To be completely and utterly fair (ironically unlike the establishment media) it’s hard to blame the media for throwing this visceral of a temper tantrum for all to see.
After all, with one swift announcement on Tuesday, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson re-shaped the media landscape by announcing that he would be launching his own show on… Twitter.
That’s right, despite all of the rumors swirling about what could be Carlson’s next move, it appears that he will not be going to a competitor or moderating a GOP debate (this one is still on the table.)
Instead, Carlson will continue to do what he’s clearly the best at — bring hard-hitting conservative news to the masses, but this time, on his own.
Twitter head honcho Elon Musk has already made it abundantly clear Carlson would be subjected to the same rules and regulations of any other content creator on the platform.
Below, you can see Musk’s tweet and the original announcement from Carlson:
On this platform, unlike the one-way street of broadcast, people are able to interact, critique and refute whatever is said.
And, of course, anything misleading will get @CommunityNotes.
I also want to be clear that we have not signed a deal of any kind whatsoever. Tucker is… https://t.co/0TMjuYnKUp
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2023
In other words: No preferential treatment, no lucrative deal, no special exceptions.
Any fair-minded individual should be able to see that and accept it for what it is: Tucker Carlson felt that Fox News needed him more than he needed Fox News, and bet on himself as an independent content creator.
Carlson is betting on himself, a richly American ethos dating back to the Mayflower.
Of course, the establishment media landscape is not full of fair-minded individuals. Quite the opposite in fact.
Take a look at this list of headlines covering Carlson’s seismic announcement and try not to imagine the list being written by an angry 12-year-old:
- “Tucker Carlson’s new Twitter show could spell doom for Elon Musk” wrote Business Insider.
- Semafor basically called Carlson’s new show a death knell for Twitter due to fleeing advertisers, not unlike Business Insider.
- Despite not a single second of an episode airing yet, leftist rag The New Republic is already calling Carlson’s show “racist.”
- Bloomberg accused Twitter of tilting to the right.
Even the less sensational articles can’t help themselves when it comes to, well, sensationalism. The New York Times came out guns blazing, no puns intended, and asked, “Is Tucker Carlson Too Hot for Twitter to Handle?”
The answer to that, based on the over 100 million views Carlson’s announcement tweet has already garnered, is clearly “no.”
So why exactly the media freak-out if Carlson’s new Twitter venture is just doomed to crash and burn both his new show and the social media platform?
In short: The alternative scenario to all that doom and gloom is downright petrifying for the establishment media.
Because what is the alternative? Carlson’s show could be a massive success and helps transform Twitter as the place for open debate on the cultural and societal issues afflicting the world.
That’s one key advantage that Carlson has that his former digs didn’t — interaction.
Whether it’s CNN or Fox News, cable news has always been about telling its audience what the networks think the audience wants to hear.
And therein lies some of the power cable news has always wielded.
People are wising up to that one-way street of information and realizing how dangerous (and wrong) it can be.
If Carlson can succeed in this new venture, and that’s an admittedly big “if” given the lack of precedence, it would prove the old adage of the television network making the stars, and not the other way around, simply doesn’t hold true anymore.
Many, many viewers already feel that establishment media news isn’t for them anymore, and have tuned out in droves regardless of the political leanings of said establishment media network.
If network stars, hosts and pundits also feel that the establishment news isn’t for them anymore, a la Carlson since his ouster?
All those doom and gloom predictions may dredge back up — and not for Carlson’s new Twitter show.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.