'Risks are massive' for Tucker Carlson ahead of his Vladimir Putin interview

07 February 2024 , 15:33

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'Risks are massive' for Tucker Carlson ahead of his Vladimir Putin interview

An expert has warned that Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host, is taking a "huge risk" by interviewing Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The interview will be Putin's first with a Western journalist since he started his full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago. Putin's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Carlson was chosen for the interview because "he has a position which differs" from other English-language media.

James Rodgers, an associate professor of International Journalism at City, University of London, told The Mirror exclusively that Tucker Carlson "risks becoming a mouthpiece for Putin."

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Tucker Carlson filmed a video outside following the interview (X)

He commented: "In terms of reputation, the risks are massive. You have to try to think not only about how this is seen now. You have to think about how this will be seen in the future. However the war ends, this is the time when Russia launched the biggest attack on another country in Europe since the Second World War: massive loss of civilian life; massive military casualties; massive destruction of property."

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"Unless Carlson can show he's willing to come up with some very tough questions, and not accept soft answers, he really risks becoming a mouthpiece for Putin-and history is likely to judge him very harshly for that."

Two US journalists - Evan Gershkovich from The Wall Street Journal and Alsu Kurmasheva from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty - are locked up, saying they did nothing wrong. At Putin's big press meet in December, the first since the war started, Western reporters got to go, but only two could ask something.

Putin has conducted an interview with Carlson (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

But it's not thought that Carlson will get thrown in jail for having a go at Putin because "his harshest words seem to be for the Western news media."

The expert shared: "I I doubt he will end up in jail as some journalists in Russia have done. And presumably Carlson is planning to leave Russia afterwards, as others have been forced to do. To be honest, judging from the promotional material Carlson has posted on social media, his harshest words seem to be for the Western news media-views that echo many of those of the Kremlin."

American journalist Tucker Carlson was spotted in Moscow (RT/ east2west news)

Despite Carlson being the first Western journalist to interview Putin since Ukraine's invasion, it's seen as a chance for the president and Russia to boost their propaganda.

"Putin will get the chance to put his take on the war-basically, that NATO started it-to a mass audience beyond the state media the Kremlin controls", Mr Rodgers added. "The Kremlin doesn't give interviews like this because they want to contribute to international debate. They see it as nothing more than an opportunity to amplify their propaganda, and get it to a new, bigger, audience."

Liam Buckler