Fox News' Tucker Carlson hits a dangerous new low...

[Tennesseer]

Tucker Carlson hits a dangerous new low in his response to the Buffalo shooting

“What is hate speech? Well, it’s speech that our leaders hate."

The hypocrisy was stunning, even by Tucker Carlson’s standards. During a broadcast of his show "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on Monday, the Fox News host blamed Saturday's mass shooting of 13 people in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Buffalo, N.Y. by a radicalized white gunman on the policies of President Joe Biden, the Democratic party and pretty much anyone who's called for a stop to the hate speech and racist ideology espoused by the suspect — and Carlson himself.

Outcry that Carlson address his part in spreading a xenophobic philosophy known as "great replacement theory" — a paranoid notion that white, Christian people are being intentionally replaced by people of color, Jews, Muslims and immigrants — was met during Monday's telecast with no acknowledgement whatsoever of the role Carlson himself has played in energizing white nationalists, but plenty of moaning about who the real victims are in this tragedy: those in the right-wing media and Republican party who were swiftly connected with the horrid ideas in the shooter's apparent manifesto.

“You probably haven’t learned a lot about the people who were shot, beyond that they were Black,” Carlson said in the episode's opening moments, after pointing out that there had been more than 100 deaths over the weekend in metro areas and that gun violence was "typical" in metro areas like Los Angeles and Chicago. Then, as if uncovering a nefarious plot, he danced around the subject of why the killings in Buffalo received the most attention. Using pretzel logic, he blamed the liberal media for targeting the right with woke politics, thereby inspiring the rise of "white identity politics." He didn't mention gun control, of course, or present any new details about the victims of the Buffalo shooting he criticized the press for ignoring: The only person Carlson went on to to name, and talk about at length, was the gunman.

Under the circumstances, with the nation reeling from both the general regularity of mass shootings and its plague of racially motivated ones, Carlson's display may have constituted his lowest point yet — at least in terms of humanity (never to be confused with ratings). He turned the very tragedy he accused Democrats of politicizing into an argument the secondary targets of the Buffalo shooting are folks like him, who believe “All lives matter, period," who "would like to see a return to the American way of life," who would like to be judged "by the content of my character, not by the color of my skin.”

The moral contortionist act — replete with that craven allusion, without credit, to Martin Luther King, Jr. — would have almost been impressive if it weren't so utterly depraved. Carlson has been ratcheting up the political tension for ages, especially since Biden assumed office, in ways that dovetail dangerously with the Buffalo shooter: “The Democratic Party is trying to replace the current electorate, the voters now casting ballots, with new people, more obedient voters from the Third World,” warned Carlson in April of last year. He suggested that no one should “sit back and take that.”

Monday, speaking in a chilling monotone, he acted as if he’d never said such things. But a recent New York Times investigation into Carlson’s promotion of replacement theory found that in more than 400 episodes of his show, “Mr. Carlson has amplified the notion that Democratic politicians and other assorted elites want to force demographic change through immigration, and his producers sometimes scoured his show’s raw material from the same dark corners of the internet that the Buffalo suspect did.”

The phrase "great replacement theory" was coined in 2012 by the French nationalist, novelist and conspiracy theorist Renaud Camus. Far-Right groups have used his musings (which are repurposed from at least a century of other racist screeds) to reframe old-fashioned hate in a new light. Mass shooters in both the Christchurch, New Zealand mosque attack and the El Paso, Texas Walmart assault wrote about their belief in the theory. The white supremacists who marched in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 chanted “Jews will not replace us” and “You will not replace us.”

In fact, whipping up fear of The Other, then pretending nothing happened, is Carlson’s sweet spot. He lost advertisers in 2018 when he said immigrants make “our own country poorer and dirtier and more divided.” In 2019 he said the notion of white supremacy is a “a conspiracy theory used to divide the country and keep a hold on power.”

Rather than soften his message on Monday, Carlson ensured viewers that they should remain scared, because as sure as Biden would use the tragedy for political gain, he was also framing them as the enemy. Referring to a Politico report on Joe Biden's planned speech Tuesday in Buffalo (though not without first using the opportunity to ding Biden's lowest-ever approval rating), he warned viewers that the White House had already decided those “who disagree with Joe Biden are an existential threat to the nation, like Al Qaeda or climate change. A threat so profound we must declare war on it to survive. This threat Biden is referring to is you. He’s talking about his fellow Americans. No president has ever spoken like this. Ever.”

