Faux News Just Can't Help Being Faux News

[andydp]

I suppose its his minescule way of helping out the purveyors of "Fake News".

Tucker Carlson is a frequent anonymous source for many journalists, New York Times says


Tucker Carlson is a frequent source for the journalists he claims to loathe, according to a new report by The New York Times.

The media-excoriating Fox News host has anonymously shared gossip with at least 16 journalists, the Times says, spilling juicy details about the Trump administration, Fox News, and himself.

“In Trump’s Washington, Tucker Carlson is a primary supersecret source,” Michael Wolff, author of the early Trump-era exposé Fire and Fury, has written. “I know this because I know what he has told me, and I can track his exquisite, too-good-not-to-be-true gossip through unsourced reports and as it often emerges into accepted wisdom.”


www.yahoo.com/news/tucker-carlson-frequent-anonymous-source-160742466.html

[LFC]

Tuckums again. Is he a Putin dupe or a Putin ally intentionally attacking America? I could believe either but I'm really going with choice number 2. He's just another right-wing traitor to American democracy.

The ploy began when Putin sat down for an interview with NBC’s Keir Simmons. He directed the conversation away from his suspected involvement in the murders and attempted murders of his critics. Instead, asking, “Did you order the assassination of the woman who walked into Congress and who was shot and killed by a policeman?”

The Russian president was referring to Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot by a Capitol Police officer as she tried to climb through the broken window of a door leading directly onto the House floor during the Jan. 6 riots

The bait had been thrown.

This line of attack was no surprise to people who follow Russian propaganda. It had been preplanned and foreshadowed by pro-Kremlin experts appearing on Russian state TV talk shows prior to the summit. “[Biden] is planning to tell us about Navalny and we will tell him about the woman shot on January 6 at the Capitol,” explained Olga Skabeeva, the host of state TV show 60 Minutes, on June 1.

Ten days later, Putin did exactly that in his NBC interview.

On June 16, with the world’s attention fixed to the Geneva summit, the Russian president reiterated the same flawed premise during his press conference: “About my opponents being jailed or imprisoned. People went into the U.S. Congress with political demands. Four hundred people now facing criminal charges... On what grounds? Not quite clear... One of the participants, a woman, was shot dead on the spot. She was not threatening anything.”

Putin’s plot paid off in spades when Tucker Carlson played the clip of his comments to NBC on his show and expressed agreement. Carlson said, “Now, under normal circumstances, we would never play tape of a foreign adversary criticizing our government. But honestly, those are fair questions.”

Without a hint of irony, Carlson added, “Vladimir Putin knows authoritarian systems very well, and he sees clearly what is happening in this country.” The Fox News host seemed to assume that an authoritarian adversary was providing this advice without an ulterior motive—and eagerly shared it with his American audience.

His decision was cheered by pro-Kremlin propagandists in Moscow.

[LFC]

CNN’s Stelter: Why Isn’t Fox News Defending Tucker Carlson’s Wild FBI Claims?

Noting on Sunday that Fox News’ news division has not followed up or defended Tucker Carlson’s wild and baseless claims that the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection was an FBI plot, CNN chief media correspondent Brian Stelter wondered aloud if the network vetted the opinion host’s reporting.

Carlson sparked a firestorm of criticism last week when he referenced an article from a fringe far-right website to promote a new conspiracy theory that the FBI orchestrated the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol.

Despite fact-checkers and legal experts pointing out that Carlson’s argument was completely meritless—mostly due to the fact that he “makes the erroneous assumption that unindicted co-conspirators are government agents”—the Fox News star tripled down on the unfounded theory, calling on other media outlets to “prove us wrong.”

It is interesting that the lies are so bald-faced that even the Faux News division won't touch them. BTW, Tuckums, we aren't make a wild-assed claim so we have no responsibility or desire to prove you wrong. By default you are wrong. Prove yourself right. Oh, I forgot. You don't do that. You just "ask the question."

[goldenvalley]

Jun 21, 2021 20:21:05 GMT LFC said:

CNN’s Stelter: Why Isn’t Fox News Defending Tucker Carlson’s Wild FBI Claims?

