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Tucker Carlson knows exactly what his audience wants him to say.
If we learned anything about Fox News over the last few months, it’s that the conservative network relentlessly tells its viewers exactly what they want to hear.
Fox on Tuesday settled a defamation suit with Dominion Voting Systems, agreeing to pay a hefty $787.5 million for airing falsehoods about the company’s voting machines in the weeks following the 2020 election. We’re not going to get a trial. It’s hard not to feel a little let down by the news: After all, we’ve been deprived of the spectacle of Fox executive chair Rupert Murdoch and network stars like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity taking the stand to testify — under oath — about what they knew and when they knew it.
Still, the settlement happened after Dominion attorneys were able to uncover reams of embarrassing testimony about the workings at Fox News — depositions, texts, and emails letting us know that while network personalities largely went along with Donald Trump’s false claims of a stolen election while they were on the air, behind the scenes they knew it was all nonsense.
Why did they then peddle the nonsense? Because that’s what the audience wanted.
With Trump on the ropes in November and December of 2020, the network’s executives and stars worried about losing their audience to right-wing competitors like Newsmax and OANN that assured viewers that Trump really did win the election. Murdoch grumbled about CNN’s superior ratings. Tucker Carlson fretted about the company’s stock price, and tried to get a Fox News reporter fired after she fact-checked Trump’s bogus claims. He even said he hates Trump “passionately.”
The truth didn’t matter. What mattered was keeping hold of viewers, at any cost.
At a $787.5 million cost, as it turns out.
“It’s remarkable how weak ratings make good journalists do bad things,” one Fox News exec reportedly lamented.
The election wasn’t a one-off for this viewer-obsessed approach. The New York Times last year reported that Carlson, in particular, uses minute-by-minute ratings to shape the content and tone of his nightly primetime show — and chooses to give his audience exactly what it wants. “He is going to double down on the white nationalism because the minute-by-minutes show that the audience eats it up,” a former Fox News employee told the newspaper.
What does all of this have to do with climate change, you may ask?
Simple. If Fox News gives its viewers what they want, at any cost, then it’s pretty clear that what Fox News viewers want is news telling them that that climate scientists are power-mad, that climate solutions are tyranny, that climate activists hate nature, that climate change is a Chinese hoax.
Here is Carlson in February, decrying climate science as a screwball religion:
As church attendance and self-identified religious faith have fallen off a cliff in this country, the cult of climate has grown even stronger. Now, even the president United States is warning that the world is ending. Unless we pass the Green New Deal and legalize abortion 'til the moment of birth, Joe Biden says climate change will destroy the world.
Here he is in March, saying climate activists actually hate nature and just want control:
There is the climate change agenda and the climate change agenda is the single most ambitious effort to remake human civilization in all recorded history, and it's coming. … So, the question is, why are we still being bullied by these people? It has nothing to do with saving the Earth. They hate the Earth. They hate nature. It's about controlling us, and maybe we should recognize that.
And again a week later, calling climate change a Trojan horse for Beijing:
There are still people in this country, for example, who seem to believe that the so-called climate agenda is actually about the climate or about the environment of the Earth or something, and not a coordinated effort by the government of China to hobble the U.S and the West and take its place as the leader of the world, which of course is exactly what's going on.
It’s not just Tucker. Just last week, Fox News host Greg Gutfield claimed that a warming climate is going to make people’s lives better. And if you’re looking for any mention of the climate on sister network Fox Weather, well, you can forget it.
All too often, we talk about our modern misinformation crisis as a supply problem — there’s simply too much B.S. being produced for Americans to know what’s real or not. But very frequently it’s a demand problem. A lot of people want to hear the nonsense. If you don’t give it to them, they’ll simply switch channels to watch somebody who does.
At this moment, I’m not sure we can expect a different approach from Fox News, no matter how large a penalty it is paying for the election lies. After the settlement was announced on Tuesday, the network released a statement praising the “amicable” resolution to the case as a reflection of Fox’s “commitment to the highest journalistic standards.”
That doesn’t sound very apologetic, or like a change in the business model is forthcoming.
Unfortunately for the world, the climate can't be defamed. We're not likely to get a lawsuit that reveals that Fox News hosts secretly believe in global warming and drive Priuses behind the scenes. The work of persuading and educating Fox News viewers of the real threat of climate change will take time, but there are some hopeful signs. A recent poll shows one-fifth of Fox viewers trust the network less after the revelations from Dominion’s lawsuit. And surveys suggest younger Republicans are more worried about climate change than their elders — and more amenable to solutions.
For now, though, Fox News viewers pretty clearly want to hear that climate change is a hoax, or something like it. Tuesday’s settlement suggests they'll probably keep getting that message.
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Joel Mathis is a freelance writer who lives in Lawrence, Kansas with his wife and son. He spent nine years as a syndicated columnist, co-writing the RedBlueAmerica column as the liberal half of a point-counterpoint duo. His honors include awards for best online commentary from the Online News Association and (twice) from the City and Regional Magazine Association. Read More
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Want to use your gifts to help the climate? Here’s where seven climate advocates are donating.
Fighting for clean air and water. Accelerating the green energy transition. Centering economic and racial justice. Engaging future generations of climate innovators.
Nonprofits across the U.S. and around the world are tackling the problem of climate change in zillions of different ways. In recognition of the scope of their work, we at Heatmap are starting a new tradition for Giving Tuesday — asking some of the most prominent voices in the climate space where they would donate this year.
The answers they gave us are varied, exciting, and urgent, with a cause for every interest and concern. Learn how to donate or get involved with an effort close to your own heart, below.
What UPROSE does: Organizes the multiracial, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural population of Sunset Park, Brooklyn to promote sustainability and climate justice.
