How Tucker Carlson came to dominate American media and reshape Fox News in his image 

Tucker Carlson’s three-decade media career saw him transform from a little-known, bow tie wearing CNN commentator to one of the most powerful figures in American media.

The 53-year-old is out at Fox News days after it paid $787.5 million to settle the Dominion lawsuit. He has spent years as the face of the network’s political coverage through his hugely successful nightly show, Tucker Carlson Tonight.

Carlson divided opinion – and drew fierce criticism from the left – with his polemics on everything from the 2020 presidential election to the Black Lives Matter movement.

But he hasn’t always been known as a divisive right-wing firebrand.

His career, which began in the mid-1990s, has included work for a wide range of publications, including a long stint at CNN, and he’s also the author of several books.

Carlson, pictured in 2003 after he joined CNN, was recognizable early in his career for wearing a bow tie. He dropped the neckwear in the 2000s after some hurled abuse at him for it in New York’s Penn Station

Carlson is seen during his final Fox News broadcast on April 21

Carlson is seen during his final Fox News broadcast on April 21

Carlson started his career in the 1990s as a fact-checker for Policy Review, a conservative journal which ceased publication in 2013. After that, he worked as an opinion writer at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

The early years of his print career also included a stint at The Weekly Standard, which closed down in 2018.

As a print journalist, he wrote for publications including The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and Esquire. But, at the time, there were limits to who he was willing to work for.

In 1999, Carlson told how he’d feared he’d be ‘written off as a wing nut’ if he joined The American Spectator, a conservative magazine.

His TV break came in 2000 when he joined CNN and co-hosted The Spin Room. 

Carlson was recognizable by his trademark bow tie. He started wearing the neckwear in 1984 while a student at prep school – and only dropped it in the 2000s after a stranger who took issue with the attire ‘screamed obscenities’ at him while walking through Penn Station in New York.

In 2004, while hosting Crossfire on CNN, Carlson was given a dressing down by comedian and commentator Jon Stewart during a segment that’s regularly dug out by Carlson’s critics.

Stewart accused the show and its hosts of ‘hurting America’ and mocked Carlson for his bow tie. ‘You’re doing theater, when you should be doing debate, which would be great,’ he said. ‘What you do is not honest. What you do is partisan hackery.’

Stewart also said Carlson needed to go to journalism school. Crossfire was axed several months later.

Carlson also spent three years at MSNBC and appeared on Dancing with the Stars in 2006 before he joined Fox News in 2009.

It was here that Carlson became a household name through Tucker Carlson Tonight, which became the network’s flagship show and was often the highest-rated show on cable news TV. In 2022, it averaged about 3.3 million viewers per show.

Carlson became a household name through Tucker Carlson Tonight, which became Fox News's flagship show. In 2022, it averaged about 3.3 million viewers per show

Carlson became a household name through Tucker Carlson Tonight, which became Fox News’s flagship show. In 2022, it averaged about 3.3 million viewers per show

Carlson, seen in his final show on April 21, has made the culture wars a staple of his show in recent years

Carlson, seen in his final show on April 21, has made the culture wars a staple of his show in recent years

His position made him a leading voice in the culture wars, providing millions of Americans with a fiercely right-wing take on issues from identity politics to the Black Lives Matter movement.

But it was his take on the 2020 presidential election and the January 6 riots which arguably stirred the most controversy. 

His departure comes days after Fox settled with Dominion Voting Systems which had sued for defamation, claiming hosts like Carlson knew President Trump’s election fraud claims were untrue, but pushed them for ratings.

Dominion sued for $1.6billion and settled for $787million at the 11th hour, narrowly avoiding an embarrassing and highly-publicized trial where Carlson and other hosts would likely have been called as witnesses.

Carlson also came under fire for recent reporting about the January 6 riots, which included claims most of those who stormed the Capitol were ‘orderly and meek’ and ‘obviously revere’ the building.

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