Noting on Sunday that Fox News’ news division has not followed up or defended Tucker Carlson’s wild and baseless claims that the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection was an FBI plot, CNN chief media correspondent Brian Stelter wondered aloud if the network vetted the opinion host’s reporting.

Carlson sparked a firestorm of criticism last week when he referenced an article from a fringe far-right website to promote a new conspiracy theory that the FBI orchestrated the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol.

Despite fact-checkers and legal experts pointing out that Carlson’s argument was completely meritless—mostly due to the fact that he “makes the erroneous assumption that unindicted co-conspirators are government agents”—the Fox News star tripled down on the unfounded theory, calling on other media outlets to “prove us wrong.”

It is interesting that the lies are so bald-faced that even the Faux News division won't touch them. BTW, Tuckums, we aren't make a wild-assed claim so we have no responsibility or desire to prove you wrong. By default you are wrong. Prove yourself right. Oh, I forgot. You don't do that. You just "ask the question."

People don't watch Faux for news and the news division knows it.

[goldenvalley]

Jun 21, 2021 17:37:28 GMT andydp said:

I suppose its his minescule way of helping out the purveyors of "Fake News".

Tucker Carlson is a frequent anonymous source for many journalists, New York Times says

David Frum on Tuckums.  (My bold) National media bends over backwards to air the statements of these right wingers like Tuckums in a cowed attempt to counter the argument that the "lame stream media" never tells the right wing side of anything.  The search for "balance" in this way allows for outright falsehood to be reported as if it were true. 

One way to read the Ben Smith story is as a remorseful decision by one of the journalists who did business with Carlson to yank some of the protection bestowed by the transaction. But such transactions provide another benefit too, and this one cuts across the story Smith tells: Carlson’s “information” also buys him credulity. When reporters call Carlson for uncheckable anecdotes about his conversations with former President Trump, they make the following calculation: I know he regularly lies to his fans on television, but he would not lie to me on the telephone.

The evidence of that November 2018 incident at Carlson’s D.C. house suggests that the calculation is radically wrong.

Almost two years later, Carlson again tried to score points by claiming that he was being endangered in his own home. The New York Times, he said on television, was planning to report his home address—with the deliberate intention of exposing his family to harm. “If one of my children gets hurt because of a story they wrote, they won’t consider it collateral damage. They know it’s the whole point of the exercise: to inflict pain on our family, to terrorize us, to control what we say. That’s the kind of people they are.” Then he named the supposed reporter of the supposed story on air, showing a photograph of that reporter, and also named a New York Times photographer and editor as accomplices to the paper’s hurtful plans.

The Times replied from its Twitter account that it had never intended to publish Carlson’s address(es)—and that Carlson had known that fact before he went to air. Carlson also knew that his fan base has a high propensity to harass and threaten people he names as his enemies. (He did not respond to a request for comment.)

And yet even now, reporters pretend they are in control of this dangerous game. They are not. People who turn to an untrustworthy narrator for fabulous anecdotes get … untrustworthy anecdotes. The door was not cracked. No one threatened Carlson with a pipe bomb. The Times did not plot to terrorize Carlson’s children. And the self-aggrandizing, self-exculpating story just dispensed to the journalist looking to add a splash of color to the otherwise sinister record? If you can’t check the story, check the source.

BTW Carlson claimed that horrible people basically attacked his house and even damaged his front door in their zeal to threaten him and his family...it didn't happen.  After 10 minutes of protesting outside his house the people left...door untouched.  

[andydp]

In a valiant effort to remain in the news cycle and keep his name relevant, Tucker Carlson has revealed the NSA is spying on him.  (I'm surprised he hasn't trashed his microwave)

Tucker Carlson: The Biden Administration Is Spying On This Show

FNC's Tucker Carlson said Monday that he has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in response to an alleged federal whistleblower telling him that the NSA is spying on his private communications. Carlson alleges the NSA plans to leak his private communications to get his show canceled.

"They did it for political reasons. The Biden administration is spying on us. We have confirmed that," he said.

www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2021/06/29/tucker_carlson_we_have_confirmed_the_biden_administration_is_spying_on_this_show.html#!

