Why it matters: Despite Carlson claiming he will not read the play, his team believes the Times scrutiny will make his furious fans more loyal.
Carlson’s official Twitter account posted a photo of himself holding the newspaper up, with his face splashing over the crease – and laughing. The tweet is wordless.
Details: The New York Times this weekend published 20,000 words about “Mr. Carlson,” as the newspaper calls him, divided into four parts online and two days in the newspaper.
Times readers were drawn to the stories: All four places were at or near the top of the site’s “Trending” ranking.
Part 1 of “American Nationalist” by Nick Coffessor covers seven pages in the Sunday newspaper. The “keys” of the series alone have 1,500 words.
“Mr. Carlson’s technique in the air – flirting with pleasure with the blow and then transforming himself as the victim’s companion’s spectator companion – has helped him inherit, like no other, the populist movement that developed around Mr. Trump.” Confessore writes, calling it “Trumpism without Trump.”
The Times reports that an analysis of 1,150 episodes of the Fox News show, which airs weekly at 8 p.m. ET shows how Carlson, 52, “has become increasingly likable to the nationalist currents that pervade US politics and how intertwined his rise has been with the transformations of his network and American conservatism.”
His narrative: “They want to control and then destroy ‘you’.” Carlson invoked the “ruling class” on more than 800 shows, saying they “want you to ‘swear and obey.’
Between the lines: ” Here’s the Tucker Carlson Tonight game book: Go straight for the third line, whether it’s a race, immigration or other button issue. Harvest the inevitable reaction; return the next night to the skewer critics for how they responded. “Then do it all over again.”
“This feedback loop boosted ratings and boosted faith in Fox and Mr. Carlson.”
“According to three former Fox employees, Mr. Carlson was one of the most fanatical consumers of this network known as minute-by-minute rating data for low tide and real-time audience flow,” says Confessore.
“Network executives soon began to apply the approach to daily newscasts. They introduced it as ‘Moneyball’ for television.”
Carlson, who did not give an interview to the Times, told Axios: “I have never read the scores a single day in my life. I do not even know how. Ask anyone on Fox.”
“Most of the big positions I have taken in the last five years – against neoconservatives, corruption and war. [in Ukraine] “It was very unpopular with our audience in the beginning.”
Part 1 is free with this link … 🧵 Confess the thread in turn.
