Reasons American Main Stream Media is Mishandling Tucker Carlson’s Putin Interview

Professional jealousy and the literary clickbait version of a drive-by shooting are a big reason many reporters in the mainstream media are squatting to pee on Tucker rather than focusing on the fact he got access, at great personal risk, and some insightful feedback from Putin himself.

Did Putin grandstand and twist facts to support his cause? Yes, but spend some time in Washington, D.C., and you’ll see the same behavior and worse in today’s embarrassing trashscape of American politics.

Eleven Years of SOFREP

It’s been eleven years since I started SOFREP. What started out as a Special Operations culture blog took a sharp turn toward news when our writers kept seeing large news outlets get so many things wrong with what our military was doing overseas.

Along the way, we’ve worked with many different large news organizations (Fox, CNN, New York Times, Business Insider, Newsweek, and more), some helpful, some not-so-helpful relationships. One constant that always lurked in the background was a clear animosity toward the SOFREP editorial team.

Some news teams just wanted our sources or to use us as a source and not share the byline. Just getting them to put a link to our site was like asking a five-year-old bully to share his candy.

Truth as the First Casualty of Journalism

In modern American news, it’s a war for views, in dog-eat-dog newsrooms, and often, important facts and truth are swapped out for overly dramatic sensationalism, often written by twenty-something lambkins with very little life experience and maybe one Cancun stamp in their passport.

Then there’s the bubble-headed, bleached-blond tv reporters who will tell you about the drone strike in Gaza with a gleam in their eye… as Don Henley famously sang in, Dirty Laundry.

How did the coverage of Tucker Carlson’s interview of Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, play out this week?

Rather than focus on the very revealing motives of Putin, they chose to just shit all over Tucker in an effort to draft off the popularity of the topic on Google.

Now what?

BREAK

There are always two sides to every story, and Putin’s was worth hearing. In the interview, three major points stood out that emphasize the complexity of the world stage and the necessity for nuanced journalism.

NATO’s Broken Promises

First, Putin’s discussion on NATO expansion highlighted the geopolitical tensions and the Russian perspective that often goes unheard or is oversimplified in Western media. This insight into Russia’s security concerns is crucial for a balanced understanding of international relations. It’s why we didn’t want Russian missiles in Cuba. Put yourself in Putin’s shoes for one moment with several broken promises of NATO expansion.

Second, Putin’s remarks on cyber warfare and election interference brought to light the murky waters of digital espionage and political manipulation. It’s a global issue that demands more attention than sensational headlines and sound bites can offer. It is also worth noting that the US has a long history of election interference; Guatemala is a great example, and there are many many more.

Lastly, we must recognize the painful truth that America has done terrible things over the past twenty years. We have to reconcile this, and admit our own shortcomings before we attempt to take any moral high ground.

The US has held people in jail on foreign shores without due process (GITMO in Cuba) and killed thousands of innocent civilians with Drone strikes gone bad, including an Obama authorized drone strike on a 16 year-old US citizen visiting his grandparents in Yemen.

Guilty of being the son of a radical Islamic cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki.

“Two weeks later, al-Awlaki’s 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen who was born in Denver, Colorado, was also killed by a CIA-led drone strike in Yemen. His daughter, 8-year old Nawar al-Awlaki, was killed during a raid against Al Qaeda ordered by President Donald Trump in 2017.” –Wikipedia

Then there’s the failed campaign in Iraq destabilized the region and saw the rise of ISIS, emboldened Iran, and nudged forward civil war in Syria, and the result pushed tens of thousands of refugees into the European Union.

Thank you America may I have another…

America’s foreign policy has had no moral compass for over twenty years, and our broken political machine has created a system that churns out short-sighted policies, that support career politicians getting re-elected rather than focusing on long-term objectives that support democracy and set the example for the rest of the free world to follow.

America has turned into bad parents who angrily yell, “Do as I say, not as I do!” with halitosis on the breath and frankly, it’s become quite embarrassing.

So I keep writing…

While it’s easy to demonize or lionize figures like Putin and Xi of China based on political leanings, the reality is often more complex.

The Importance of Unbiased Journalism

These points underscore the importance of unbiased journalism. In an era where sensationalism often trumps depth, I applaud Tucker for getting this interview done. It’s not just about presenting both sides of the story; it’s about digging deeper to uncover the truths that lie beneath the surface.

The Tucker Carlson-Putin interview, despite its controversies, serves as a reminder that in the pursuit of truth, we must be willing to listen to voices from all sides, even those with whom we may vehemently disagree.

In closing, the role of journalists is not to play judge and jury but rather to illuminate the facts, offering the public a clearer picture of the world in which they live. As we’ve navigated the choppy waters of news reporting at SOFREP, our commitment has always been to the truth, regardless of how uncomfortable, unpopular (e.g., our Niger Ambush reporting), or inconvenient it may be.

This commitment is what drives us to seek out stories that matter, to challenge narratives, and to offer a platform for the unvarnished truth. In a time when bias often clouds the landscape of news, the importance of unbiased journalism has never been more critical. It’s not just about informing the public; it’s about preserving the very fabric of our democracy.