover the Watergate scandal which brought down then President Nixon.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson never engages in this kind of research. He's really just an entertainer who says things those on the far right-wing politically want to hear. He provides the red meat for his followers. He seems to adhere to the old adage that says if you say an untruth enough times, some people begin to believe it.
Carlson propagates many conspiracy theories and often has no facts to back up his claims, just his own opinions. While there are many, one of his favorites, really a conspiracy fiction-fantasy, is the so-called "Replacement Theory". Replacement Theory is the idea that somehow the left-wing side of politics, usually Democrats, are trying to lure illegal immigrants from Eastern Europe (called the Third World by Carlson) to come to the United States to "replace" real Americans.
Carlson claims that in order to augment their voting base, the Democrats need these people who will somehow allow the Dems to control government. The whole idea is absolutely preposterous and he's never offered any concrete evidence that any of this has a shred of legitimacy. If it is, who is behind it? Not just "them", as he often wants to label his political enemies, but who are the specific people? When did it start? How does it work? For one thing, if this is really what the leaders of the Democratic Party are doing, they've failed miserably since the right-wing now has six Supreme Court Justices and have had the House and the Senate for several presidential terms.
One reality which seems to be unknown to Carlson, immigrants from Eastern Europe, particularly from former Easter Bloc/Soviet countries, actually tend to lean Republican/right-wing and not Democrat/left-wing. They tend to lean Republican because they're skeptical of strong governments. While the rationality is rather flawed in my opinion, their conclusions do have their own logic. If a government is weaker, then supposedly the government will be less prone to becoming totalitarian and/or dictatorial, or so goes the argument. So the idea that all these immigrants from Eastern Europe will come here and register Democrat really has no basis.
Carlson also talks about "they", usually left-wing people either holding political office or celebrities. So they include people like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Chelsea Clinton, etc. And he says things like "they don't like you", "you" meaning Carlson's audience, and "they" as those on the left. "They" want to take away your rights, or "they" want to control you. Even though people like Oprah Winfrey wanted to make the US a better place for everyone, she would come under the "they" without any factual basis for his claims. He would also say on the extreme end that "they" are coming for you! My question have they? I tend to lean left but a lot of my dad's family leans right. Why haven't members of my dad's family been taken yet?
A more recent Carlson conspiracy theory is that President Joe Biden's campaign was funded in large part by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, current President of Ukraine involved in a military struggle against Putin's Russia at this writing. Again the notion is absurd because in the US, foreign entities are not allowed to give financing to candidates running for office. If it was true, then Bill Barr under then President Donald Trump should have prosecuted the Biden campaign! He never did. So either Barr let Biden get away with violating federal campaign laws, and/or they weren't doing their jobs. Maybe the answer is the Biden campaign didn't break any laws!
A ridiculous show which isn't news but a brand of political entertainment, Carlson style! Journalism is about learning things, usually things the journalist doesn't know and finds out and then reveals their findings to the public. But if you already know the answer then what's the point of doing research? That's Carlson's modus operandi. He already knows everything and he's going to do the thankless job of imparting his amazing knowledge to the public. And make millions doing it.
If your journalism is trying to uncover some kind of conspiracy then you're obligated to get to the heart of the matter by using things like sources and documents. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward engaged in months of extensive digging to uncover the Watergate scandal which brought down then President Nixon.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson never engages in this kind of research. He's really just an entertainer who says things those on the far right-wing politically want to hear. He provides the red meat for his followers. He seems to adhere to the old adage that says if you say an untruth enough times, some people begin to believe it.
Carlson propagates many conspiracy theories and often has no facts to back up his claims, just his own opinions. While there are many, one of his favorites, really a conspiracy fiction-fantasy, is the so-called "Replacement Theory". Replacement Theory is the idea that somehow the left-wing side of politics, usually Democrats, are trying to lure illegal immigrants from Eastern Europe (called the Third World by Carlson) to come to the United States to "replace" real Americans.
Carlson claims that in order to augment their voting base, the Democrats need these people who will somehow allow the Dems to control government. The whole idea is absolutely preposterous and he's never offered any concrete evidence that any of this has a shred of legitimacy. If it is, who is behind it? Not just "them", as he often wants to label his political enemies, but who are the specific people? When did it start? How does it work? For one thing, if this is really what the leaders of the Democratic Party are doing, they've failed miserably since the right-wing now has six Supreme Court Justices and have had the House and the Senate for several presidential terms.
One reality which seems to be unknown to Carlson, immigrants from Eastern Europe, particularly from former Easter Bloc/Soviet countries, actually tend to lean Republican/right-wing and not Democrat/left-wing. They tend to lean Republican because they're skeptical of strong governments. While the rationality is rather flawed in my opinion, their conclusions do have their own logic. If a government is weaker, then supposedly the government will be less prone to becoming totalitarian and/or dictatorial, or so goes the argument. So the idea that all these immigrants from Eastern Europe will come here and register Democrat really has no basis.
Carlson also talks about "they", usually left-wing people either holding political office or celebrities. So they include people like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Chelsea Clinton, etc. And he says things like "they don't like you", "you" meaning Carlson's audience, and "they" as those on the left. "They" want to take away your rights, or "they" want to control you. Even though people like Oprah Winfrey wanted to make the US a better place for everyone, she would come under the "they" without any factual basis for his claims. He would also say on the extreme end that "they" are coming for you! My question have they? I tend to lean left but a lot of my dad's family leans right. Why haven't members of my dad's family been taken yet?
A more recent Carlson conspiracy theory is that President Joe Biden's campaign was funded in large part by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, current President of Ukraine involved in a military struggle against Putin's Russia at this writing. Again the notion is absurd because in the US, foreign entities are not allowed to give financing to candidates running for office. If it was true, then Bill Barr under then President Donald Trump should have prosecuted the Biden campaign! He never did. So either Barr let Biden get away with violating federal campaign laws, and/or they weren't doing their jobs. Maybe the answer is the Biden campaign didn't break any laws!
A ridiculous show which isn't news but a brand of political entertainment, Carlson style! Journalism is about learning things, usually things the journalist doesn't know and finds out and then reveals their findings to the public. But if you already know the answer then what's the point of doing research? That's Carlson's modus operandi. He already knows everything and he's going to do the thankless job of imparting his amazing knowledge to the public. And make millions doing it.