The White House response:

Psaki Responds To Allegation the NSA Is Spying on Tucker Carlson

Psaki was asked during a press gaggle aboard Air Force One on Tuesday, “Tucker Carlson said that the NSA is spying on him. Is the administration aware of any espionage or listening efforts on U.S. citizens by the NSA, and is Tucker Carlson one of them?”

She did not explicitly deny the claim. However, she responded by noting that the NSA is focused on foreign threats.

"Well, the NSA, as I think you’re well aware — I’m not sure everyone is aware — everyone on this plane is aware, I should say — is an entity that focuses on foreign threats and individuals who are trying — attempting to do us harm on foreign soil,” Psaki responded.

ijr.com/psaki-responds-allegation-nsa-spying-tucker-carlson/


Ed Comment:  I think its ingenious how she kept it non committal, did not explicitly deny anything, but hinted at maybe a foreign player is involved ?

[goldenvalley]

Jun 29, 2021 19:37:17 GMT andydp said:

In a valiant effort to remain in the news cycle and keep his name relevant, Tucker Carlson has revealed the NSA is spying on him.  (I'm surprised he hasn't trashed his microwave)

Tucker Carlson: The Biden Administration Is Spying On This Show

FNC's Tucker Carlson said Monday that he has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in response to an alleged federal whistleblower telling him that the NSA is spying on his private communications. Carlson alleges the NSA plans to leak his private communications to get his show canceled.

"They did it for political reasons. The Biden administration is spying on us. We have confirmed that," he said.

www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2021/06/29/tucker_carlson_we_have_confirmed_the_biden_administration_is_spying_on_this_show.html#!

The White House response:

Psaki Responds To Allegation the NSA Is Spying on Tucker Carlson

Psaki was asked during a press gaggle aboard Air Force One on Tuesday, “Tucker Carlson said that the NSA is spying on him. Is the administration aware of any espionage or listening efforts on U.S. citizens by the NSA, and is Tucker Carlson one of them?”

She did not explicitly deny the claim. However, she responded by noting that the NSA is focused on foreign threats.

"Well, the NSA, as I think you’re well aware — I’m not sure everyone is aware — everyone on this plane is aware, I should say — is an entity that focuses on foreign threats and individuals who are trying — attempting to do us harm on foreign soil,” Psaki responded.

ijr.com/psaki-responds-allegation-nsa-spying-tucker-carlson/


Ed Comment:  I think its ingenious how she kept it non committal, did not explicitly deny anything, but hinted at maybe a foreign player is involved ?

Hmmm sort of like Trump's office was "tapped" because someone in it was talking with Russians whose phones are tapped.  

[LFC]

NSA Confirms Tucker Carlson Is A Surveillance Target With A Priority Level Right Below SpongeBoB

[andydp]

Jun 29, 2021 20:04:55 GMT LFC said:

NSA Confirms Tucker Carlson Is A Surveillance Target With A Priority Level Right Below SpongeBoB

I just finished two beers before reading that.  Thanks for a great laugh !!

[pnwguy]

Jun 29, 2021 19:57:47 GMT goldenvalley said:

Hmmm sort of like Trump's office was "tapped" because someone in it was talking with Russians whose phones are tapped.  

"Socialist Joe Biden is spying on my calls with the Russian Internet Research Agency, where I get my nightly disinformation to spread"

[RichTBikkies]

All this stuff — and Rod Dreher's, and that of other names regularly mentioned on these threads — is desperate attention-seeking. Like a baby who wants feeding or changing, or is in pain, and is starting to suspect his Mum is AWOL, these guys are starting to feel that the game is up. That they may be marooned on a sandbank that at high tide will be twenty feet below the surface.

On an unrelated topic: what is the SI unit of Schadenfreude? It's not mentioned in the Wikipedia entry, and it would be nice to know how it is measured, too.

[andydp]

Jun 29, 2021 20:04:55 GMT LFC said:

NSA Confirms Tucker Carlson Is A Surveillance Target With A Priority Level Right Below SpongeBoB

Looks like the NSA did not waste any time to respond.  Caveat: this is from the Palmer Report so it should be looked at with a big grain of salt.  

