Tucker Carlson calls journalists 'cowards' who act like 'bodyguards for Jeff Bezos'
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- Fox News host Tucker Carlson said Friday that journalists acted like "bodyguards for Jeff Bezos."
- In an interview with news website Outkick, the primetime host said he "really hated" reporters.
- Carlson did not name specific journalists or media outlets.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Friday issued a fresh attack on journalists, describing them as "cringing animals who are not worthy of respect."
In an interview with pop culture website Outkick, Carlson said mainstream journalists were "small-minded, status-obsessed, insecure, not that bright, and just not impressive."
The primetime host also claimed that their work is not "aimed upwards" and that many reporters "suck up to power."
"I just can't overstate how disgusted I am, not simply by the details of the lying of the medium, but disgusted by the emphasis," he said, according to the Guardian. "The media is basically Praetorian Guard for the ruling class, the bodyguards for Jeff Bezos. That's the opposite of what we should have."
"It just makes me sick," he added. "I really hate them."
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Carlson went on to criticize journalists for not subjecting Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to more "intense scrutiny" and said they're not doing "tough stories" on people with the most power.
"Jeff Bezos should be subjected to some intense scrutiny since he's the richest man in the world. He owns the 'Washington Post'. He is China's biggest retailer. I mean, he's really changed our country," he said, according to Outkick.
"And yet, there's no scrutiny on Jeff Bezos. It's all, you know, 'What a great guy,' and 'Jeff Bezos is a genius.' We suck up to power, and we hurt those below us. I can't think of anything more dishonorable than that," he added.
Carlson did not name specific reporters or media outlets.
The primetime host began his own career in journalism in the early 1990s as a fact-checker for a national conservative journal called "Policy Review."
His father, Richard Warner Carlson, was also a journalist who served as the director of the Voice of America during the last years of the Cold War.
This is not the first time Carlson has attacked journalists.
Last month, he dedicated two full segments on his show to smearing New York Times technology reporter Taylor Lorenz. He called her "privileged" and dismissed her experience of online abuse as "not real harassment."
The Times rebuked Carlson's comments, writing in a statement at the time: "In a now familiar move, Tucker Carlson opened his show last night by attacking a journalist. It was a calculated and cruel tactic, which he regularly deploys to unleash a wave of harassment and vitriol at his intended target.
"Taylor Lorenz is a talented New York Times journalist doing timely and essential reporting. Journalists should be able to do their jobs without facing harassment."
Fox News did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
sankel@businessinsider.com (Sophia Ankel) Money Game http://www.businessinsider.com/moneygame
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