How Tucker Carlson's Sensational Visit to Russia is Being Covered by Russian Media
Tucker's interview with President Putin will smash a big hole in the information blockade that the authorities of the United States and EU countries have put up in front of Russia
Tucker Carlson’s visit to Russia didn’t just make news in America and western Europe — it also made a big splash here in Russia. The Parlamentary Gazette, a nationally popular Russian news outlet, published a widely read article titled, Why Tucker Carlson Came to Russia.
The article provides background on Tucker Carlson and discusses why his visit to Russia has made international news. Then they provide a Russian take on these events, indicating why Russians have welcomed Tucker with open arms.
Here is the full article in English:
Why Tucker Carlson Came to Russia
One announcement of his conversation with the President of Russia on social networks collected tens of millions of views. And his very arrival in Moscow has already provoked hysterical statements from some European politicians who propose to ban the 54-year-old American journalist from traveling within the EU, as well as accusations of betrayal from some members of the US Congress. Who is Tucker Carlson and why did he manage to get an audience in the Kremlin? — The Parlamentary Gazette has looked into it.
He got into journalism after a “failure” at the CIA
A boy named Tucker was born in San Francisco (USA) on May 16, 1969 in the family of the head of the Voice of America radio company (recognized as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation ). Later, when Tucker had already grown up and had studied at college to become a historian, he tried to join the CIA, but he was denied a career as an intelligence officer. So Carlson took up journalism.
The first highlight of his print media career came in 1999, when, after an interview with Texas Gov. George W. Bush, Carlson quoted him mocking Carla Faye Tucker, who was executed in Texas in 1998 for capital murder. Afterwards, Bush Jr. himself, then a candidate for US President, said that the journalist had changed his thoughts about his attitude towards the death penalty.
In 2000, Tucker Carlson was one of the hosts for various shows on CNN. After some time, his contract came to an end with them, and Carlson created his own evening television show on another TV channel. It would come to an end after three years. In 2009, Carlson’s career began to take off — he came to the Fox News channel, where in 2016 he opened his own evening show (Tucker Carlson Tonight). The premiere drew an impressive 3.7 million viewers, and in 2020 the audience for each show was 5.3 million viewers.
Antichrist as technology
Throughout his time at Fox News, Carlson's show was plagued by scandals more than once. Advertisers decided to block the program after the presenter’s statements against the dominance of migrants in the United States, and in 2019, erotic magazine model Karen McDougal sued him because Carlson, in his show, accused her of extorting Donald Trump (her lawsuit was thrown out).
The turning point in his career came in 2020 — Carlson became one of those who, following the results of the US presidential election, publicly spoke about those who were boosting votes in favor of Joe Biden. As a result, the voting machine manufacturing company, which Carlson accused of “rigging” the vote, sued Fox News in the spring of 2021 — as a result of the proceedings, the TV channel agreed to pay out of court $787.5 million. This was the largest libel settlement against a media company in US history. In April 2023, Tucker Carlson was fired from Fox News.
A month later, he launched his show on the social network X — the premiere took place in June 2023. Among Carlson's high-profile statements which ran counter to the White House's policy, were accusations of President Zelensky persecuting Christians in Ukraine and accusations of Kiev destroying the Kakhovka hydroelectric station. This is also why Carlson is treated with a certain sympathy in Russia — many compare him with the American military expert Scott Ritter, who actively cooperates with Russian media and largely supports Russia’s actions. It’s also significant that Carlson, who is married and has four children, is an adherent of conservative political views. In particular, like the authorities of Russia, but not like Tucker’s native USA, he opposes the LGBT movement (which is recognized as an extremist group in Russia). Also, once on his show, Carlson called on Washington to cooperate with Moscow to counter ISIS (which is banned in the Russian Federation), and opposed US military assistance to the Kiev regime, believing that Russia is not a serious threat to the United States.
An interview that became a sensation even before it happened
Tucker Carlson is one of the few media professionals left in the West who adheres to journalistic ethics. This is what the famous public figure, State Duma deputy, and TV presenter Maria Butina thinks . “He covers events objectively and impartially, something Carlson has already paid for with a prestigious position at Fox News. Nevertheless, he remains true to his principles, and we are glad to welcome him to Moscow. In my opinion, this is an excellent example for journalists from other countries: if you want to write materials about Russia, come, look at everything with your own eyes and tell the truth,” she told the Parliamentary Gazette.
The interest in Carlson, who arrived in Moscow, is, of course, caused by the fact that he managed to organize the first interview of a US journalist with Vladimir Putin since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine. (Tucker promised to post his recording on social networks on February 8). This was emphasized by the head of the Federation Council commission on information policy and interaction with the media, Alexey Pushkov. “It is important that the interview of the President of Russia, posted on an American Internet platform, will make a big hole in the continuous information blockade that the authorities of the United States and EU countries have put up in front of Russia. I think it will become a real worldwide sensation. And even it has already become one, even before being released,” Alexey Pushkov told the Parliamentary Gazette, hinting at almost 60 million views of the announcement on social networks, of Carlson’s interview with the President of Russia.
The audience of this interview after its publication will be hundreds of millions of people, according to American political scientist Malek Dudakov. According to him, this is an opportunity for us to convey to the American audience what Russia’s position is on the events that are really happening in Ukraine, “without any kind of liberal propaganda or censorship.” “Carlson is not just a popular journalist, he is also the number one public opinion leader among right-wing Republican America, trusted by millions of US citizens. The interview with Putin may also influence this audience and its opinion - we are already seeing how the majority of Republican voters oppose continued funding of Ukraine. And after this interview, I think there will be even more of them,” he believes.
By the way, Elon Musk, the owner of the social network X (blocked in the Russian Federation), where Carlson’s interview with Vladimir Putin will be posted, has already stated that he will not block this material. But you shouldn’t think that the journalist came to Moscow wanting to please the people of Russia or specifically Vladimir Putin — Carlson initially stated that he came to Moscow out of love for the United States and wants to shed light on what is really happening in the world, so that Americans can see the truth. Senator Vadim Dengin said, “He understands perfectly well that Russia and the United States are countries that must always come to an agreement with each other. I think Tucker is breaking through the information vacuum that exists in the West, and at the same time measuring the ‘average temperature in the hospital’ regarding the extent to which relations between the United States and Russia are at an impasse and whether there are any ways out of it.”
At the same time, Dengin has considered the possibility that Carlson’s relations with Russia may not come to an end with this one interview. “In the information field, he can become a kind of guide for Americans, he can lead US information flows into the mainstream of sober thought or at least reasonable neutrality. Tucker Carlson can become a fairly serious information channel through which Western countries will be able to receive an objective picture of what is happening,” Vadim Dengin says.
Source: pnp.ru (Russian)
The Powers That Be won't be happy with this. They have murdered US Presidents, and managed the overthrow of elected governments, including allies, along the way. Tucker is just a minor bump in the road to these people.
I'm looking forward to this, hoping the interview is a torpedo to the western stranglehold on media and freedom of information. I also hope TC has the good sense to look to his personal and family's safety afterward.
Thanks, Father Joe! Is is refreshing to reach solid print journalism. The article is an excellent overview.