Journalist Megyn Kelly told the Daily Caller during an hour-long interview that while people are fleeing corporate media overall, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson is thriving in part because of “his bravery.”
Kelly spoke with the Caller’s media reporter Shelby Talcott about the changing media landscape and why viewers and journalists alike are tuning into independent sources of media rather than traditional cable news. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Megyn Kelly Broke Free Of Corporate Media. Now She’s Giving Them Hell)
The veteran journalist noted that while President Donald Trump saved cable news for the time being, the media landscape is shifting away from that form of news – with the exception, perhaps, of one host, whose numbers continue to climb: Tucker Carlson.
“I think Tucker, in a way, is like [Bill] O’Reilly and me, where he’s unpredictable,” Kelly said as she explained why he’s seen so much success. “You just, you never knew – even Bill, you never knew where he was gonna come down on an issue and you certainly never knew where I was gonna come down, and I think the same is true of Tucker. And Tucker’s shown a lot of courage in this whole, you know, cancel culture nonsense. He’s clearly not afraid of you calling him nasty names, and I think people admire that.”
“When everyone’s being told you can’t say ‘the thing,’ there’s something soothing about tuning in to hear somebody say ‘the thing’ and to realize you might not be insane,” she added. (RELATED: Megyn Kelly Launches New Independent Media Company ‘Devil May Care Media’)
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Kelly continued on to say that Carlson is taking the route of those who have moved into online independent journalism – that is, “helping people” who want to hear “the thing.” She acknowledged, though, that despite Tucker’s recent success, there is a “problem with cable and Tucker’s setup.”
“I do think the only problem with cable and Tucker’s setup is you only have 42 minutes of airtime and you have six blocks to get through, so you can have two or three minute conversations and it kind of leaves the itch unscratched,” according to Kelly, who said the podcast format allows for “more in-depth conversations.” (You can listen to her podcast ‘The Megyn Kelly Show’ here on Apple Podcasts.”)
Carlson announced on his show Monday evening that the network is “working on a project to expand the amount of reporting and analysis we do in this hour, across other parts of the company.” This came following a fake Facebook post alleging that the Fox News host would be moving to Newsmax. The post was fact-checked as “Pants On Fire!” by Politifact.
But, will Carlson eventually depart Fox in favor of this new wave of big-name independent journalists? Kelly said she’s not sure, and that “we’ll see.”
“I don’t know,” Kelly said, adding that she’s “had discussions with Tucker.” The former Fox News anchor declined to get into further details about that.
“I do think there’s a reason he’s doing so well, and I think it’s his bravery,” she said of Carlson.