{"id":36650,"date":"2024-02-27T04:12:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-27T04:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=36650"},"modified":"2024-02-28T23:34:27","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T23:34:27","slug":"how-you-can-tell-propaganda-from-journalism-%e2%88%92-lets-look-at-tucker-carlsons-visit-to-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/how-you-can-tell-propaganda-from-journalism-%e2%88%92-lets-look-at-tucker-carlsons-visit-to-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"How you can tell propaganda from journalism \u2212 let\u2019s look at Tucker Carlson\u2019s visit to\u00a0Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Michael J. Socolow<\/a>, University of Maine<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tucker Carlson, the conservative former cable TV news pundit, recently traveled to Moscow to interview<\/a> Russian dictator Vladimir Putin for his Tucker Carlson Network, known as TCN<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two-hour interview itself proved dull. Even Putin found Carlson\u2019s soft questioning \u201cdisappointing<\/a>.\u201d Very little from the interview was newsworthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other videos Carlson produced while in Russia, however, seemed to spark far more significant commentary<\/a>. Carlson marveled at the beauty of the Moscow subway<\/a> and seemed awed by the cheap prices<\/a> in a Russian supermarket. He found the faux McDonald\u2019s \u2013 rebranded \u201cTasty-period\u201d \u2013 cheeseburgers delicious<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a scholar of broadcast propaganda<\/a>, I believe Carlson\u2019s work provides an opportunity for public education in distinguishing between propaganda and journalism. Some Americans, primarily Carlson\u2019s fans, will view the videos as accurate reportage. Others, primarily Carlson\u2019s detractors, will reject them as mendacious propaganda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But closely considering these categories, and evaluating Carlson\u2019s work in context, might deepen public understanding of the distinction between journalism and propaganda in the American context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Promoting authoritarians<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Carlson\u2019s ability to secure the Putin interview was commendable. Interviewing dictators \u2013 even the most murderous ones<\/a>, such as Cambodia\u2019s Pol Pot \u2013 can represent a significant journalistic achievement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, Carlson\u2019s listless approach to the Russian dictator, who droned on endlessly<\/a>, proved a wasted opportunity. Despite Carlson\u2019s passivity, the interview did, in fact, reveal aspects of Putin\u2019s intentions likely unknown to many Americans. For example, Putin blamed Poland for provoking Hitler\u2019s attack on the country in 1939, which sparked World War II<\/a> \u2013 a statement at odds with the facts. He also seemed to signal his desire to attack Poland, or another neighbor<\/a>, in the near future. Had Carlson\u2019s trip concluded with the interview, it might have been judged journalistically worthwhile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, that\u2019s not what Carlson did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Producing a travelogue, Carlson toured Moscow and made videos extolling the glories of Russian society, culture and governance. The Moscow subway impressed him, while the low prices in a Russian supermarket \u201cradicalized\u201d him \u201cagainst our American leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Classic case of propaganda\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are numerous ways to evaluate the truthfulness of Carlson\u2019s reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, if things are as copacetic in Russia as Carlson claims, then emigration out of the country should be minimal, or at least normal. Yet, since the 2022 Ukraine war mobilization, Russians have fled their country in historically high numbers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even those cheap supermarket prices Carlson loved are a mirage. They exist only through subsidies, and with Russia\u2019s continued devaluation of the ruble in<\/a> 2024, combined with a planned huge increase in military spending, Russia\u2019s government continues to make every Russian poorer<\/a> to fund its war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, what\u2019s cheap to Carlson is expensive and getting more expensive for almost all Russians<\/a>. This trend will continue in 2024, as Putin recently projected Russia\u2019s inflation rate to be 8%<\/a> in 2024 \u2013 more than double the projection for the United States<\/a>. In fact, a Russian citizen complained<\/a> directly to Putin in December 2023 about the price of eggs, and Putin uncharacteristically apologized<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But research shows that fact-checking Carlson\u2019s claims is not likely to change<\/a> many people\u2019s opinions. We know most people don\u2019t appreciate being told their preferred information is inaccurate, and when untruthful reports accord with their perception of reality, they\u2019ll believe them<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of categorizing Carlson\u2019s Russia videos as \u201creporting,\u201d \u201cjournalism,\u201d \u201cinformation\u201d or \u201cfake news,\u201d we could define it instead as a classic case of propaganda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Screenshot<\/a>
