Carlson is launching his own media company via Twitter that includes free content as well as content behind a paywall, according to The Wall Street Journal.
That news comes after Carlson was let go at Fox back in mid-April despite hosting the cable news channel’s top-drawing show. A few weeks later, he re-emerged in a three-minute Twitter video (pictured at left) in which he promised a “new version” of his show free from corporate oversight and censorship.
Carlson describes 'unbelievable' revelations from Good BookSteve Jordahl, AFN.net Tucker Carlson, one of the biggest names in TV journalism at the moment, appears to be on a spiritual journey in which he is digging into the Bible and its life-changing truth. When the former Fox News host grilled Republican candidates last week at a forum hosted by The Family Leader, he also sat down at the same Iowa event with president Bob Vander Plaats. When the topic of faith came up, Carlson shared he tried something new during the most recent Lent: He started reading and studying the Bible. “It's like the most interesting thing I've ever done, actually. It's unbelievable,” said Carlson, who was raised Episcopalian. He told Vander Plaats he felt like the drama of the Bible was hidden from him in church services over the years. 
Recounting that discussion, Vander Plaats tells AFN it was obvious God is at work in Carlson’s life. “Reading the Bible, things are just popping out at him like never before,” Vander Plaats says. Although it appears Carlson is amazed at what he is reading and learning, Vander Plaats says Christians know what is happening: the Holy Spirit is revealing those truths to a man who is open to learning them. As evidence he is indeed digging deep, Carlson shared he is learning that God used imperfect people in history for “grander purposes.” Those people have the free will to make choices, he added, but it is God who is ultimately charge of mankind, which Carlson called the “arc of history.” |
“The rule of what you can’t say,” he said, “defines everything.”
Curtis Houck of Media Research Center says Carlson’s move to a social media site from news titan Fox News represents a seismic shift in TV news coverage. Going back to CBS and its "coast-to-coast" coverage in the 1950s, the American public has witnessed the “big three” TV networks dominate news coverage for generations. But then Ted Turner and his upstart CNN emerged in 1980 with 24-hour news coverage.
Fox News launched in 1996, now more than a quarter-century ago, and now the news network’s most popular host is attempting to bring that audience to Twitter.
Houck says Carlson’s videos are being watched by millions and averaging five times as many viewers as his industry-leading Fox show.
“That's an astounding number,” he observes, “the kind of thing that we would see in the past for a sitcom.”
Fox News, on the other hand, has seen its rating drops since April when its star talk host departed. For the most part Fox is easily outpacing CNN but dropped behind MSNBC in June in demographics that are key for advertising dollars.
Since the departure of Carlson, the new Fox prime time lineup includes Laura Ingraham, Jesse Watters, Sean Hannity and Greg Gutfeld.
“The jury is still out because the key is how does their new prime time schedule do. It's kind of reshuffling,” Houck says. “How does that turn out?”