NSA tells off Tucker Carlson

Interesting statement in the article:

Palmer Report pointed out that for all of the NSA’s faults, this is not something it would do – and that Carlson was presumably trying to create a distraction because someone out there was about to leak an embarrassing recording of him.

www.palmerreport.com/analysis/nsa-tells-off-tucker-carlson/39855/

[indy]

It's a tweet from the NSA official twitter account, so it's real:

[LFC]

Until the last year or so I firmly believed that Tucker was merely a self-serving tool that would say anything for money. (I still believe that of Hannity.) His repetitive "just asking the question" and "people say" techniques gave him (at least in his own eyes) plausible deniability. Lately that seems to have shifted and he's becoming ever more blatant. I wonder if the years of lies and spouting the fever dreams of the right have finally gotten to him and he's mentally swirling down the same drain as Glenn Beck, Alex Jones, and the rest of the utter nutter crowd. Or he may have always been a true believer but as he gets older is losing control of the slick messaging. Or maybe there's just more money to be made as a frothing, bug-eyed nutjob.

[goldenvalley]

Jun 30, 2021 16:13:42 GMT LFC said:

Until the last year or so I firmly believed that Tucker was merely a self-serving tool that would say anything for money. (I still believe that of Hannity.) His repetitive "just asking the question" and "people say" techniques gave him (at least in his own eyes) plausible deniability. Lately that seems to have shifted and he's becoming ever more blatant. I wonder if the years of lies and spouting the fever dreams of the right have finally gotten to him and he's mentally swirling down the same drain as Glenn Beck, Alex Jones, and the rest of the utter nutter crowd. Or he may have always been a true believer but as he gets older is losing control of the slick messaging. Or maybe there's just more money to be made as a frothing, bug-eyed nutjob.

Attention whore.  

[LFC]

The fine is small but blocking mandatory arbitration for 4 years when lawsuits are filed against them is a pretty in your face penalty. (Bold mine.) Removing the right to sue no matter what is pure Faux News.

Despite Fox News’ claims to have repaired the company’s toxic workplace culture since the firing of founder and chairman Roger Ailes in July 2016, Rupert Murdoch’s media empire has effectively admitted to ongoing misconduct that includes sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation against victimized employees, and has agreed to pay a million-dollar fine for what New York City’s Commission on Human Rights called “a pattern of violating of the NYC Human Rights Law.”

The settlement agreement, reached last week with the human rights commission, contains the largest-ever financial penalty assessed in the agency’s six-decade history, and also requires Fox News to remove mandatory confidential arbitration clauses from the contracts of on-air talent along with other employees and contributors for a period of four years when they file legal claims under the city’s human-rights law outside of the company’s internal process.

It “also demands immediate changes to policies surrounding reporting sexual harassment, retaliation, training, and compliance with the NYC Human Rights Law,” according to a statement from the commission, which added: “The Commission will monitor the network on a quarterly basis for a period of 2 years to ensure compliance.”

Among the policy changes required by the Commission, the network has agreed to provide all employees with a clear definition of “retaliation” and training for bystanders to intervene in incidents and to properly report any witnessed misconduct.

Labor lawyer Nancy Erika Smith, who represented former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson in the sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit that cost Ailes his job (and won Carlson a $20 million settlement from Fox News’ parent company 21st Century Fox), called the right-leaning cable channel’s settlement agreement, especially its admission of guilt, “monumental.”

Until now, “I’m not aware of any government agency requiring an employer to stop silencing victims of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, and that’s what NDAs and arbitration do—they silence victims,” Smith told The Daily Beast. “So bravo! Finally! The government is seeing that silencing victims protects harassers.”

[LFC]

All the usual Republican dipshits (which, as I type this, realize doesn't narrow it down) are all in on Tucks's lies about the NSA spying on him for nefarious reasons.

During a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Jim Jordan (R-OH) tried to give Carlson’s latest wild conspiracy theory a boost by suggesting the NSA’s statement denying it is actually evidence of its truth.

“Amazingly, the NSA has issued a statement that is so couched it is functionally an admission,” said Gaetz, who went as far as to call for an investigation of Carlson’s allegations.

Meanwhile, The Daily Caller — a popular right-wing media outlet founded by Carlson — created a fracas out of an anodyne statement by press secretary Jen Psaki, who had refused to engage at length with a question about Carlson’s claims during a press gaggle on Tuesday:

Well, duh. Why should she engage in the repetition of stupid, fact-free lies?

