Conservative Commentator Tucker Carlson Joins PBS

[Jackpine Radical]

http://www.tvweek.com/news/web110703.html

Taking an apparent turn to the right, PBS has announced development of a new public affairs program to be hosted by Tucker Carlson, a well-known conservative author and commentator who is also a featured panelist on CNN's "Crossfire."

The untitled show, targeted for a June 2004 launch, will be produced with PBS affiliate WETA-TV in Washington. It is scheduled as a half-hour weekly series to air in prime time. According to a PBS press release, it will be "a lively discussion of the week's news stories from a wide range of perspectives."

-----
Apparently PBS is making an obeisance to the Right in atonement for running Bill Moyers' NOW.

[Brucey]

1. Very disappointing. Even disheartening.

The reich-wing is everywhere. Where can one escape it?

[truthisfreedom]

5. it sorta depends. if he has to face someone who can hit against his views

head-on, it's a good thing.

[Snellius]

2. William Buckley's Firing Line was on PBS for years

.

[grasswire]

3. this is too easy

Tucker Carlson is no William F. Buckley.

[Snellius]

7. Obviously. Carlson is Colmes for the left

A conservative placeholder. Thoughtful but shallow.

I was only pointing out that PBS is not inherently left. They are liberal in the broadest sense of being open to various points of view. Besides, NPR getting $200 million from Kroc this week could hopefully engender a real alternative media.

[mumon]

49. You left out "wimp."

or "milque-toast."

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

26. LOL... And you're no Rodney Dangerfield...

(Sorry, couldn't help it.... Feeling punny)

[guajira]

4. You are So Right - Head of Miami Herald, EL Nuevo now Head of PBS!

snippet:
MIAMI (AP) The publisher of The Miami Herald has been elected the chairman of the PBS board of directors, PBS announced Wednesday.

Alberto Ibarguen, who has served on the board for six years, was elected by board members Oct. 31 to a three-year term.
more...

http://cbs4.com/floridanews/FL--Ibarguen-PBS-dn/resources_news_html

[Judi Lynn]

35. The new CEO at PBS, Alberto Ibarguen mentioned

in this snipe I found in google. Very interesting:

(snip) News: Media
MIAMI HERALD EXECS FILE FALSE POLICE REPORT AGAINST BUSH-NAZI JOURNALIST Current rating: -6
by omar suarez
Email: jtwg (at) bellsouth.net (verified)
Phone: [phone] Oct 2003
Modified: 15 Oct 2003
Cited as “traitors to the truth” by history-making reporter in 60-year Bush-Nazi whitewash, the editor and publisher of flagship Knight-Ridder newspaper file a false police report and break the law
MIAMI – The reporter who broke the story of the 60-year media cover-up of the Bush family’s secret Nazi past in The New Hampshire Gazette, the oldest newspaper in America, has been falsely accused by top executives of The Miami Herald of making threats against the newspaper’s staff.
Mr. Buchanan has announced he will seek criminal charges against the two men for filing a false police report. “I will also disgrace them publicly, in print, for their roles as Nazi propagandists on behalf of the Bush administration,” says John Buchanan, whose work has appeared in more than 50 newspapers and magazines during his career.
Miami Beach Police Department detectives visited Buchanan, 53, at his Miami Beach apartment on Monday, October 13, as a result of his ongoing calls for the resignation or termination of Herald Publisher Alberto Ibarguen and Executive Editor Tom Fiedler.
Buchanan, an award-winning and internationally published journalist with more than 30 years of experience in New York, Los Angeles, Washington and Miami, became the first reporter in history to prove the Nazi past of the Bush family with U.S. obtained from The National Archives and Library of Congress between September 17 and October 2.
The Miami Herald and Knight-Ridder Newspapers have repeatedly refused to publish the story, even though it was offered to the Herald as an “exclusive.”
“In my opinion, Ibarguen and Fiedler are no longer just traitors to the truth and the journalism trade, now they are criminals,” says Buchanan. “I intend to prosecute them to the full extent of the law.”
Buchanan also says he has a new source, a former Herald reporter who says that publisher Ibarguen has previously spiked negative stories on Florida Governor Jeb Bush. (snip/...)

http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/82773/index.php

Looking around in google, I learned he was born in Puerto Rico of a Cuban father and a Puerto Rican mother. He also spent time in the Peace Corps, just like Chris Matthews.

He was a vice-chairman at PBS previously. He's tight with the Cuban "exile" community, replacing David Lawrence, whom they beat down with death threats, bomb threats, etc.

