Fox News Channel ruthlessly published Tucker Carlson’s home phone number yesterday, but it turns out the network had a pretty good reason to do so.
During yesterday’s episode of CNN’s Crossfire, Carlson, one of the show’s two conservative hosts, took the unpopular decision of defending telemarketers.
After prodding from co-host Paul Begala and a Crossfire viewer, Carlson agreed to give out his phone number on the air.
“Get out your pen,” Carlson said before giving out a number. “You can reach me there anytime. That’s fine. I have defended telemarketers. Feel free to call me, someone is always there.”
That takes a lot of guts, right? There was only one problem. It wasn’t his phone number he was giving out.
Instead, the conservative host was giving Crossfire viewers the phone number to the Washington bureau of Fox News Channel. (Despite Carlson’s conservative ideology, he has expressed disdain for FNC’s brand of journalism, which he has labeled “demagoguery.”)
Naturally, CNN viewers who disagreed with Carlson’s take on telemarketers decided to give him a call to share their thoughts on the issue. As a result, Fox News was bombarded with angry calls to their DC bureau.
To help clarify the situation, Fox News issued a report to its viewers with Carlson’s actual home phone number.
FNC’s report said the network “felt obliged…to get the facts right and correct Carlson’s error.”
I shudder to think how many FNC fans bothered Carlson at home last night. The poor guy, if he’s smart, has already called the phone company to get his number changed.