A headline from The Hill about Carlson\u2019s Moscow visit. Screenshot, The Hill<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Emotionally potent oversimplifications\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Propaganda is communication designed to bypass critical and rational examination in order to provoke intended emotional, attitudinal or behavioral responses from an audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public understanding of propaganda usually links it to lying, but that\u2019s not quite correct. While some propaganda is mendacious, the most effective propaganda will interlace carefully selected verifiable facts with emotional appeals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For an average American, those Russian supermarket prices really were cheap. But that\u2019s a selected truth presented without context essential for understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr once described propaganda in a democracy as \u201cemotionally potent oversimplifications<\/a>\u201d peddled to the masses, and that\u2019s precisely what Carlson\u2019s videos seem to provide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That Carlson has evolved into a propagandist is not surprising. In 2022, The New York Times analyzed his Fox News broadcasts between 2016 and 2021. The paper concluded that Carlson\u2019s program became far less interested in rational dialogue and critical exchange<\/a> \u2013 by interviewing people who disagreed with him \u2013 as it evolved into a monologue-driven format<\/a> in which Carlson preached often factually dubious<\/a> assertions to his audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At one time, early in his career, Carlson demonstrated significant journalistic talent<\/a>, especially in magazine feature writing. But his dedication to accuracy \u2013 and even basic truth-telling \u2013 was exposed as a sham when his texts<\/a> from the Dominion voting machine lawsuit were revealed and illustrated his mendacity<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Distinguishing between Gershkovich and Carlson<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Carlson is not the first American reporter<\/a> to travel to a foreign dictatorship and produce propaganda in the guise of journalism<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New York Times\u2019 Walter Duranty infamously ignored<\/a> the Stalin dictatorship\u2019s horrific starvation of millions of Ukrainians in the 1930s. The Times\u2019 Berlin correspondent Guido Enderis specialized in \u201cpuffy profiles of leading Nazis<\/a>\u201d while whitewashing the regime\u2019s more evil aspects<\/a> in the mid-1930s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More recently, correspondent Peter Arnett was fired from NBC News<\/a> for appearing on state-controlled Iraqi TV in 2003 and praising the success of \u201cIraqi resistance<\/a>\u201d at the outset of the U.S.-Iraq war. Although Arnett\u2019s comments did not originally appear on NBC, they were rebroadcast widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what makes Carlson\u2019s actions particularly galling to some was that his propaganda appeared while Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich remains imprisoned by Putin\u2019s regime for alleged spying, but which was really accurate reporting from Russia. When Carlson questioned Putin about Gershkovich, the dictator replied that a prisoner exchange might be negotiated<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, the distinction between journalism and propaganda is the difference between Gershkovich and Carlson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gershkovich sits in a Russian prison for investigating the truth about Putin\u2019s Russia in service to the American public and his employer. Carlson flies around the world praising authoritarian leaders<\/a> such as Hungary\u2019s Viktor Orban, while \u201crooting\u201d for dictators like Vladimir Putin when they attack their neighbors. \u201cWhy shouldn\u2019t I root for Russia? Which I am<\/a>,\u201d he said in 2019 about the Ukraine-Russian conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To expose abusive governmental power and hold it accountable \u201cto the opinions of mankind<\/a>\u201d is literally written in America\u2019s Declaration of Independence. To travel abroad praising dictatorships for their subways and cheeseburgers while ignoring their murderousness, and to return \u201cradicalized \u2026 against our leaders\u201d because foreign supermarket prices are low, is certainly not journalism. It is propaganda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carlson\u2019s videos may have one beneficial result: If enough Americans learn from them how to detect propaganda and distinguish it from ethical and professional reporting, then perhaps Carlson unintentionally provided a valuable media literacy service to the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael J. Socolow<\/a>, Professor of Communication and Journalism, University of Maine<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael J. Socolow, University of Maine Tucker Carlson, the conservative former cable TV news pundit, recently traveled to Moscow to interview Russian dictator Vladimir Putin for his Tucker Carlson Network, known as TCN. The two-hour interview itself proved dull. Even Putin found Carlson\u2019s soft questioning \u201cdisappointing.\u201d Very little from the interview was newsworthy. Other videos […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":36651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[2000,15286,786,785,5509,1827,6143,15285,11865],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36650"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36650"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36653,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36650\/revisions\/36653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}