Journalist Rips Tucker Carlson a New One
HERE IS A COPY OF AN E-MAIL THAT THE MANAGING EDITOR OF THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE SENT TO TUCKER CARLSON AFTER CARLSON USED A TAPED INTERVIEW ON HIS SHOW IN A SEGMENT ABOUT THE TRIBUNE'S DECISION "NOT" TO RUN ANY OF THE MUSLIM CARTOONS THAT HAVE SET OFF SUCH A FIRESTORM OVERSEAS.
Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2006 3:39 PM
To: [Tucker Carlson]
Subject: Response to Tucker
Dear Tucker,
Taping your show that ran on MSNBC last night was a real lesson for me. I now understand why you have so few viewers. Who wants to deal with someone whose backbone is as flimsy as his bow tie. Your personal and derogatory comment about me after my taped appearance on your show to discuss why the Chicago Tribune decided not to publish cartoons offensive to Muslims was cowardly.
When I was in the Army (an experience I'm sure you've not shared), we referred to people like you as "guys who back up to the pay table." It is one thing to disagree with me about the decisions we make in what we run and don't run in the Chicago Tribune. You even had the gall to say "I respectfully disagree but I appreciate your coming on (to the show) to explain it." That was when I was being taped, or as close as you could come to looking me in the eye. After the tape ran on your live show later and I (and the hundreds of millions of other Americans who don't watch Tucker) were otherwise occupied, you referred to my newspaper as "cowardly" and to me personally as a "corporate worm." You didn't even have the guts to say that to me on tape. It is no wonder that people don't want to appear on your show.
I know I won't appear on your show or MSNBC and I would guess that would apply to my colleagues at the Chicago Tribune. I resent your comment about my newspaper even more than your craven characterization of me. The Chicago Tribune is an honorable newspaper run by people who believe journalism is more than a game show. The people who work here are brave, courageous reporters and editors who make tough calls everyday, an experience I know you can't understand since you've never done so. Many have risked their lives bringing news to our readers. For someone like you to imply they are cowardly is disgusting.
Then again I guess I should be more understanding. When someone is at the bottom of a well in the ratings and desperate for attention, I shouldn't be surprised that they slide so naturally into name-calling.
I suspect that the Chicago Tribune will be around a lot longer than you, Tucker, and if I'm wrong, I will buy you your drink of choice, which is probably a sarsaparilla.
Disrespectfully,
James O'Shea
Managing Editor
Chicago Tribune
Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2006 3:39 PM
To: [Tucker Carlson]
Subject: Response to Tucker
Dear Tucker,
Taping your show that ran on MSNBC last night was a real lesson for me. I now understand why you have so few viewers. Who wants to deal with someone whose backbone is as flimsy as his bow tie. Your personal and derogatory comment about me after my taped appearance on your show to discuss why the Chicago Tribune decided not to publish cartoons offensive to Muslims was cowardly.
When I was in the Army (an experience I'm sure you've not shared), we referred to people like you as "guys who back up to the pay table." It is one thing to disagree with me about the decisions we make in what we run and don't run in the Chicago Tribune. You even had the gall to say "I respectfully disagree but I appreciate your coming on (to the show) to explain it." That was when I was being taped, or as close as you could come to looking me in the eye. After the tape ran on your live show later and I (and the hundreds of millions of other Americans who don't watch Tucker) were otherwise occupied, you referred to my newspaper as "cowardly" and to me personally as a "corporate worm." You didn't even have the guts to say that to me on tape. It is no wonder that people don't want to appear on your show.
I know I won't appear on your show or MSNBC and I would guess that would apply to my colleagues at the Chicago Tribune. I resent your comment about my newspaper even more than your craven characterization of me. The Chicago Tribune is an honorable newspaper run by people who believe journalism is more than a game show. The people who work here are brave, courageous reporters and editors who make tough calls everyday, an experience I know you can't understand since you've never done so. Many have risked their lives bringing news to our readers. For someone like you to imply they are cowardly is disgusting.
Then again I guess I should be more understanding. When someone is at the bottom of a well in the ratings and desperate for attention, I shouldn't be surprised that they slide so naturally into name-calling.
I suspect that the Chicago Tribune will be around a lot longer than you, Tucker, and if I'm wrong, I will buy you your drink of choice, which is probably a sarsaparilla.
Disrespectfully,
James O'Shea
Managing Editor
Chicago Tribune
posted by cvo @ 12:47 PM
2 Comments:
At 9:19 AM,
Unknown said…
Now that's some interesting stuff.
I've seen one or two bits of Carlson's show over the last several months. He does seem somewhat glossy to me, but I haven't really watched him carefully and critically. Has Carlson exhibited a pattern of disrespectful remarks? The scathing letter implies something of the sort but does not make explicit reference to any other incidents in which Carlson punched below the belt.
I wonder if there is any chance of Carlson's apologizing.
At 11:17 AM,
cvo said…
I think alot of people who agree to do interviews for broadcast journalists and especially the 24 hour news cycle often feel burned afterwards. They talk in nuances about a complex subject only to be relegated to a 10-second soundbite in a taped piece. Then, if you add insult to injury by deriding the person who agreed to talk on camera, you're just begging for this kind of reaction from the interview subject.
I think on-air personalities like Tucker Carlson and Bill O'Reilly have to take a position on issues like this just to stir the pot and create some "juice". Rush Limbaugh has been doing it for years and is a multi-millionaire because of it.
Being a seasoned journalist, O'Shea should not have been surprised by his treatment at the hands of a broadcast colleague. Surely, he's watched enough cable talk shows to know that anyone can become a target of a talk show host's wrath.
I mainly posted the letter because I loved the "sasparilla" dig at the end of it. Classic.
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