The Washington Post’s Jeremy Barr has a must-read story about Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s habit of singling out journalists who’ve criticized him — or simply expressed views he doesn’t like — thus subjecting them to harassment and even death threats. Among them: NBC News reporter Brandy Zadrozny, Los Angeles Times columnist Virginia Heffernan and Grio reporter April Ryan. Barr writes:
Carlson cut his teeth jousting with the nation’s top elected officials and brand-name pundits on CNN’s “Crossfire” 20 years ago. But as his influence within the conservative media ecosystem has grown, with some calling for him to run for president in 2024, he has increasingly found fodder in criticizing lesser-known media figures whom he presents to his audience as symbols of liberalism run amok. And a subset of viewers are inspired to personally harass those journalists with threatening messages.
Nearly all the victims cited by Barr are women.
Earlier:
- Postscript: A white nationalist group tweets enthusiastically about Carlson (April 15)
- Tucker Carlson is a white supremacist. And he’s giving Fox viewers exactly what they want (GBH News, April 15)
- From principled conservative to Bubba the Love Sponge: The devolution of Tucker Carlson (GBH News, March 12, 2019)