Journalist Tucker Carlson, one of the most influential in the United States and worldwide, announced from Moscow that he will publish an exclusive interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Carlson, a renowned independent journalist targeted by the mainstream media for his anti-liberal views, has been questioned for days by colleagues and critics for going to Russia to interview Putin. They’ve called him a Russian “propagandist,” “anti-American,” and even a “traitor.”
However, the presenter has another version of the story and responded to critics of his interview in a video of more than 4 minutes on his account on X (Twitter) where he explained the real motivation behind the conversation with Putin.
Why I'm interviewing Vladimir Putin. pic.twitter.com/hqvXUZqvHX
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) February 6, 2024
Tucker Carlson: “Americans are misinformed”
“We’re in Moscow tonight. We’re here to interview the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin. We’ll be doing that soon. There are risks to conducting an interview like this, obviously. So we’ve thought about it carefully over many months. Here’s why we’re doing it. First, because it’s our job. We’re in journalism,” Tucker Carlson began his explanation before criticizing the traditional American media for, according to him, not doing objective work in the context of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
“Two years into a war that’s reshaping the entire world, most Americans are not informed. They have no real idea what’s happening in this region, here in Russia or 600 miles away in Ukraine. But they should know. They’re paying for much of it in ways they might not fully yet perceive,” Carlson continued.
“The war in Ukraine is a human disaster. It’s left hundreds of thousands of people dead, an entire generation of young Ukrainians, and it’s depopulated the largest country in Europe. But the long-term effects are even more profound. This war has utterly reshaped the global military and trade alliances. And the sanctions that followed have as well. And in total, they have upended the world economy,” the presenter continued in his extensive message.
“They are history-altering developments. They will define the lives of our grandchildren. Most of the world understands this perfectly well (…) And yet the populations of the English-speaking countries seem mostly unaware. They think that, as nothing has really changed. And they think that because no one has told them the truth. Their media outlets are corrupt. They lie to their readers and viewers. And they do that mostly by omission,” stated the journalist.
Tucker subsequently began to criticize the American media for not daring to interview Putin and for serving, in his words, as a propaganda arm of the Ukrainian Government.
He especially criticized that the traditional media only served to support Ukrainian President Zelensky to encourage the US government to fully immerse itself in the war.
“That is not journalism. It is government propaganda. Propaganda of the ugliest kind, the kind that kills people,” said the journalist.
The controversial conservative host later defended his right as a journalist to interview Putin, saying he is in Moscow because he loves the United States and because he believes Americans have a right to hear the Russian leader’s views.
“Americans have a right to know all they can about a war they’re implicated in. And we have the right to tell them about it, because we are Americans too. Freedom of speech is our birthright. We were born with the right to say what we believe. That right cannot be taken away no matter who is in the White House,” Carlson said, denouncing that the Biden administration spied on his text messages and leaked his intentions to interview Putin to the liberal media.
“They did this in order to stop a Putin interview that we were planning. Last month we’re pretty certain they did exactly the same thing once again, but this time we came to Moscow anyway. We are not here because we love Vladimir Putin. We are here because we love the United States, and we want it to remain prosperous and free,” concluded Carlson, who also thanked Elon Musk, the owner of X, for letting the interview be published freely and uncensored on his social media platform.
Is it really unprecedented?
While many journalists have criticized Tucker Carlson for interviewing Putin, the reality is that the Russian president has a long history of interviews with US media.
In 2003, for example, he answered 33 questions from then-editor-in-chief of The New York Times, Bill Keller. The interview lasted for three hours.
Five years later, in 2008, CNN host Matthew Chance interviewed the Russian leader.
In 2015, Putin spoke to CBS and PBS, sitting down with journalist Charlie Rose.
More recently, in 2018, Putin sat down with host Chris Wallace, who interviewed him for Fox News, the channel where Carlson worked until last year.
Likewise, even though Putin is considered an anti-American leader, the US press has interviewed other great enemies of the country in even more delicate contexts. For example, terrorist Osama bin Laden was interviewed by CNN in 1997 after declaring “Jihad against the United States.”
In 1997, CNN - through its reporter Peter Arnett - interviewed Osama bin Laden about why he declared "jihad against the US"
That's what journalists have always done.
Now Erin Burnett insinuates Tucker Carlson is a traitor for interviewing Putin: the decay of US journalism. https://t.co/buwdTrdVj0 pic.twitter.com/LMUn3LNkSt
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 6, 2024
In that sense, independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended Tucker Carlson’s right to interview Putin.
“Mainstream media journalists have interviewed Putin many times before. The only difference now is that they can’t control the narrative. Zelensky has been given numerous primetime interviews. Osama Bin Laden has been interviewed before. We have a right to hear from everyone—no matter how you feel personally about them,” Robert Kennedy wrote on X.
Mainstream media journalists have interviewed Putin many times before. The only difference now is that they can’t control the narrative.
Zelensky has been given numerous primetime interviews. Osama Bin Laden has been interviewed before. We have a right to hear from everyone—no… https://t.co/qQ9b4jkEwh
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) February 6, 2024
