Speaker 1: Hello everybody, some big breaking news. Tucker Carlson is returning
Speaker 1: to the airwaves, but he's returning on Twitter in an
Speaker 1: interesting turn of events that comes in some big legal drama.
Speaker 1: Before we play you the video, we got to explain
Speaker 1: the context one of the reasons that he is relaunching
Speaker 1: his show on Twitter. The news just broken. Let's go
Speaker 1: ahead and put it up there on the screen. Tucker
Speaker 1: Carlson is now accusing Fox News of fraud and a
Speaker 1: contract breach. So what does that mean. The new letter
Speaker 1: sent by Tucker Carlson and his team is demanding legal action,
Speaker 1: saying that Fox News violated the terms of Tucker Carlson's
Speaker 1: contract and arguing that the non compete provision in his
Speaker 1: contract is no longer valid, freeing him to now launch
Speaker 1: his own competing show or media enterprise. He announced his
Speaker 1: show will be coming to Twitter and the Twitter platform exclusively,
Speaker 1: we believe. Currently there is some speculation that the Twitter
Speaker 1: move would technically violate the Carlson contract, but the lawyers
Speaker 1: say that Fox actually is the one who breached the
Speaker 1: contract first. So for example, the letter was sent by
Speaker 1: Brian Friedman to Fox's lawyer and to their PR people
Speaker 1: and also Rupert Murdoch himself. They say that Fox executives
Speaker 1: specifically have quote made material representations or promises to Carlson
Speaker 1: that were intentionally broken, constituting fraud. Also, they alleged that
Speaker 1: Fox actually broke their agreement with Carlson to not leak
Speaker 1: his private communications to the media and to not use
Speaker 1: his private messages quote to take any adverse employment action
Speaker 1: against him. Basically, they are pointing to the leaked text
Speaker 1: messages from the redacted ones that only foxes in possession
Speaker 1: of to the mainstream media, as well as multiple behind
Speaker 1: the scenes video that clearly were leaked by somebody with
Speaker 1: knowledge or I guess access to the Fox archives. I
Speaker 1: guess you wonder who that would be. So what they
Speaker 1: say is that they believe that the representations by the
Speaker 1: Fox executives amount to enough of a breach of contract
Speaker 1: allowing him then to come in and to launch his
Speaker 1: show on Twitter. The launch is what happened just now
Speaker 1: a couple of moments ago. We're going to go and
Speaker 1: play the full video for you, which includes a denouncement
Speaker 1: of the mainstream media and an explanation of why Talker
Speaker 1: relaunching a show on Twitter. Specifically, let's get to it.
Speaker 2: Hey, it's Tucker Carlson. You often hear of people say
Speaker 2: the news is full of lies, but most of the
Speaker 2: time that's not exactly right. Much of what you see
Speaker 2: on television or read the New York Times is in
Speaker 2: fact true in the literal sense. It could pass one
Speaker 2: of the media's own fact checks. Lawyers would be willing
Speaker 2: to sign off on it. In fact, they may have,
Speaker 2: but that doesn't make it true. It's not true. At
Speaker 2: the most basic level, the news you consume is a lie,
Speaker 2: a lie of the stealthiest and most insidious kind. Facts
Speaker 2: have been withheld on purpose, along with proportion and perspective.
Speaker 2: You are being manipulated. How does that work. Let's see,
Speaker 2: if I tell you that a man has been unjustly
Speaker 2: arrested for armed robbery, that is not, strictly speaking a lie.
Speaker 2: He may have been framed. At this point there's been
Speaker 2: no trial, so no one can really say. But if
Speaker 2: I don't mention the fact that the same man has
Speaker 2: been arrested for the same crime six times before, am
Speaker 2: I really informing you? No, I'm not. I'm misleading you.
Speaker 2: And that's what the news media are doing. In every
Speaker 2: story that matters every day of the week, every week
Speaker 2: of the year. What's it like to work in a
Speaker 2: system like that? After more than thirty years in the
Speaker 2: middle of it, we could tell you stories. The best
Speaker 2: you can hope for in the news business at this
Speaker 2: point is the freedom to tell the fullest truth that
Speaker 2: you can. But there are always limits, and you know
Speaker 2: that if you bump up against those limits often enough,
Speaker 2: you will be fired for it. That's not a guess,
Speaker 2: it's guaranteed. Every person who works in English language media
Speaker 2: understands that the rule of what you can't say defines everything.
Speaker 2: It's filthy, really, and it's utterly corrupting. You can't have
Speaker 2: a free society if people aren't allowed to say what
Speaker 2: they think is true. Speech is the fundamental prerequisite for democracy.
Speaker 2: That's why it's enshrined in the first of our constitutional amendments. Amazingly,
Speaker 2: as of tonight, there aren't many platforms left that allow
Speaker 2: free speech. The last big one remaining in the world.
Speaker 2: The only one is Twitter. Where we are now. Twitter
Speaker 2: has long served as the place where our national conversation
Speaker 2: incubates and develops. Twitter is not a partisan sight. Everybody's
Speaker 2: allowed here, and we think that's a good thing, and
Speaker 2: yet for the most part, the news that you see
Speaker 2: analyzed on Twitter comes from media organizations that are themselves
Speaker 2: thinly disguised propaganda outlets. You see it on cable news,
Speaker 2: you talk about it on Twitter. The result may feel
Speaker 2: like a debate, but actually the gatekeepers are still in charge.