How you can support UPROSE: Get involved or donate here.
Where Yeampierre would donate this year: NYC Environmental Justice Alliance; NY Renews Climate; and Climate Justice Alliance.
Why: “All three of these organizations have a long and continued track record of shaping policy, base building, and operationalizing a just transition. All are frontline-led and center racial justice and equity in all aspects of their operations. All have changed the landscape and are central to decision-making on all things climate.”
What Generation180 does: Mounts public campaigns for electrification with relentless positivity.
How you can support Generation180: Donate here.
Where Wertz would donate this year: Hollywood Climate Summit.
Why: “This holiday season, I’d consider giving to Hollywood Climate Summit for their important climate communications work. Hollywood is an extremely powerful industry, and for the past four years, the annual Hollywood Climate Summit has served as an urgent call to action for the entertainment industry to address the climate emergency through a compilation of think tanks, workshops, and activities. The climate movement needs to change hearts and minds, and HCS is encouraging the entertainment community to help us achieve the cultural shift we need to advance an equitable, sustainable future.”
What the Indigenous Environmental Network does: Draws on the history of indigenous peoples to empower Native groups working to protect their homelands.
How you can support the IEN: Donate here or explore other ways to support the IEN.
Where White would donate this year:Tonatierra
Why: “We would love to spotlight the incredible work of Tonatierra. They are a family-based organization lifting up the grassroots from the local work on the ground to the United Nations. Sadly, they recently lost their co-founder, Tupac [Enrique Acosta].
“The work of Tonatierra in lifting up Indigenous communities over the past decades has been tireless and selfless. They fight for Indigenous Peoples community empowerment bringing together Indigenous people from the north and south in the fight for justice and human rights all within the framework of the protection of Mother Earth as we are all connected to the land.”
What the Rainforest Alliance does: Leverages business incentives to protect irreplaceable ecosystems — and the communities that rely on them.
How you can support the Rainforest Alliance:Get involved or donate here.
Where Katz would donate this year: Fundación Proyecto Tití and The Billion Oyster Project
Why: “Fundación Proyecto Tití works to stop deforestation and protect the cotton-top tamarin monkey. Also known as the tití, these one-pound primates are only found in the forests of Colombia, but deforestation is destroying their already diminished habitat. Only about 7,000 titís remain in the wild. The organization is effective in part because it works so well with the local community to protect endangered forests and replant degraded lands. The group has a U.S. sponsor, so all gifts are tax-deductible.
“The Billion Oyster Project is a growing New York-based conservation organization working alongside the Harbor School on Governor’s Island to clean up the New York estuary, once home to the largest number of oysters in the world. The Billion Oyster project not only grows oysters, [it] also helps everyone better understand the connection between clean water, biodiversity, and the food we eat. If Billon Oyster is successful — and they are well on the way — in the near future, all New Yorkers will have cleaner rivers and more wildlife thriving throughout the area.”
What SELC does: Defends the local environment in court, using the law to help move the U.S. South toward a more sustainable future.
How you can support SELC: Get involved or donate here.
Where Campaigne would donate this year: Memphis Community Against Pollution
Why: “Memphis Community Against Pollution has done some of the most impressive organizing around in its quest for environmental justice for Black communities in Southwest Memphis. The organization played David as it slayed the Goliath Byhalia crude oil pipeline, then worked successfully to force the closure of another facility that had been releasing toxic, cancer-causing pollution for more than four decades. MCAP has now focused its fierce attention on a climate behemoth: the quasi-federal utility TVA, which is proposing one of the largest methane gas buildouts in the country, a move that would lock the region into fossil fuels for decades to come.”
What Rewiring America does: Teaches U.S. homeowners about the tangible benefits of clean electricity.
How you can support Rewiring America: Get involved or donate here.
Where Young would donate this year: Community-based organizations like Baltimore’s Civic Works
Why: “Changing a handful of machines in our homes and driveways is one of the most important things you can do for the planet. The Inflation Reduction Act and climate philanthropists are accelerating this work at the national level, but for Giving Tuesday, we say go local. Community-based organizations with longstanding, personal connections and deep knowledge of the local landscape are often some of the best-positioned to advance electrification thoughtfully and equitably. This giving season, find an organization working to increase resiliency and improve the quality of life for their community by weatherizing low-income homes, providing financial assistance to install heat pumps, or advocating for local government action to help strengthen building codes and gain access to solar or EV charging.”
What the CATF does: Advocatesfor climate technologies to decarbonize the global energy system.
How you can support the CATF: Donate here or explore other ways to support CATF.
Who Shaheen would donate to this year: Western Resource Advocates, the Center for Applied Law and Policy, and ClearPath
Why: “We appreciate the work the following organizations are doing to advance effective, pragmatic solutions to climate change. In the U.S., we'd like to showcase Western Resource Advocates, which drives evidence-based solutions to the climate crisis, protecting and sustaining the environment, economy, and people of the interior West; the Center for Applied Law and Policy, which seeks to further innovation in environmental law and policy; and ClearPath, which develops and advances policies that accelerate innovations to reduce and remove global energy emissions.”
What RMI does: Brings cutting-edge research and analysis to business, governments, and the public to build a carbon-free future.
How you can support RMI: Explore ways to give here.
Where Singh would donate this year: Relp
Why: “Relp’s work not only addresses the pressing energy challenges in developing nations but also holds the potential to revolutionize the renewable energy landscape, forging a path toward a greener and more sustainable future for all. Their mission creates a ripple effect in the renewable energy sector, offering a way to scale renewable investments in regions that need them the most. Their comprehensive grasp of renewable energy markets combined with their ability to generate investment opportunities [that were] previously thought infeasible transforms what was once seen as unattainable into achievable milestones.”
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