And then there's McCarthy, as big an enemy to American democracy as Moscow Mitch. Just dumber.

The situation escalated further on Wednesday, when House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy released a statement calling on Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes — who distinguished himself during the Trump years by working with the White House in a desperate, failed effort to gin up evidence that then-President Barack Obama spied on the Trump campaign — to investigate Carlson’s claims.

“There is a public report that NSA read the emails of Fox News host Tucker Carlson,” McCarthy claimed, apparently referring to comments Carlson made on his show. “Although NSA publicly denied targeting Carlson, I have serious questions regarding this matter that must be answered ... the NSA cannot be used as a political instrument.”

Notably, McCarthy is calling for a congressional investigation of Carlson’s flimsy claims while simultaneously strenuously opposing any congressional investigation into the January 6 insurrection.

[LFC]

Tuckums, again. He's wetting his diaper because Jill Biden made the cover of Vogue. It's ironic to see a man who owes his paycheck to a company whose business model was promoting Trump's cult of personality use the term "cult of personality." Of course self-awareness is not a right-winger's strong point. (Come to think of it, what it?)

Fox News host Tucker Carlson has railed against first lady Jill Biden's Vogue cover story in a Thursday segment of his show, likening it to state media propaganda and authoritarian cult of personality.

Carlson has previously come under fire for disparaging remarks against the first lady on his show Tucker Carlson Tonight, having elicited controversy for panning Biden's academic background and mocking her "Dr." honorific.

After Jill Biden was announced as Vogue's August cover star—reviving the magazine's tradition of featuring first ladies on its cover after her predecessor Melania Trump was famously snubbed—Carlson took issue with that as well.

"When it comes to authentic state media cult of personality hero worship, the propagandist North Korea's communist party news agency look on in awe at the reporters of Vogue magazine in New York," Carlson said. "The Vogue guys do Stalinism the old fashioned way—they are all in. They barely use verbs. It's all smoldering hot superlatives."

"Consider the new Vogue profile of Dr. Jill Biden, the scholar, scientist, statesperson, civil rights icon, healer, mother of a nation, eternally the first lady of our hearts," he continued, with an apparent tone of sarcasm.

Carlson spoke of an imagined scenario that is not in the Vogue profile: "At one point, we find Dr. Jill in reading glasses on Air Force One preparing for her negotiations with other world leaders at the G7. You go, Dr. Jill, you don't need to be elected to lead our country!"

The host also doubled down on his derision of Biden's "Dr." title, which she has earned with her doctorate in education from the University of Delaware. Debates surrounding Biden's use of the honorific without being a medical doctor have been criticized as misogynistic belittlement of her academic credentials.

[goldenvalley]

I've been seeing that meme from my older relatives on Facebook...Melania, the most beautiful First Lady and an actual model was snubbed. Just another grievance to add to the pile. 

[LFC]

Jul 2, 2021 17:24:21 GMT goldenvalley said:

I've been seeing that meme from my older relatives on Facebook...Melania, the most beautiful First Lady and an actual soft-core porn model was snubbed. Just another grievance to add to the pile. 

Fixed that for them. But you can thank them for being so shallow that they believe accomplished women who aren't at least 8s shouldn't be on the cover of Vogue.

On the flipside I have thought Melania as very attractive. She had a great body in her day but attractive? I stand by my opinion that she has one of the worst cases of RBF I've ever seen and that is not sexy. I would have walked right past her for either Jill or Michelle any day of the week.

[pnwguy]

Jul 2, 2021 17:24:21 GMT goldenvalley said:

I've been seeing that meme from my older relatives on Facebook...Melania, the most beautiful First Lady and an actual model was snubbed. Just another grievance to add to the pile. 

Melania should have gotten a Ph.D in gold-digging from Trump University, to bolster her status.

Maybe Liberty University can bestow her an Honorary Doctorate.  Is mushroom swallowing an academic discipline there?

[Bact PhD]

Jul 2, 2021 17:24:21 GMT goldenvalley said:

I've been seeing that meme from my older relatives on Facebook...Melania, the most beautiful First Lady and an actual model was snubbed. Just another grievance to add to the pile. 

