Unlike propagandists such as Tucker Carlson, real reporters like Gershkovich and the many others imprisoned by Russia are not seen as useful to the regime, and are thus punished.
While Tucker Carlson – who has repeatedly spread Russian propaganda lies about Ukraine, has said he is cheering for Russia, and who has allied himself with far-left & far-right foreign policy lunatics to undermine the interests of the free world – gets set to do the bidding of Vladimir Putin, real reporters are being imprisoned in Russia.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has now been detained for 312 days by Russian authorities.
As noted by the WSJ, “Evan was detained by Russia’s Federal Security Service in the city of Yekaterinburg while on a reporting assignment in the country. He had full press credentials from Russia’s foreign ministry. He was accused of espionage, making him the first American detained on such a charge since the Cold War. Evan, his family, the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny these allegations. We continue to demand Evan’s immediate release.”
Gershkovich – and the many other reporters jailed by Russia – is a real reporter. Real reporters in a country like Russia are always in danger, because Russia is a dictatorship without any freedom of speech.
By contrast, Carlson is a propagandist.
Carlson has regularly pushed Russian talking points in an effort to turn his viewers against Ukraine:
“Carlson said he was “rooting for Russia” in its burgeoning conflict with Ukraine in an episode of his show, though he later clarified he was joking and really “rooting for America.””
“Carlson told Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) that the U.S. should “probably take the side of Russia” in a potential dispute between Moscow and Ukraine, five years after Russia illegally annexed the Crimea peninsula.”
“In an episode of his new show on X, formerly known as Twitter, Carlson described Zelensky—who is Jewish—as “sweaty and rat-like,” a remark condemned by Jewish advocates, and claimed Zelensky is a “persecutor of Christians” (Zelensky had signed a degree in 2022 to impose sanctions on religious organizations tied to Russia).”
Carlson also spread anti-Semitic tropes when he attacked Ben Shapiro for being concerned about Israel:
“Tucker Carlson, the populist pundit who led Fox News’s evening lineup until his ouster in April 2023, said in an interview this week that Ben Shapiro of the Daily Wire “[doesn’t] care about the country at all,” accusing him and other pro-Israel voices of being “focused on a conflict in a foreign country as their own country becomes dangerously unstable.”
“Carlson contrasted this supposed apathy to his own concern for the US: “I have no choice,” he said, “I’m from here, my family’s been here hundreds of years, I plan to stay here— I’m shocked by how little they care about the country, including [Shapiro].””
This is quite ironic, given that Carlson is constantly flying around to foreign countries and talking about politics outside the US while working against US national security interests. The fact that he directed his attack against Ben Shapiro is disturbingly similar to the rising anti-Semitism we have seen on far-left. Carlson’s views are indeed largely indistinguishible from the anti-Western foreign policy perspectives of unhinged university leftists.
And it’s not just foreign policy on which Carlson is willing to deceive.
While Carlson was publicly promoting Trump and questioning the results of the 2020 US Presidential election that Trump lost decisively, he was slamming Trump behind the scenes and slamming election denialism:
“What he’s good at is destroying things,” Carlson texted producer Alex Pfeiffer on November 5. “He’s the undisputed world champion of that. He could easily destroy us if we play it wrong.”
“I hate him passionately,” Carlson texted Pfeiffer on January 4, days prior to the riot at the U.S. Capitol. He added, of Trump’s presidency, “We’re all pretending we’ve got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it’s been is too tough to digest. But come on. There really isn’t an upside to Trump.”
In a text on November 9, Carlson referenced Powell’s Dominion claims, commenting, “The software shit is absurd.” (Carlson then said on television that night, “We don’t know anything about the software that many say was rigged. We don’t know. We ought to find out.”)
Carlson was also excited to be able to stop covering Trump:
“Two days before the Capitol riot, Carlson wrote to a colleague that “we are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can’t wait.” The day after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, he texted his producer that “Trump has two weeks left. Once he’s out, he becomes incalculably less powerful, even in the minds of his supporters. He’s a demonic force, a destroyer. But he’s not going to destroy us. I’ve been thinking about this every day for four years.””
Carlson will simply readjust his beliefs to match up with whoever can give him the most power.
He is back to promoting Trump and promoting Russia, because he thinks that will bring him power and money.
That makes him many things, but a ‘real reporter’ isn’t one of them.
The real reporters are those like Evan Gershkovich who are languishing in a Russian prison at this very moment.
Spencer Fernando