[markses]

6. McDonald's heiress leaves 200 million to PBS

Tucker Carlson joins PBS.

Can we say culture war, boys and girls?

Or civil war?

[short bus president]

10. NPR != PBS

[librechik]

22. NPR is NOT PBS

PBS is SOL

[Piperay]

34. Never mind, I removed my post because I

was responding to Joan Kroc leaving money to PBS when she actually left it to NPR, that's what I get for responding to a post with wrong information in it.

[Isere]

8. Another indignity.....

Well, we have David Brooks on the Op-Ed page of the NYTimes while Frank Rich has been banished to the Arts and Leisure section. Now Tucker has invaded PBS, one of the last bastions of rational thought.

Bend over, folks. This is the royal screwing that we have been promised.

I weep.

[Eric J in MN]

11. sorry to hear that

I saw an appearance on "Tim Russert" Tucker Carlson made with Al Franken, and Carlson kept snickering like a twerp.
He declared that the memorial to Paul Wellstone was "sickening" without having seen it, and now claims to have seen it but maintains that it's "sickening." I doubt that anyone who really watched the full 3 1/2 hours, consisting mostly of talking about the lives of not-famous campaign workers who died in the plane crash, would call the memorial "sickening." My hunch is that even after he was caught passing judgement and mis-describing a memorial he hadn't seen, he still hasn't tried to make up for it by watching the whole thing.

During "Tim Russert," Carlson denounced Franken for being "partisan" while claiming that he's non-partisan. Yeah, right. There is nothing wrong with being partisan, but Carlson's grandstanding on the issue is ridiculous.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

16. Hi, Eric J in MN from another Minnesotan!

Welcome to DU, and I agree with everything you said.

:hi:

Now go over to the Meeting Room and learn about the local DU gatherings!

LL

[Eric J in MN]

41. Thanks Lydia

Thanks for the welcome.

[Jacobin]

9. good grief

disgusting development

[loudnclear]

12. Hey, they have to survive.

It's a savy business decision. i hate it, but what else can they do.

[Jackpine Radical]

14. It only takes one Bill Moyers,

with his palpable professional integrity and depth to counterbalance a dozen wingnut Fucker Carlsons.

[Voltaire99]

32. Moyers' second act

Sorry, I don't share your enthusiasm for him. After a lifetime of accomodating establishment power, Moyers is belatedly discovering just where his moderate liberal politics have led him (and us): into a post-democratic political and cultural landscape where the right rules with ferocious might, and where his old school values are the purview of an aging demographic.

If the kids are flocking to the O'Reillys and Carlsons, it's partly liberalism's fault for being so wan in the face of the takeover. I don't think Moyers is a bad fellow - I enjoy his interviews and applaud him for bringing people like Lewis Lapham onto his program - but he is hardly a force to counterbalance the slick, spitting right wingers. He's a minority taste, a genteel intellectual, something of a relic from an era that America has mostly forgotten and (even within the welfare-slashing, war-making Democratic Party) politically repudiated. And that's something we need to start accepting and working to change.

[PartyPooper]

13. Is Bob ("the traitor") Novak going to 'pull in the slack' on Crossfire?

Is he going to fill-in for Tucker's slots? If so, I'm outa' there! I can only 'stomach' that show when Novak's NOT on!

Carville and Begala do an excellent job...but, Novak nauseates me. At least, Tucker is "cute"...if not ideologically misguided to the extreme. But, he's a lightweight against any real Dem.

Sorry I find Tucker 'physically attractive'...but, he is one of the few Repugs I think is 'cute'! (Don't forget that Carville is married to a Republican!) ;-)

:dem:

[Eric J in MN]

43. I expect he will do both shows

Chris Matthews does "Hardball" five nights a week on MSNBC and has a once-a-week show called "Chris Matthews" on broadcast NBC, so Tucker Carlson will probably do both his five-time-a-week show and PBS once-a-week.

[shanti]

15. i'm not surprised

pbs is getting more and more conservative in their content, imo. it just doesn't have the "flavor" it once did (before *ush). i have been seeing a lot of propaganda, military subjects, and religion focused on lately.

does anyone agree?

[Mountainman]

37. I agree, I find myself turning it off

I used to watch PBS almost exclusively but now I find very little I want to watch there. Even the News Hour seems to let the right wing lies go unchalenged when before there was always someone from the left to balance out the debate.

I am so tired of turning on any information program and getting some right wing propaganda piece.

