TV Does More Than Rot Your Brain- It Splits the Country

by Nicolas Dugan

To what extent do current affairs talk shows influence the thoughts and actions of Americans while their hosts employ divisive language for personal gain and make unintentional contradictions that expose their lack of qualifications?

The aim of such an investigation is not to villainize the political left nor the political right, but rather to uncover both the power and shortcomings of current affairs personalities. The noticeable political polarization of the United States need not be exacerbated.

Current affairs talk shows are some of the most popular programs on TV. Viewers listen in not to witness breaking news, but rather to hear what a personality has to say about current events. Political commentary is the very nature of these shows and they therefore represent a bias simply based on their framework. Commentary is often subjective, not objective.

How much power and influence do personalities like Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Rachel Maddow, Anderson Cooper, and Chris Cuomo have over the American people? Are they all just faces representing a political affiliation? Although it may seem difficult to quantify the true impact of these personalities, viewership ratings show general trends in the performance of these individuals, their shows, and the networks that employ them.

Fox News killed the competition in 2020. It was a historic election year, so the demand for politically-charged television was higher than average. With this, the channel brought in the “highest prime time and total day ratings in cable news history” (Joyella). Fox brought in an average of 3.6 million viewers in prime time and 1.9 million in total day. Hannity and Tucker Carlson Tonight, Fox’s prime time golden duo, were the top watched cable news programs of the year. This is Hannity’s fourth consecutive year on top, receiving an average of 4.4 million viewers per airing. According to Forbes, “This is the highest rated program average in television history” (Joyella). Tucker Carlson Tonight was just behind Hannity by a few thousand viewers. Fox also had the highest ratings in the key demographic of viewers aged 25-54. This is good for profits, as advertisers care most about this demographic. The network grew its total audience by 45% and the key 25-54 demographic by 65% (Joyella).

As Fox represents a right leaning perspective, MSNBC and CNN represent a somewhat left leaning perspective. In prime time, MSNBC received an average 2.146 million viewers in 2020. This is up 24% from 2019. CNN received an average 1.793 million viewers in 2020. This is up 85% from 2019. In the prime time key demographic, MSNBC received 360k viewers, up 29% from 2019. CNN received 521k viewers in this range, up an unbelievable 104% from 2019. This data shows that although viewership for MSNBC and CNN was slightly lower than for Fox, the growth of these left leaning media outlets is huge (Joyella). Furthermore, credit must be given to CNN on their covering of the riot at the capitol on January 6th. They led in ratings above all other networks, receiving an average of 4.11 million viewers in prime time. Anderson Cooper and Chris Cuomo of CNN each brought in close to 9 million total viewers that evening (Bauder).

These statistics show that news networks have unbelievable outreach and influence over Americans. Now the second part of the question must be answered. Do political TV personalities make unintentional contradictions and employ divisive language?

On his show Tucker Carlson Tonight, Tucker Carlson warns his viewers of the elites. That is, those in a position of power who are looking to exploit the average American for their own personal gain. History suggests that questioning the motives of those in power is generally a good idea. Tucker’s advice seems fair. Why not apply this golden rule to political commentators like Carlson himself?

Tucker’s father, Richard Carlson, was a high profile news reporter and a U.S. ambassador. Richard remarried Patricia Swanson, heiress to the Swanson frozen-food fortune, when Tucker was a young boy. Tucker attended St. George’s through his teen years, an expensive private boarding school in Rhode Island. It was there that he met his future wife, Susan Andrews, who was the headmaster’s daughter (Ankel). Claims have been made that this connection to the headmaster of a prestigious boarding school was what helped Tucker in the college admissions process. According to the same source, Carlson spent more time preparing for after dinner debates than studying for class (NowThis News). He went on to Trinity College and received a B.A. in History. A GQ article by Stephen Rodrick claims that, “...one of his college highlights was home-brewing a beer that he named Coal Porter—but he was already seen as a charismatic figure around campus.” According to Neil Patel, Tucker’s roommate, “His personality was not similar to what it is now; it was exactly the same'' (Rodrick). After graduation, he attempted to join the CIA but was denied. He was in print journalism for some time before turning to television. To elaborate on Tucker’s career, he was fired from the majority of the shows he hosted before landing the Tucker Carlson Tonight gig on Fox. After being told he had “like 30 different careers'' in an interview with Gavin McInnes, Carlson simply stated “Yes. I keep getting fired.” Despite this, he makes a reported 6 million dollar salary and signed a 10 million dollar publishing deal for one of his books.

The conclusion that can be derived from this information is the anti-elite basis for Tucker Carlson Tonight exists to bring in viewers and profits. Tucker contradicts this stance simply by filling his role on TV. Without even considering his past, and the doors that were opened to him due to his wealthy background and successful father, Carlson has amassed great wealth from the strategy of his show. He has used his position of power for his own gain.

To find evidence of the divisive language employed by Carlson, one need not look beyond the titles of his segments posted to YouTube. After all, the headline is what gets the click that generates the revenues. Some of the particularly divisive titles would include “The left’s extreme reaction to Ginsburg’s death”, “Black Lives Matter is now a political party”, and “Kamala Harris may end up running the country”. Of course the issue with this divisive language is the impact it has on the many millions of people that read those words.

Carlson, like all other commentators, has an unbelievable responsibility that he may not be upholding as well as he could. This same investigation could be done for any other political TV personality. It’s likely for many of them a similar conclusion could be drawn. These shows do not have the best interest of the American people at heart.

Works Cited

Ankel, Sophia. “How Tucker Carlson Went from a CIA Reject to the Most-Watched Person on Cable News, Accused of Peddling Prejudice to Millions.” Business Insider, Business

Insider, 27 Aug. 2020, www.businessinsider.com/fox-news-host-tucker-carlson-biography-of-right-wing-superstar-2020-7#in-december-2018-carlson-sparked-anger-when-he-said-that-immigrants-would-make-the-country-poorer-and-dirtier-he-never-apologized-and-instead-accused-the-backlash-as-being-an-attack-on-freedom-of-speech-14.

Bauder, David, and Associated Press. “CNN Has Best Ratings Day Ever for Capitol Attack.”

WSLS, WSLS 10, 12 Jan. 2021, www.wsls.com/news/politics/2021/01/12/cnn-has-best-ratings-day-ever-for-capitol-attack/.

Joyella, Mark. “Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson Set Records As Fox News Makes History In 2020 Cable News Ratings.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 16 Dec. 2020,

www.forbes.com/sites/markjoyella/2020/12/16/fox-news-shatters-record-for-most-watched-year-in-cable-news-history/?sh=5ee2fccb1643.

Rodrick, Stephen, and Photography by Danielle Levitt. “Tucker Carlson Is Sorry for Being

Mean.” GQ, 19 Sept. 2017, www.gq.com/story/tucker-carlson-profile-2017.

“Who Is Tucker Carlson? Narrated by Samm Levine | NowThis.” Performance by Samm Levine, YouTube , NowThis News, 10 Oct. 2018, youtu.be/gdGKTT7Oie8 .

Artwork Credit:

Maya Suarez