The rest of the hour was devoted to nuclear war with Russia, our disappearing southern border, "unhinged" pro-choice protestors and less deadly matters of conspiracy theory. In a segment about UFO sightings, Carlson felt it imperative to inform his audience that the Pentagon were feuding over how much the public should know.

The truth is out there, just don’t expect it from Carlson. Or any other sort of reckoning with reality, or the consequences his words have on this planet.

Tucker Carlson hits a dangerous new low in his response to the Buffalo shooting

[djAdvocate]

May 17, 2022 19:48:52 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Tucker Carlson hits a dangerous new low in his response to the Buffalo shooting

“What is hate speech? Well, it’s speech that our leaders hate."

well, that is true.
it is also speech that YOU should hate, you stupid arse.

[Tennesseer]

I'm starting to think the reasons for Fox News shows having 'high' cable ratings is because its viewers are all white nationalists/outright racists. Because Laura Ingraham sure isn't helping to dispel my opinion.

Laura Ingraham Names 'The Real Accomplices' In Buffalo Mass Shooting And We Can't Even

Laura Ingraham on Monday ridiculously claimed that the non-right wing media were the “real accomplices” in the Buffalo, New York, mass shooting that left 10 people dead over the weekend.

The Fox News host blasted Democratic efforts to restrict hate speech that incites the kind of violence perpetrated by the white suspected gunman who left a racist online manifesto before his attack on a supermarket.

She pointed to a Rolling Stone headline that read, “The Buffalo Shooter Isn’t A ‘Lone Wolf.’ He’s A Mainstream Republican.” The article explained how the accused killer embraced “the great replacement theory” that has become more common among conservatives (including Tucker Carlson at Fox News and top House Republican Elise Stefanik) and took the propaganda to its violently “logical conclusion.”

“The gonzo journalists at Rolling Stone say no, no, no, no, no, there are accomplices here: The Republicans,” Ingraham said indignantly. “It’s so weak, I don’t even want to talk about it tonight because it’s so predictable. It’s so lame, because the real accomplices are in the media. The media that are propping up an administration that has brought this country to its knees with policies making American families poorer every single day. And they’ve tried this tack so many times.”

She wasn’t finished. Ingraham previously blamed the news media for police killings of Black people.

Article and several videos of Ingraham's bat-shit crazy rants here:Laura Ingraham Names 'The Real Accomplices' In Buffalo Mass Shooting And We Can't Even

[Tennesseer]

Fox execs hide their biggest star Tucker Carlson from annual pitch to advertisers after backlash over Buffalo shooting

There is no bigger star in the cable news pantheon than Tucker Carlson — every weeknight over 3.6 million Americans tune in to watch his show aired during the coveted 8 p.m. primetime slot.

Yet when it came time for his parent company, Fox Corporation, to make its annual spring pitch to advertisers buying media time, the audience draw was nowhere to be seen on Monday and that may have something to do with this weekend's fatal shooting in Buffalo, New York.

The racist rampage that claimed the lives of 10 people, most of whom were Black, has drawn attention to Carlson’s documented advocacy of the “Great Replacement” — a theory by which immigrants and ethnic minorities gain political power to the detriment of caucasians.

The theory, which was once a fringe conspiracy embraced by white supremacists, has now become more mainstream and was cited by the suspected Buffalo killer in writings before the incident.

According to Variety, Fox’s Monday presentation at Manhattan's Skylight on Vesey during the so-called Upfronts “assiduously sidestepped” any controversies around the cable news operations led by CEO Suzanne Scott.

Upfronts, in which media companies present their upcoming slate of programming to prospective advertisers, have become increasingly crucial to the corporation after controlling shareholder Rupert Murdoch sold his movie studio assets like 20th Century Fox to Disney for $71 billion in March 2019.

TV ads are now a significant revenue pillar for the standalone Fox Corporation, contributing over $4.8 billion to nine-month sales or 44% of the group’s top line.

The enormous popularity of Tucker Carlson Tonight has helped ensure the Fox News Channel was the most-watched U.S. network in primetime across all basic cable networks for a sixth straight year.

