The corporate media has given a voice to prominent dictators and terrorists throughout the world while criticizing Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson’s interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Carlson traveled to Moscow, Russia, this week to sit down for an exclusive interview with Putin. He explained Tuesday that it is a journalist’s duty to inform the public about the war in Ukraine and criticized the corporate media for dedicating a substantial amount of time to conducting “fawning pep sessions” with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Daily Caller co-founder is far from being the first journalist to interview Putin. Outlets like The New York Times, NBC News and CNBC have all given Putin a platform.
Carlson is the first to formally interview Putin since October 2021, when CNBC’s Hadley Gamble sat down exclusively with him, according to Reuters via The Indian Express. Earlier that year, NBC News senior international correspondent Kier Simmons sat down with Putin for a June 11, 2021 exclusive interview. (RELATED: Tucker Carlson Explains Why He Interviewed Vladimir Putin)
The Associated Press also interviewed Putin on September 3, 2013.
“‘We are pleased to offer AP’s customers this internationally exclusive interview with President Putin, particularly when there is such wide interest in his views on Syria, on relations with the West and on preparations for the Sochi Olympics,’ said AP Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll,” the AP said at the time.
The New York Times has published op-eds written by Putin, including one from Sept. 11, 2013 titled, “A Plea For Caution From Russia.” The op-ed urged the U.S. and the United Nations to refrain from striking Syria, alleging that the U.S. was becoming a model for “relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan ‘you’re either with us or against us.'”
The Times also published an op-ed in February 2020 by Sirajuddin Haqqani, the deputy leader of the Taliban. The op-ed, titled “What We, the Taliban, Want” appeared to point fingers at the U.S. for the war in the Middle East and claimed the Taliban is forced to defend themselves against U.S. aggression.
“We did not choose our war with the foreign coalition led by the United States. We were forced to defend ourselves. The withdrawal of foreign forces has been our first and foremost demand. That we today stand at the threshold of a peace agreement with the United States is no small milestone,” Haqqani wrote.
The newspaper received scrutiny for publishing the op-ed, but the Times defended its decision by saying the outlet intends to “tackle big ideas from a range of newsworthy viewpoints,” according to The Washington Post.
In 1997, four years before the 9/11 attacks, CNN interviewed Al-Qaeda terrorist Osama bin Laden inside of a cave in Afghanistan.
Despite Carlson being far from the first to interview a dictatorial leader, many in the corporate media have deeply criticized The Daily Caller co-founder’s interview. George Monastiriakos wrote in his op-ed for The Kyiv Independent that traveling to Moscow is like traveling to Nazi Germany to speak with Adolf Hiter.
“Tucker Carlson came out of the cold & admitted that he is in Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin – a wanted war criminal – and to give Putin’s “side of the story” about the invasion & genocide of Ukraine,” The Kyiv Independent correspondent-at-large Jason Jay Smart wrote on Twitter.
Carlson has been accused of being a “Putin loving celebrity” by CNN’s Erin Burnett and “either remarkably stupid or consciously evil” by Bill Browder, the CEO of Hermitage Capital for the interview.
As Russia conducts a genocidal war to eliminate Ukrainians and Putin is wanted for crimes against humanity by the ICC, Tucker Carlson, an American citizen and influencer, is in Moscow?!? Either he’s remarkably stupid or consciously evil. No other excuse. https://t.co/y3c5Y7LsNU
— Bill Browder (@Billbrowder) February 3, 2024
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said they receive numerous requests from Western media to interview Putin, including traditional TV outlets and large newspapers, but they have “no desire” to communicate with them, according to Meduza. He reportedly said they agreed to allow Carlson to interview the Russian president because he differs from the “traditional Anglo-Saxon media.”
“He has a position that differs from the rest [of Western media]. It’s not pro-Russian by any means, and it’s not pro-Ukrainian; rather, it’s pro-American. But at least it stands in clear contrast to the position of the traditional Anglo-Saxon media,” Peskov said, the outlet reported.