April 3, 2015

"I have 2 rules. One is you can’t criticize the families of the people who work here, and the other is you can't go after Fox."

Says Tucker Carlson about the (bad) news he owns, The Daily Caller.
The reason for the second rule, Carlson said, is... simply because he works there...

"That’s a conflicted situation, but I don’t know what to do about it... There is a conflict and I’m totally up front about it, I don’t lie at all, and you don’t criticize your employer, and that’s kind of 101."
He doesn't know what to do about it, but I do. I don't read The Daily Caller. Why would you?

50 comments:

Wilbur said...

I chuckle when Rush calls him "Chatsworth Osbourn, Jr.".

It's such a dated reference, sorta like when I was a kid and grownups referred to Joe Penner.

rhhardin said...

I don't much care if anybody criticizes Fox, which is as MSM as the rest of them, to judge from the local radio top of the hour news.

bgates said...

OK, new rule: ABC can't go after the BBC or CBS or Comedy Central or NBC or MSNBC or PBS or NPR or the New York Times or the Washington Post, and
the BBC can't go after ABC or CBS or Comedy Central or NBC or MSNBC or PBS or NPR or the New York Times or the Washington Post, and
CBS can't go after ABC or the BBC or Comedy Central or NBC or MSNBC or PBS or NPR or the New York Times or the Washington Post, and
Comedy Central can't go after ABC or the BBC or CBS or NBC or MSNBC or PBS or NPR or the New York Times or the Washington Post, and
NBC can't go after ABC or the BBC or CBS or Comedy Central or MSNBC or PBS or NPR or the New York Times or the Washington Post, and
MSNBC can't go after ABC or the BBC or CBS or Comedy Central or NBC or PBS or NPR or the New York Times or the Washington Post, and
PBS can't go after ABC or the BBC or CBS or Comedy Central or NBC or MSNBC or NPR or the New York Times or the Washington Post, and
NPR can't go after ABC or the BBC or CBS or Comedy Central or NBC or MSNBC or PBS or the New York Times or the Washington Post, and
the New York Times can't go after ABC the BBC or CBS or Comedy Central or NBC or MSNBC or PBS or NPR or the Washington Post, and
the Washington Post can't go after ABC or the BBC or CBS or Comedy Central or NBC or MSNBC or PBS or NPR or the New York Times, but
the Daily Caller and Fox can tear each other to pieces.

Michael K said...

I watch a little of Fox because my wife does but the shouting and arguing seems staged too often. I do think Fox News Sunday is good but I switch around.

The Carlson rule goes along with other cowardly conservative outlets like NRO firing Derbyshire. That action led me away from NRO and National Review so I am more into podcasts now.

traditionalguy said...

Conservatives need to grow up and quit claiming some other conservatives hurt their feelings. The real world is a school of hard knocks.

Fox still lets a broad range of conservative voices speak. So what if the hosts also interrupts to much and blusters like the show is a WWF match with fake wrestling clowns. That's the entertainment part of winning the ratings battle.

MadisonMan said...

As long as you know what you're getting. I've never read the Daily Caller. It's not like you can't find Fox criticism elsewhere though.

mikeski said...

Treacher's pretty good.

Roger Zimmerman said...

@bgates

I sure hope you wrote that with a perl script.

damikesc said...

Appreciate the openness but hated the Web design anyways.

traditionalguy said...

As Ann subtly hints, there is not much there there with Mr Carlson.

Tucker is a rich, socially connected kid educated at an elite Episcopalian college in Connecticut. There is no way he will challenge any duly constituted authority. Why should he. He was born at the top and he wants to stay there.

Humperdink said...

At least Bow Tie Tucker is up front with it.

The members of the MSM have a rule regarding criticism of the Team Zero and continue to deny it exists.

Tank said...

MadisonMan said...

As long as you know what you're getting. I've never read the Daily Caller. It's not like you can't find Fox criticism elsewhere though.


Ditto. A complete non-issue.

Bob Boyd said...

I wonder why Fox isn't covering immigration. It polls as an issue a lot of people care about.

Laslo Spatula said...

Little-known fact: Tucker ties his bow-tie with his tongue.

You would think women would like him more.

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

"I wonder why Fox isn't covering immigration."

Fox will parallel Jeb Bush's talking points.


I am Laslo.

ron winkleheimer said...

"Tucker is a rich, socially connected kid educated at an elite Episcopalian college in Connecticut. There is no way he will challenge any duly constituted authority. Why should he. He was born at the top and he wants to stay there."