What gets me is why do so many people whore for the right? What motivates them? Is it money or threats or what? You would think someone would stand up to them but I don't see it.

I think that PBS must be caving in to threats from the right about being too liberal. Well they will lose donations from us if they turn right then the government will be the only supporter and will dictate the tone and content.

[0007]

17. Thanks for the tip....

[jokerman93]

18. Why do you assume the worst?

What if Carlson is actually just a conservative gun-for-hire who's growing a conscience?

Could happen...

[specimenfred1984]

19. He'll Be Eaten Alive

by people with open minds, just like any puke that brings their brainwashed and flawed positions into the public view.

I applaud PBS for allowing a kissass presswhore into the public domain to make a complete fool of himself!

[BuckeFushe]

20. NO ONE will watch the little bow tied asswipe, the right even hates him

n/t

[metisnation]

21. SAD the fourth reight has

officailly taken complete siege of our country.

[maggrwaggr]

23. and he's qualified because ........

he wears a bowtie, like George Will?

This makes him qualified?

[eileen from OH]

24. Okay, at the risk of being flamed. . .

Of all the rightwingnut commentators, I have the least trouble with Tucker. A) he has a sense of humor B) he evidently went through an eye-opening experience after being falsely accused of rape, so much so that he has a visceral opposition to sexual-type smears and C) he took the "eating his shoes" thing with Hillary with a great deal of grace and reacted like a human being when she showed up on the show and afterward was nothing but complimentary towards her about it.

Call me crazy (and they do) but of all the rightwing nutjobs he's the least offensive.

eileen from OH

[PartyPooper]

28. I agree.

See my post above, #13.

You're correct. Hillary was a 'class act' on Crossfire. And, Tucker was a gentleman with her (this time!).

I only wish he was the 'biggest' of our problems. He's not! There are an awful lot of other right wing fanatics far worse than Tucker. Ugh.

:-)

[GCP]

45. Tucker doesn't like Bush

See if you can find his interview for Talk magazine during the last election campaign.

He was appalled by Bush mimicking Carla Faye Tucker pleading for her life.

http://davidicke.www.50megs.com/icke/magazine/vol8/news/bushpottymouth.html

(Sorry, can't find a link with the original article).

[Guaranteed]

48. You're totally right

That's why they picked him.

[jayfish]

25. Amazing, All The Conservatives Who Want To Destroy Public Broadcasting

until they get a job in it. Same goes for the ACLU.

Jay

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

27. Hey, for a conservative, Tucker isn't all that bad. Especially when you

compare him with all the other RW talking heads.

I'm not saying I ever really agree with him, but after the shoe thing with Senator Clinton, he came across as human.

Could be much worse.

[piece sine]

38. the eagle must have two wings to fly

a left and right. I realize no one at DU's bonfire of ideas wants to back-off a hard line against right, and shouldn't, but threads like this increasingly irk me. Even as a little lefty in a preppy high school, I realized their HAD to be right-wingers if I , in fact, wanted to be a left winger. It took two-to-tango over which side could can best persuade the "moderate center" to swing it's way and thus carry the day when establishing laws and/or policy.

I know Carlson socially from my client work in and for the media. To defend him here will only get me flamed, but at what point does the average DUer 'tolerate' divergence of opinion?

I know how deeply nasty the right is; I know how nasty the left can be. At one point do extremists on both sides realize: "You can't have one without the other."

Mr. Pilgrim, you seem to a have grip on the concept that when Lefties are seen being NICE to the other side, we actually advance our ideas forward.

BTW: TV dumbs everybody down. Face to face at martini time, Tucker is smart as a whip, far more moderate than he must "play" on Crossfire and a reasonable and affable person. I expect his forum on PBS will provide many voices on our side with a chance to sell our ideas. I hope I am one of them.

[Zero Gravitas]

29. There goes the neighborhood

oh well there are worse Right Winger talking heads as others have pointed out. Hopefully he knows better than to spew the simplistic propaganda talking points type shit on PBS. He can argue the merits (such as they are) of the RW agenda all he wants so long as he does it based on facts on logic, not dogma.

[Voltaire99]

30. LOL! What do you expect of PBS?

You don't think PBS - or NPR - or the parent CPB is liberal, do you? Ol' Jesse Helms made damn sure of that almost twenty years ago.

Here's a tip: if your digital cable or dish provider offers Newsworld International (NWI), get it. It's a delicious amalgam of critical reporting from CBC of Cananda, ITV from the UK, French national TV, and Asian broadcasts, too.

