Progressive Magazine Vows to Win Back Trust After Publishing Positive Tucker Carlson Article

AP Photo/Seth Wenig

David Dayen, the executive editor of the progressive American Prospect magazine, apologized on Wednesday for publishing an article that spoke positively about Tucker Carlson in the wake of the former Fox News host’s ousting this week.

Lee Harris and Luke Goldstein’s Tuesday article, which praised Carlson for putting “hard questions to corporate executives and members of the political establishment,” for hosting anti-war voices, and for his “willingness to challenge and mock ruling elites,” was criticized by liberal readers for being too positive about the conservative cable news personality.

The backlash prompted Dayen to issue a statement on Wednesday apologizing for the article and claiming that it failed to meet the magazine’s editorial standards:

Editor’s note: On Tuesday we published a story from two of our writers, Lee Harris and Luke Goldstein, about the firing of Tucker Carlson. We received a lot of correspondence taking issue with it. Ultimately our readers hold us accountable, and specifically, they hold me accountable as executive editor. I don’t have to agree with everything that runs on the site; I certainly knew this would be controversial. But it is my job as an editor to make sure that whatever journalism or opinion we publish upholds our mission of better understanding the structures of politics and power. I don’t think we quite got there with this story. I think the question of how broadcast news covers corporate predation and war, and the ways in which right-populists have attempted to co-opt these topics, can be worth interrogating. But it shouldn’t downplay the motivations underlying that coverage; that’s where we fell short. Journalism needs to enlighten more than it obscures and provide the necessary context. We did not in this case, and I bear responsibility.

I have always believed that the relationship between a publication and its readers is a matter of trust. For those who were disappointed in or angered by the story, I can only say that I respect your view and will work hard to earn back whatever trust has been lost. What I cannot do is turn back time. What I can do is offer a range of viewpoints. Two other members of our staff requested to write a response to the story, and we will run it when it’s done.

Dayen vowed to “work hard to earn back whatever trust has been lost” from publishing the article and concluded that while he could not “turn back time,” an opposing opinion piece on Carlson’s departure from Fox News would be published as a counterweight.

While many of the American Prospect‘s readers welcomed the apology, it was criticized by others on social media who accused Dayen of throwing his writers under the bus.

“What an incredible act of cowardice,” reacted Republican Ohio Senator J.D. Vance. “Every journalist should know that The American Prospect will throw them under the bus if enough whiny liberals complain loudly enough on Twitter.”