The people on the left hate to hear this, but Fox is actually the centrist cable news network. It is not to the right of the majority of the country. It succeeds because so many people agree with its perceived political views. When it is to the left of most of its viewers on a subject, such as its support for amnesty for illegal immigrants, its because that is the establishment position.

The reason for that is, in addition to being centrist, Fox news is also part of the establishment. It is owned and manned by establishmentarians through and through. They have no desire to upset anyones apple cart. They profit from a divided country. Or at least the appearance of division. Thus you get "news" stories about some kid getting suspended due to having a "military" haircut.

The amusing thing, to me, is that the people that work at FNC belong to the same establishment that left wing wags belong to. The women on the view belong to the same establishment that the people at FNC do, they just take the left side of the street, Fox works the right, but both are, in the end, selling the same product, apples.

Larvell said...

I don't read Daily Caller much because it has the sh****est mobile app ever. It's almost unreadable on an iphone.

tim in vermont said...

Media Matters does a yeoman job of going after Fox News, and their stories get picked up everywhere. I am not that worried that there is some aspect of Fox that is going un-criticized.

Laslo Spatula said...

"Little-known fact: Tucker ties his bow-tie with his tongue.

You would think women would like him more."

See, this joke depends on getting the inference of cunnilingus: Tucker's talented tongue should be -- in this context -- desirable to women who desire cunnilingus.

In case further elaboration is needed: Cunnilingus is when a man performs oral sex on a woman.

When a woman performs oral sex on a woman it is called 'carpet-munching.'

That should cover it.


I am Laslo.


ron winkleheimer said...

"Media Matters does a yeoman job of going after Fox News, and their stories get picked up everywhere. I am not that worried that there is some aspect of Fox that is going un-criticized."

But that is criticism from a left-wing perspective. Fox doesn't really get much criticism from the right.

People on the left would say that the reason Fox gets little to no criticism from the right is because it is so far to the right itself. But, if the majority of the population pretty much agrees with you, aren't you by definition centrist?

The genius of Fox news is that it takes the centrist position on most matters while presenting itself to its viewers and opponents as a right-wing network.

holdfast said...

I would never go to the DC site, but I'll follow a link there. They gave some ok writing. I respect Tucker for being upfront - lots of media entities have "white lists" of things and people they won't criticize, but he's honest.

holdfast said...

Fox is a total squish on immigration because ol Rupe wants more peons.

Big Mike said...

Why would I read the Daily Caller?

(1) It presents a nice counter-balance to mainstream media. In particular it and hotair.com point to stories that the Times and Post would love to bury, and which Instapundit might not link to for days.

(2) I get my daily fix of Treacher.

(3) I can go look for posts by Massad Ayoob in "Guns and Gear."

Bob Boyd said...

" But, if the majority of the population pretty much agrees with you, aren't you by definition centrist? "

I would say yes, but Fox is portrayed as extreme right wing because the goal is always move the center to the left.

Hagar said...

One reason for not covering the immigration issue is that the Obama administration has made such a confused tangle of it that it is difficult to figure out where to begin and then see a path to solution.

It is just one hell of a mess.

Original Mike said...

Or as Jehmu Greene called him in a fit of anger, "Bow-Tying White Boy."

I can never get the Daily Caller to scroll properly. I usually give up in frustration.

Insufficiently Sensitive said...

I don't read the Daily Caller. Why would you?

Because it might have some information unobtainable elsewhere, that's why. It's no secret that MSM journalism 'makes a difference' by selective omissions of pertinent news.

Hagar said...

And it is true, Fox is "mainstream."
Even Bill O'Reilly is just an Irish-American Catholic from darkest Long Island and born and raised a Democrat; just not their kind of Democrat.

gerry said...

Reading Daily Caller is exhausting and debilitating. I can't take it.

Tank said...

Hagar said...

One reason for not covering the immigration issue is that the Obama administration has made such a confused tangle of it that it is difficult to figure out where to begin and then see a path to solution.

It is just one hell of a mess.


Respectfully gotta disagree. It's really quite simple. The policy of the Feds is that the border is open wink wink. Keep trying to get in, and, if you do, we won't send you back. Plus, we have goodies.

Simple.

dreams said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
dreams said...

I read it occasionally because of articles like this.

http://dailycaller.com/2015/04/01/the-real-story-behind-the-hateful-indiana-pizzeria/

holdfast said...

Bill O'Reilly is just a grumpy old cab driver, from back in the day when cab drivers were Irish immigrants.