It's still only TV news. But it's much better.

[Gloria]

31. My biggest gripe about PBS is how Washington Week in Review

has sunk to the level of FAUX. It is disgusting! Gwen Ifill is buddies with Condosleaza Rice and it shows.

The final straw for me came during the run up to Iraq, wheh Powell's UN show was already being questioned. But not on Washington Week. They BLATANTLY avoided any mention of the problems with Powell's presentation during their discussion.

I was so pissed I wrote an article for Buzzflash entitled "WWIR: Sins of Omission."

What a travesty. I remember the days of Paul Duke, Charles Cordry (sp?)...the attitude then was to cast a skeptical eye on Washington, not the way the panels genuflect now.

Interesting also to see how many WWIR alums have wound up on FOX or CNBC...Alan Murray, Gloria Borger, Juan Williams, etc. Gone are people like that woman with the severely pulled back hair who was really sharp and followed politics...Elizabeth ?.
You can bet that the current crop are in training for FAUX.

I just hate this show now.

[salinen]

33. mother tucker

get rid of him now! joan krok gave pbs 200 mil. so stop pandering. pbs needs to turn around and become the anti-fox.

[piece sine]

39. yikes! PBS and NPR are different!

While both draw funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, they are entirely different....different staffs, with different boards of director, they are even in different STATES.

Unless NPR is feeling generous and wants to help-out it's cousin, PBS won't see a dime of Joan Kroc's loot.

Might as well really piss-off this thread this morning: There already talk in DC that the right wingers will move to CUT NPR's budget by $200 million in the name of saving taxpayer money. So unless we smarten-up and stop it, the Kroc gift could prove an empty vessel.

[SoCalDem]

36. THIS IS HOW THEY DO IT, folks..

The republicans are infiltrators.. They have mastered the mechanism for "change from within"..

They did it to radio..
They did it to tv
They did it to neswpapers
They did it to movies.
They did it to school boards
They did it to city councils
They did it to state legislatures
etc.etc

They have TONS of money, and they are patient.. Sooner or later they work their way into every organization,"tone it down" a notch or two, make "faux friends" and then before you know it, they OWN the place..

It's ironic, because that's the same "charge" they make towards those pesky immigrants.. It's the same strategy that THEY employ when they start another takeover

[muchacho]

40. smother mail

so where's the massive writing campagaign to stop this?

That's what the neo-cons would do....

[jimbot]

42. I'm waiting before I judge

This could go many ways...here are a few scenarios:

1. Tucker becomes the equivalent of Mara Liason and Juan Williams...(at the very best weak representatives of a viewpoint...in reality shills trying to get their mugs on TV and making their own party (or at least the party they claim to represent) look like idiots.

2. We get a truly balanced program that has actual debate...not just screaming like crossfire.

3. PBS starts trying to out-Fox Fox (like MSNBC did) and loses their base.

4. lots of other possibilities but not all are bad.

My true feeling is that regardless of what happens, Tucker will get eaten by his own for appearing on PBS and is considered a RINO :)

--JT

[Drifter]

44. "from a wide range of perspectives" ... ?

Tucker Carlson ?

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

Give me a Fucking Break.

Cheers
Drifter

[Lorien]

46. Write to PBS to voice

your deep disappointment and concern. Complaining to one another on this board doesn't change a thing. Repugs can get a produced and paid for mini-series about Raygun off CBS, surely we can do the same for bow tie boy.

[Guaranteed]

47. Tucker ain't that bad in comparison to a lot of people.

Better him than Dennis Miller.

[Unknown Known]

50. Tucker's old man used to be CEO of PBS

Richard Carlson. This is not the same guy that wrote "Don't sweat the small stuff".

http://www.defenddemocracy.org/biographies/biographies_show.htm?attrib_id=7618

[otohara]

51. Tucker + PBS Didn't Quite Make Sense

but now it does.

[Unknown Known]

52. Richard Carlson was also a "friend" of Lewinsky's mother

and helped Monica get a book deal.

Carlson: Lewinsky's Quiet Helper

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/carlson021299.htm

Carlson says he got involved in helping Lewinsky because he is an acquaintance of Lewinsky's mother and aunt, as well as of Peter Straus, who is married to Marcia Lewis, Lewinsky's mom. "There was nothing political in it whatsoever," he said. Carlson says he hesitated even to tell his son, Tucker Carlson, a writer for the Weekly Standard, and never gave him any details.