His ability to shape U.S. political debate was on full display in January after Republican Sen. Ted Cruz personally requested to appear on Carlson's show to apologize after the latter accused him of aiding Democrats by calling the Capitol riots a “violent terrorist attack”.

With that kind of influence and star power, one might think he would be an obvious lock when appealing to advertisers looking to profit from the viewership magnet.

Yet his image only briefly flickered in the background of a presentation without even so much as a credited mention, while the far less known Pete Hegseth, co-host of FOX & Friends Weekend, took to the virtual stage to entice buyers with the cable news network’s streaming content.

When asked, a Fox News spokesperson pointed to previous comments made that the network was focusing on “pitching scale” during this upfront, as primetime has long been a ratings leader but the network is “now reaching a new level of success in certain dayparts.”

Reputational damage
The reason why Carlson played no role may however be because the brand of news in which he specializes can scare away companies looking to buy media time for their products.

A recent investigation by The New York Times into the 1,150 episodes aired between November 2016 and the end of 2021 found that over 400 contained rhetoric related to replacement theory, while over 600 referenced anti-white bias.

Carlson mocked the story by picturing himself laughing next to the paper’s headline “American Nationalist” in a post that gained 200,000 likes.

Congressman Matt Gaetz, a member of Trump's wing of the party, has praised Carlson, as have many others, for warning Americans were in danger from immigrants that would swell the ranks of the Democrats.

The “Great Replacement” narrative proved so popular with the GOP base that the third highest-ranking House Republican, Elise Stefanik, seized on the message last September. (She has since come under attack given her district in upstate New York is not far from Buffalo.)

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York singled out Fox and its star Carlson during a speech on the floor: "In a craven quest for viewers and ratings, organizations like Fox News have spent years perfecting the craft of stoking cultural grievance and political resentment that eerily mirrors the messages found in replacement theory."

He also wrote directly to Rupert Murdoch and his news CEO, Scott, copying in Carlson, to ensure the network ceases recklessly serving as a platform for it.

Carlson took to the airwaves on Monday to defend himself, arguing shooter Payton Gendron thought Fox News was in fact "part of some global conspiracy against him", in what the LA Times called “a dangerous new low” after effectively absolving his show of any responsibility.

Yet his full-throated denials may not wash with corporate execs looking to generate goodwill for their products.

In its risk report for the full fiscal year through June 2021, Fox warned controversy could hit its brand and hence its bottom line.

“If our reputation is harmed for any reason, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operation,” it wrote.

Fox execs hide their biggest star Tucker Carlson from annual pitch to advertisers after backlash over Buffalo shooting

[Opti]

May 18, 2022 8:58:32 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

I'm starting to think the reasons for Fox News shows having 'high' cable ratings is because its viewers are all white nationalists/outright racists. Because Laura Ingraham sure isn't helping to dispel my opinion.

Laura Ingraham Names 'The Real Accomplices' In Buffalo Mass Shooting And We Can't Even

Laura Ingraham on Monday ridiculously claimed that the non-right wing media were the “real accomplices” in the Buffalo, New York, mass shooting that left 10 people dead over the weekend.

The Fox News host blasted Democratic efforts to restrict hate speech that incites the kind of violence perpetrated by the white suspected gunman who left a racist online manifesto before his attack on a supermarket.

She pointed to a Rolling Stone headline that read, “The Buffalo Shooter Isn’t A ‘Lone Wolf.’ He’s A Mainstream Republican.” The article explained how the accused killer embraced “the great replacement theory” that has become more common among conservatives (including Tucker Carlson at Fox News and top House Republican Elise Stefanik) and took the propaganda to its violently “logical conclusion.”

“The gonzo journalists at Rolling Stone say no, no, no, no, no, there are accomplices here: The Republicans,” Ingraham said indignantly. “It’s so weak, I don’t even want to talk about it tonight because it’s so predictable. It’s so lame, because the real accomplices are in the media. The media that are propping up an administration that has brought this country to its knees with policies making American families poorer every single day. And they’ve tried this tack so many times.”

She wasn’t finished. Ingraham previously blamed the news media for police killings of Black people.

Article and several videos of Ingraham's bat-shit crazy rants here:Laura Ingraham Names 'The Real Accomplices' In Buffalo Mass Shooting And We Can't Even

Laura Ingraham is in the media. So she's outed herself as an accomplice?