Tucker Carlson took on Washington Post media reporter Erik Wemple on Tuesday night in a heated conversation over media bias, with the Fox News host eventually accusing the journalist of having a political agenda.
Carlson started the interview by casually saying Wemple is “supposed to be a watchdog” before questioning why he never covers the “paid propaganda from the Russian government” that often appears in the Washington Post. Carlson is referring to paid advertising designed to look like pro-Russian news.
“That’s a good question, I’ve got a lot to write about but I am interested in that topic,” Wemple said before explaining that readers should be able to differentiate between paid inserts and actual journalism.
Carlson shot back, “That’s really your answer?”
The Fox News host went on to say he’s “not surprised, because in case after case you fail to cover your own paper. He then attempted to name examples of Washington Post mistakes, but Wemple cut him off, saying he “rejects” the premise.
“You still can’t answer why your paper intentionally tries to fool readers into believing that Russian propaganda is news and you still haven’t bothered to cover it. Your job is to cover the media,” Carlson said. “Why don’t you cover your own paper’s shortcomings?”
Wemple brought up a “very hard-hitting piece” he recently wrote that criticized the paper, but Carlson’s response was to literally laugh in his face.
“No you didn’t! I read the piece,” Carlson said while giggling.
“I appreciate the high-pitched laugh,” Wemple fired back.
The two argued for a few more minutes, with Carlson bashing Wemple as a “self-described media reporter” and calling him “obsessive with Fox News.”
Check out the video above.