Tucker Carlson has released a video on Twitter revealing he is apparently partnering with the platform to continue his popular “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on the free speech infrastructure owned by Elon Musk.
In a three minute video, Carlson made his strongest remarks yet about leaving Fox News, saying that all cable news “is a lie” and viewers “are being manipulated” before noting that “you will be fired” for reaching the limits of what networks consider acceptable free speech.
Noting his disgust with the cable news industry, and American media as a whole, Carlson then revealed that he will take his show to Twitter.
We’re back. pic.twitter.com/sG5t9gr60O
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) May 9, 2023
“You often here people say the news is full of lies. but most of the time that’s not exactly right, much of what you see on television or read in the New York Times is in fact true in a literal sense. It can pass one of the media’s own fact checks, lawyers would be willing to sign off on it, in fact they may have. But that doesn’t make it true, it’s not true,” said Carlson. “At the most basic level the news you consume is a lie, a lie of the stealthiest and most insidious kind. Facts have been withheld on purpose along with proportion and perspective. You are being manipulated.”
He continued by discussing his years in the media:
What’s it like to work in a system like that? After more than 30 years in the middle of it we could tell you stories. The best you can hope for in the news business at this point is the freedom to tell the fullest truth that you can, but there are always limits, and you know that if you bump up against those limits often enough, you will be fired for it. That’s not a guess, it’s guaranteed. Every person who works in English-language media understands that. The rule of what you can’t say defines everything.
It’s filthy really, and it’s utterly corrupting. You can’t have a free society if people aren’t allowed to say what they think is true. Speech is the fundamental prerequisite for democracy, that’s why its enshrined in the first of our constitutional amendment.
Then, Carlson pivoted to the existence of Twitter, which under Musk’s ownership has become more aligned with free speech ideals:
Amazingly, as of tonight there aren’t many platforms left that allow free speech. The last big one remaining, in the world, is Twitter, where we are now. Twitter has long served as the place where our national conversation incubates and develops. Twitter is not a partisan site, everybody’s allowed here and we think that is a good thing. And yet for the most part, the news that you see analyzed on Twitter comes from media organizations that are themselves thinly disguised propaganda outlets. You see it on cable news, you talk about it on Twitter. The result may feel like a debate, but actually the gatekeepers are still in charge.
“We think that’s a bad system. We know exactly how it works and we’re sick of it,” said Carlson.
“Starting soon we’ll be bringing a new version of the show we’ve been doing for the last 6.5 years to Twitter.” He added, “We’ll be doing some other things too which we’ll tell you about. But for now we’re just grateful to be here, free speech is the main right that you have. Without it you have no other. See you soon.”
Musk later welcomed Carlson’s decision but noted that Twitter has not signed an exclusive deal with the former TV news host.
On this platform, unlike the one-way street of broadcast, people are able to interact, critique and refute whatever is said.
And, of course, anything misleading will get @CommunityNotes.
I also want to be clear that we have not signed a deal of any kind whatsoever. Tucker is… https://t.co/0TMjuYnKUp
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2023
This is a breaking news story and may be updated with additional information as it becomes available.
