What Indian electronic media can learn from Fox News' Tucker Carlson saga

New Delhi: After Fox News settled a defamation suit from Dominion Voting Systems for a whopping $787 million, it dropped Tucker Carlson, a hugely popular right-wing anchor at the channel. 

At the heart of the suit were claims made at Fox News during the coverage of the 2020 elections that voting machines were rigged to ensure the victory of Joe Biden. 

Even though the Fox anchors in their private communication believed that there wasn’t anything wrong with the voting machines, they still kept on airing the claims.

Carlson’s firing met with the usual reactions, shock in the conservative world and glee in the liberal scene.

Carlson wasn’t even allowed to say goodbye to his audience. He did his last show on Friday and then he was fired before he could resume the show on Monday.

Carlson's episode has many lessons for Indian news anchors.

Their partisan methods of conducting debates haven’t been lost on those who keep a keen eye on the Indian news channel world.

Internal communications among top personalities at Fox News, filed in court in connection with the Dominion voting defamation case, show that Carlson told colleagues that he ‘passionately’ hated Donald Trump and was just waiting for his presidency to end.

But on air, he sided with those who claimed the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol was a peaceful protest.

Indian news anchors, barring a handful of exceptions, too have lost their objectivity in the last few years. The YouTube tribe that professes to save ‘news’ is also part of the problem. They too are no less tainted than their colleagues who sit on news channels. Running partisan debates - on either side of the spectrum is a sure-shot formula to gain views on YouTube and earn quick bucks.

American media is agog with rumours that Carlson too may create a digital platform of his own after being fired by Fox News. We have seen this story in Indian electronic media too.

The Indian electronic media doesn’t realise that they have been seen crawling and now, any other government that comes to power in Delhi in years to come would ensure that they keep on crawling. There is not going to be a respite for them.

The biggest problem with Fox News during the Trump years was its lack of objectivity while covering the controversial president. Trump partisanship brought eyeballs for Fox during Trump years but credibility was lost. Now, the Dominion suit has totally decimated its credibility.

In a private message to his producer, Carlson said the election result should not drag on but on air, he claimed no hasty calls should be made. In another message, Carlson seemed scared of Trump telling his producer that the ex-president was capable of destroying them if they ‘play’ it wrong.

It was alleged that Tucker Carlson was generating money for Fox News, he was one of the biggest draws of the channel but it is believed that channel owners - Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan Murdoch - took a calculated call when they realised Carlson was more trouble than he was an asset.