Speaker 2: We think that's a bad system. We know exactly how
Speaker 2: it works, and we're sick of it. Starting soon, will
Speaker 2: be bringing a new version of the show we've been
Speaker 2: doing for the last six and a half years to Twitter.
Speaker 2: We bring some other things to which we'll tell you about,
Speaker 2: but for now, we're just grateful to be here. Free
Speaker 2: speech is the main right that you have. Without it,
Speaker 2: you have no others. See you sooner.
Speaker 1: Okay, so there's a lot going on here. Obviously, you
Speaker 1: know it's pretty crazy that this is all in the
Speaker 1: context of a major lawsuit. But second, let's just talk
Speaker 1: about this in the vacuum on Twitter itself. Fascinating move
Speaker 1: to launch just on Twitter for a number of reasons,
Speaker 1: and I don't mean this in a disparaging way, but
Speaker 1: you know, traditionally, if you're somebody like who wants a
Speaker 1: long form podcast or YouTube show, specific a visual medium,
Speaker 1: you almost certainly would go to some sort of streaming
Speaker 1: platform which is built kind of with that infrastructure. Twitter
Speaker 1: video is not built really for this at all. So
Speaker 1: I'm very curious to see if this is rolled maybe
Speaker 1: into the Twitter Blue program, or if they include long
Speaker 1: form content, playback, speed, you know, all these other things
Speaker 1: that you would never think about for long form media
Speaker 1: distribution and consumption. We should remember that the history of
Speaker 1: long form video on Twitter is not good outside of
Speaker 1: Periscope and live streaming. AM two DM was a BuzzFeed
Speaker 1: News morning show concept was horrifically failed on Twitter. This
Speaker 1: was almost several years ago. Whenever it's shut down, it's
Speaker 1: a big gamble not to go with the traditional route
Speaker 1: of podcasting and of YouTube. Presumptively, though, it's possible that
Speaker 1: this was, you know, maybe the easiest way they thought
Speaker 1: that they wouldn't violate as much the terms of the contract,
Speaker 1: rather than going fresh out the gate with YouTube and
Speaker 1: with podcasts. It's also possible Elon cut him a fact check,
Speaker 1: basically becoming a publisher himself, being like, hey, you know,
Speaker 1: I've got all the money in the world. I stand
Speaker 1: for free speech. Fox fired you for X, Y and
Speaker 1: Z I'll hire you and you can report exclusively on
Speaker 1: my platform. That's pretty interesting now in the context of
Speaker 1: what I think about all this, and again I have
Speaker 1: not spoken Tom about this literally at all, so I
Speaker 1: have no inside knowledge. What I am curious to see
Speaker 1: is the level of reach that this will maintain, because
Speaker 1: I think that this does accomplish something that I know
Speaker 1: was important to him and I think important for kind
Speaker 1: of his role in the GOP and media landscape. Is
Speaker 1: Twitter's where the elite conversation happens, right, So if he
Speaker 1: is exclusively on Twitter, then people who are reacting to
Speaker 1: his clips can do so on Twitter. Also, all the
Speaker 1: Republican lawmakers can react on Twitter, because that is so
Speaker 1: key to where all the elites hang out, and it's
Speaker 1: actually kind of the perfect place where if you're going
Speaker 1: to be having elites on Twitter, then it's also a
Speaker 1: great time to ridicule set elites on Twitter, as you
Speaker 1: will do very likely on his show. That then raises
Speaker 1: the question of his cultural relevance, where I think this
Speaker 1: does square the circle somewhat in that way, just because
Speaker 1: it will be on that central platform, and of course
Speaker 1: reach will be massive. I mean already I think within
Speaker 1: I think ten minutes of imposting the video, I almost
Speaker 1: had over a million views that were included on the video. Now,
Speaker 1: of course I am not comparing cable news viewers to
Speaker 1: Twitter viewers, which is very, very different. They only have
Speaker 1: to watch for two seconds. You know. Even YouTube views
Speaker 1: are frankly, in my opinion, more comparable. But even then,
Speaker 1: of course they're slightly different. You know, all of these
Speaker 1: things that said very clearly, this will be able to
Speaker 1: reach a younger demographic and it's literally unlimited appeal. And
Speaker 1: also you can watch presumably on demand on Twitter at
Speaker 1: any point that you would want to. This may also
Speaker 1: prelude some changes to the overall Twitter platform. So anyways,
Speaker 1: it's a crazy development, and honestly it's a gamble. It's
Speaker 1: a gamble to go straight onto Twitter. I personally I
Speaker 1: would have gone a much more traditional route YouTube and podcasts.
Speaker 1: That's what we do. But anyways, lots to be said here.
Speaker 1: The lawsuit itself is going to be exciting in terms
Speaker 1: of what it means for non competes in the media sphere,
Speaker 1: and also some possible fun stuff that may come out
Speaker 1: about leaks and text messages and all of that. So
Speaker 1: we'll continue to cover all that for you. We've got
Speaker 1: a great show for everybody tomorrow on Counterpoints. Make sure
Speaker 1: you turned into that. And thank you for everybody Premium
Speaker 1: subscribers who enable our snap reactions that we can do,
Speaker 1: for the crew, for everybody, all of us to just
Speaker 1: mobilize and get this thing out to you as soon
Speaker 1: as possible. We love you Breakingpoints dot com if you're
Speaker 1: able to support us, and yeah, we'll see you guys later.