Fox is a smidgen to the right of the true center, but not very far at all and they give a broad platform to folks like Juan Williams and Geraldo Rivera, both of whom are definitely to the left, though they are both heretical on at least some of the left's sacred cows. The only MSNBC equivalent would be Morning Joe, a sorta-RINO.

Rupert Murdoch also has his sacred cows, and one of them is open borders - he's in good company there with most of the Chamber of Commerce wing of the GOP.

dreams said...

I'm thinking most of the young producers at FOX are liberal, there probably aren't very many conservative news people.

Hagar said...

It is a "mess" when the White House threatens the officials of the various agencies concerned with immigration and border security with "consequences" if they try to enforce the laws as written rather than as directed by the White House.

Kyzer SoSay said...

I'll read the Daily Caller. Why WOULD?N'T you? Just because he won't criticize Fox? I don't give a damn about that, and the fact that you do, our Dear Hostess, is telling. The fact that he's admitting his decision with full candor is fine. If you wanna read criticism of Fox (and they are ripe for criticism, though not quite as foula dn vapid as MSNBC or CNB), you'll just have to look elsewhere.

Hmm. Are there other places? Yes!! By Jove, other places that DO criticize Fox regularly do exist! Humanity is saved.

traditionalguy said...

The Fox News secret is the talent that Roger Ailes finds and puts on the air, and then loyally keeps on the air. Ideology is always a secondary issue to success at drawing and keeping an audience.

The other cable news operations try selling progressive ideology and racial/gender division ideologies that get boring real quick because lies are so stupid.

Ailes did a victory chortle a few months ago noting that CNN just quit selling itself as a News operaion, and in half of the prime time just programs foodie shows and documentaries.

You cannot beat Aile's lively News Stars at Fox with foodie shows.

Now if Roger Ailes can get CNN's last star, Sanjay Gupta, then its over. But Sanjay does not want to move from Atlanta to NYC.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Matthew 6:24

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Hagar said...

Dream is right.
A lot of Fox News is like a little left of center Fox employees think a little right of center Fox employees ought to act. And of, of course, actors are what they are.

And if they were really "right," they would not have made through College of Communications with any grade average to get hired with.

I'm Full of Soup said...

I think Tucker is a very bright guy and makes good, logical arguments when asked his opinion.

And yeah the Daily Caller website needs a lot of work.

mccullough said...

Why does Fox put Tucker Carlson on? I criticize them for that. Carlson is a kiss-ass bore

damikesc said...

Ill note the GOP will win the fight to not raise the minimum wage. Be cause the Chamber of Commerce wants immigration and not a minimum wage hike.

As a conservative, I champion a super high minimum wage and all workers should get it. Screw the Chamber of Commerce.

Unknown said...

Anne,
I wait with baited breath for any article critical of the University of Wisconsin or the Law School for which you work.
Personally, I appreciate that Carlson is honest enough to admit what is reality for most everyone.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Damizec:

I am with you re the Chamber of Commerce.

Around here, the local chamber puts out an annual report and what did they put on its cover last year? A picture of an Amtrak train!

I thought WTF did they select a picture of an Amtrak train and what does that have to do with the small area businesses who comprise the local chamber?

Big Mike said...

Now that I've "othered" myself for owning up to reading the Daily Caller (and Treacher!) will I still be welcome to post comments on your blog?

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Enh. I watch FOX -- that is, I watch the local FOX affiliate station, which has about as much in common with FOX proper as Israel has with Sudan. I haven't seen FOX proper; going by report here.

I read the NYT. Also the WSJ. Also the SF Chronicle. That's balance enough, I think. Combined with the hour of NPR each morning ...

But for some reason, everything I say is assumed to come from the FOX echo chamber. Weird.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Re: the Daily Caller: I read it whenever Instapundit links it (often), but not otherwise. I don't have much objection to the content; it's the site design that drives me bats. So many ads, so many clunky access points that always open another ad or another whole window. Gah.

lgv said...

He doesn't know what to do?

Resign from Fox, or let your staff due their thing and let Fox fire you.

I was going to be a volunteer blogger for a site in hobby field. When I was told what I couldn't write about (sponsers), I opted out. There is always a choice. He just buried any semblance of credibility for his site. Might as well be World Net Daily.

Ken Mitchell said...

" I don't read The Daily Caller. Why would you?"

Especially since Mickey Kaus left.

ken in tx said...

It's bated breath, not baited breath. It means you are holding your breath.