In 2000, Carlson was hired by CNN where he stayed until 2005. He started off as co-host of “The Spin Room”, becoming the youngest anchor ever hired by the network. In 2001 he became the co-host of “Crossfire”, presenting the political views of the ‘right’. His co-host, Paul Begala illustrated the opinions of the ‘left’. At the time, he also hosted the weekly public affairs program on PBS, “Tucker Carlson: Unfiltered”.
As implied in the name of the show — The ‘Spin’ Room — Carlson had a talent for flipping any topic, no matter how controversial, so that it would agree with his conservative views. At times, liberal viewers wondered if he really believed the things he said in his exchanges with Begala or was he simply skilled at playing devil’s advocate.
The Beginning
Everyone has to start somewhere. Tucker’s journalism career kicked off when he became a fact-checker for a national conservative journal called Policy Review — then published by The Heritage Foundation, but currently belongs to the Hoover Institution.
Carlson is proud of his beginning. He utilized those years to sharpen his investigative skills and learn from his more experienced colleagues. This would help climb the ranks in the news industry. As you will come to see, he has surely come a long way since then!
From Fact Checker to Writer
As a reporter, he traveled around the world to the most talked-about locations, contributing to magazines and newspapers such as the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, The Weekly Standard, Reader’s Digest, Esquire, The Weekly Standard, The New Republic, The New York Times Magazine, and The Daily Beast. Quite an impressive list!
The publications appreciated his take on current events and international affairs, especially those that favored more conservative political views.
The Unforgettable Debate
You've probably already got a sense that Carlson isn’t one to back down in a debate. In October 2004, the year of the 2004 presidential elections, he had one of his most memorable moments that has become part of American TV history. In a heated exchange between Carlson and Jon Stewart (the host of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central at the time), Stewart criticized the co-hosts saying “ It's hurting America. Here is what I wanted to tell you guys: Stop. You have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably."
Stewart believed the two were making a mockery of reporting and journalism because they irresponsibly presented extremes of both political spectrums on important issues that only caused more division amongst the American people. Tucker later revealed that when the televised show ended, they stayed on arguing for several hours. Carlson said that it was heartfelt.
Facing the Consequences
In January 2005, CNN announced that Carlson would be leaving the network and “Crossfire” was going to be taken off the air. It was quite sudden news. At the time, the New York Times wrote about Stewart’s "on-air dressing-down" of Carlson as an "ignominious career [moment]" for Carlson. According to the paper, it was because of this criticism that the show “Crossfire” was ended. But this was not all, CNN chief Jonathan Klein, informed Carlson that his contract would not be renewed.
Carlson, however, tells a different story, His version is that he had already resigned from CNN and “Crossfire” even before Stewart was booked as a guest. Speaking to host Patricia Duff, Carlson revealed that “I resigned from “Crossfire” in April, many months before Jon Stewart came on our show, because I didn’t like the partisanship, and I thought in some ways it was kind of a pointless conversation […] each side coming out, you know, ‘Here’s my argument,’ and no one listening to anyone else. [CNN] was a frustrating place to work.” Who knows telling the truth?