I'd go to the old adage "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

Interesting recap, circa 2018¹:

On the subject of Melania Trump, Wintour told the Journal: "We have a tradition of always covering whoever is the first lady at Vogue, and I can't imagine that this time would be any different." A slide show of first ladies who have appeared in Vogue does not include Mrs. Trump.

While Mrs. Trump's fashion choices are catalogued at length at Vogue.com, the print magazine has not interviewed her since she became first lady. She did appear on Vogue's cover in 2005 in a Christian Dior wedding dress — for her marriage to Donald Trump.

[snip]

Editors can’t write about what they don’t know. Mrs. Trump has avoided requests for interviews, as questions would likely pertain to her marriage. That has led editors to shy away from her because so little is known about her. The first lady’s inner circle is small, and associates say very little.

The magazine editor said there simply isn’t anything to say about Melania Trump.

¹Interestingly, at this writing Stephanie Grisham, with whom Melania would have the notorious falling-out, was still Team Melania at this stage. Also interesting is that the editor of Vogue believed the coverage would come -- eventually.

[LFC]

Who’s Still Advertising with Tucker Carlson at the End of Q2 2021?

Whoa. I guess he's becoming more or less a loss leader for Faux.

Whether Tucker Carlson’s under surveillance from the NSA or not (he’s not), his Fox News show has continued to rankle critics new and old. In Q2 alone, he managed to talk replacement theory, push anti-vaccination theories, and call the Joint Chiefs of Staff a “pig,” spawning cries for USAA to pull ads from his program.

With all of that in mind, it seemed worthwhile to check in on which brands are still advertising during Tucker Carlson Tonight through it all (here’s Q1 2021 for comparison). Using data from iSpot.tv, we found 201 advertisers (networks, brands, non-profits) appeared during live (first run) national TV episodes of the show during Q2 2021. In June, that number was just 62. As we’ve done in the past, here are the top advertisers by airing during the final week of June (June 24-30), ranked by airings.



Notably, Fox News and Fox Nation made up almost 24% of TV ad impressions during Tucker Carlson Tonight in the last seven days of June, with My Pillow accounting for another 11% — according to data from iSpot. Balance of Nature (a supplement brand) is the only other advertiser to account for more than 5% of impressions during the show. It’s worth adding that USAA didn’t advertise during new episodes of Carlson’s show from June 24-30, and actually never appeared in June during live episodes of the program. In fact, USAA hasn’t aired a single ad during Tucker Carlson Tonight since Sept. 28, 2019. Its last appearance during a live airing was the day before, on Sept. 27. Meanwhile, USAA’s spent an estimated $6 million on TV ads during other Fox News shows since the start of 2021.

[LFC]

A former Faux executive is speaking up on the damage being done to America by his former employer. I guess better late than never but seriously, when was this statement ever really true.

“But, in recent years things have gone badly off the tracks at Fox News,” Padden wrote Monday. “Fox News is no longer a truthful center-right news network.’

He did give a good bullet point list of recent lies that are particularly damaging.

[LFC]

Now for those who want more than just their political news to be fake we're getting Faux Weather, "sponsored by Sharpie."

On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that Fox News is moving ahead with plans to produce its own dedicated weather channel.

"Later this year, Rupert Murdoch is set to debut Fox Weather, a 24-hour streaming channel that promises to do for 7-day forecasts what Fox has done for American politics, financial news and sports," reported Michael Grynbaum. "Amid a waning appetite for political news in the post-Trump era, media executives are realizing that demand for weather updates is ubiquitous — and for an increasing swath of the country, a matter of urgent concern. In the past week alone, temperatures in the Pacific Northwest broke records, wildfires burned in Colorado, and Tropical Storm Elsa strengthened into a hurricane over the Atlantic Ocean."

The news was greeted with mockery from commenters on social media, many of whom anticipated that Fox Weather could carry the signature right-wing bias of national Fox networks. Some noted the irony given Fox has long spread climate denial, and others wondered whether the network would support political alterations of the weather, like when former President Donald Trump infamously changed a hurricane map with a Sharpie.