MSNBC’s Jen Psaki said that Fox News may have had a personal problem with Tucker Carlson, but they have no problem with his content, which they continue to broadcast.
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Psaki said:
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When asked in 2021 to comment on Carlson’s long record of lies and bigotry, and you just heard a lot of it there, Fox News plainly said, we fully support him. For years, they did. If you think Tucker’s firing means Fox has seen the light, don’t hold your breath. Don’t judge them on why they fired Carlson. Judge them for all the times they didn’t. Judge them for what they are still putting on the air. Since his exit on Monday, it has been business as usual for their primetime lineup.
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Fox News may have had a problem with Tucker himself. His ideas, the conspiracies, the lies, these explicit white nationalist views were never the total problem for the network. They endorsed all of that and continued to do so. This is simply who they are.
Fox News didn’t fire Tucker Carlson because it learned its lesson from the Dominion lawsuit. Fox News didn’t pay a crippling price for their lies, and they lost about two-thirds of their profit for one year. Fox didn’t decide to go in a new direction.
Fox decided that it wanted the lies, misinformation, conspiracy theories, and bigotry on its network, but it didn’t want Tucker Carlson.
Fox News wanted Tucker Carlson Tonight without Tucker Carlson.
Jen Psaki was correct. Fox has learned nothing, and it won’t change unless business as usual is no longer profitable.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
