Bitter rivals Tucker Carlson and Chris Cuomo give viewers something no one expected: a civil conversation  

Journalists normally just report the news, but on occasion journalists become the newsmakers themselves.  

Such was the situation Monday evening when Tucker Carlson sat down for an interview with NewsNation’s primetime anchor, Chris Cuomo. It was Carlson’s first national television appearance since departing Fox News Channel almost one year ago. 

It was quite the unexpected pairing, to say the least.  

Carlson and Cuomo were bitter rivals in their previous journalistic stops — Carlson on right-of-center Fox News Channel and Cuomo on left-leaning CNN. Cuomo was CNN’s top ratings grabber for a time at CNN, but his audience numbers were a fraction of FNC’s Carlson, whose show garnered the highest ratings in cable news. Cuomo once referred on-air to Carlson as a “coward.” Carlson called Cuomo, among other things, “the single dumbest person ever to perform on cable news,” repeatedly taking the CNN host to task. The anger was long-running and intense. 

Both eventually got crossways with their respective news organizations and got dumped in unceremonious and surprising fashion. But Carlson has not left the media spotlight, taking his loyal audience to a social media platform and continuing his own brand of entrepreneurial journalism. He recently generated controversy by doing a lengthy interview with Russian despot Vladimir Putin. Cuomo has also reemerged, signing on as a primetime host for NewsNation. (The Hill and NewsNation are both owned by Nexstar.) 

So, it was quite remarkable when word was released a few days ago that Cuomo had flown to Carlson’s Florida location for an extended interview. Interestingly, Cuomo made a specific point at the beginning of his program to describe the Carlson interaction as a “conversation” rather than an interview. The sit-down took up the entire hour of Cuomo’s show. Another Carlson-Cuomo segment is scheduled for Tuesday evening. 

That the two former rivals even talked was itself news in media circles. That they had a productive discussion about serious issues made the event more newsworthy. Americans are surely interested in rhetoric that can go beyond the anticipated polarizing screeds — and this discussion provided that. 

The event got off to a rather slow start, as the two discussants shared thoughts about their respective terminations. While the reflections did provide some insight to their personalities, and some tidbits about the workings of cable news, a minute or two of such reflection would have been sufficient; the segment drifted into self-absorbed, self-psychoanalysis. 

The following segments provided viewers with more interesting fare, in that they gave the two journalists an opportunity to sort out news coverage of substantive topics.  

Cuomo asked Carlson to explain his thinking in conducting the recent Putin interview, which some critics have suggested was too soft on the Russian leader. Carlson defended his approach by saying he wanted to hear Putin’s “thinking” and was not interested in the mainstream media’s expectations, saying it would have been “pointless” to take a more confrontational approach. Cuomo didn’t necessarily support Carlson’s assertions, but let him have his say. 

The final segment of Monday’s interview focused on how differently the two had covered the COVID outbreak in its early months. Cuomo took delight in showing archived video clips of Carlson lambasting Cuomo during that era. But the two both got their points in and moved on. 

Cuomo will surely catch heat from his left-leaning viewers who question the wisdom of providing Carlson a forum to discuss anything. Cuomo anticipated such concern and addressed it in a lengthy opening to his program, in which he called for Americans to have more conversations and avoid “groupthink” and “confirmation bias.” He likely didn’t convince anybody, but at least he provided context for his decision to engage a fellow journalist who is known for his pointed perspectives. 

NewsNation should get a ratings bump from bringing on the controversial Carlson. He surely brought a number of his followers into the NewsNation tent, at least for one evening. NewsNation producers thought so much of the Carlson “get” that host Dan Abrams opened his own show in the next hour with a lengthy post-Carlson interview with Cuomo. 

Tuesday’s segment was teased as featuring discussion of Jan. 6, and how the respective journalists use social media. A preview video clip has Cuomo charging that Carlson “cherry-picked” security video from the Capitol that day. Given Carlson’s outspoken perspectives on the events of that day, this segment promises interesting insights. 

It is doubtful such conversational journalism will catch on across the media spectrum, but for a night it was refreshing to see two high-profile news personalities talk and share perspectives on serious matters without demonizing each other. Cuomo is quite right when he says, “Conversation is the cure.” NewsNation provided an example. News consumers will be interested to see how long the approach can last. 

Jeffrey M. McCall is a media critic and professor of communication at DePauw University. He has worked as a radio news director, a newspaper reporter and as a political media consultant. Follow him on Twitter @Prof_McCall.