‘You’re a Little Obsessive About Fox’: Tucker Carlson and WaPo Media Reporter Go At It

Fox News’ Tucker Carlson got into a heated back-and-forth tonight with Washington Post media reporter Erik Wemple over media bias. Carlson first confronted Wemple about the “paid propaganda from the Russian government” that the Post has ran. Wemple said there are a number of papers that run similar inserts and that readers should be able to differentiate between that and real news.

Carlson then accused Wemple of failing to adequately cover media issues related to his own paper, citing recent examples like the corrected WaPo report on Steve Bannon‘s alleged confrontation with DHS Secretary John Kelly. Wemple pointed to a very critical piece he did on the Post‘s very misleading report on Russian hackers penetrating the U.S. electricity grid.

Wemple said he has a lot of freedom to be critical of his own paper, to which Carlson shot back, “Then you just decline to do it?”

Carlson brought up his piece about the Post‘s hacking report and singled him out writing, “The missteps mar an otherwise spectacular run for The Post, which nailed exclusive after exclusive in the presidential campaign.” He mocked Wemple for saying something “brown-nosey.”

Wemple implored him to read the rest of that final paragraph and for the record says this:

With traffic surging and editorial ranks growing, The Post, you might suppose, would have the self-confidence to sit for an extensive interview about its occasional failings. Apparently not.

As they got more heated, Wemple challenged Carlson on whether he spoke out about a report his own network had to retract and apologize for. Carlson said he’s not a media reporter and Wemple shot back, “You cover the media every single day! I watch you. Everybody on Fox News covers the media.”

Carlson told Wemple he’s “a little obsessive about Fox News,” saying he covers the network way more than he does MSNBC. He accused Wemple of being a “political hack” and asked if his editors believe he does a good job playing it straight.

Wemple said he does and pointed to his piece today calling out the “weaselly” statement the New York Times issued in response to the reporter who smeared Melania Trump. Carlson responded, “Oh, you questioned your competitor? That’s very brave.”

Watch the full interview above, via Fox News.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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