“Gullible Westerners who spread Soviet propaganda were dismissed as ‘useful idiots.’ Calling Tucker that is unfair to useful idiots.”

— Chris Wallace, on Tucker Carlson’s softball interview with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

New York Times: “For the most part, this class of sports commentators largely lives on the right side of the political spectrum, where they have become loud and influential voices reaching an audience that often tunes out traditional coverage of politics.”

Semafor: “The former Fox News host met for hours Thursday with the NSA leaker Edward Snowden, Semafor has learned. While the former NSA whistleblower was a regular figure in the press in the years after he fled to Russia, he has largely receded from public appearances in recent years, citing the desire for wanted greater privacy for his family.”

“The Snowden interview was not for Carlson’s video program, but he did tape an interview with Tara Reade, a former junior Senate aide who decades later accused President Joe Biden of sexual assault (an allegation he denied). Reade moved to Russia last year after several years of increasingly speaking out in support of pro-Russian policies.”

Mona Charen: “Tucker Carlson is not a useful idiot. Not precisely. The term implies naïveté, but he seems to know exactly what he’s doing. He claims to be in Moscow to interview Putin because the rest of the press refuses to do so. In fact, Putin’s press secretary, Dmitri Peskov, was just one of many who have pointed out that major press organizations have repeatedly requested interviews and been rebuffed. Peskov explained that Carlson had been approved because ‘he has a position that differs from the rest of Western media.’ Yes, supine.”

“For the past several years, Carlson’s project has been consonant with Putin’s. Both seek to sow division in the United States. Both seek to flood the zone with s— so that people won’t know what to believe or whom to trust. Both seek to undermine confidence in institutions. Both seek to subvert confidence in democratic systems—most especially in elections. And both seek to stoke feelings of persecution and existential danger in their followers.”

“Engagement with political news and news generally is down considerably compared to the last presidential primary election cycle, as Americans continue to funnel their attention toward lighter topics, like sports and entertainment,” Axios reports.

“Record news interest last presidential election cycle, while bolstered by the onset of the pandemic, helped lead to the highest voter turnout in the 21st century — and near-record numbers among younger voters.”

“Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, whose arrival in Moscow has fueled speculation he may become the first Western journalist to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin during the war in Ukraine, kept his cards close to his chest on Monday,” Reuters reports.

When asked if he was in Moscow to interview Putin, Carlson said: “We’ll see.” He then smiled.

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson was reportedly spotted in Moscow over the weekend, leading fans to speculate he plans on interviewing Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mediaite reports.

The Dispatch: “When Stewart left it in 2015, The Daily Show dominated political satire. But ratings collapsed soon after his departure. While the show’s producers have nothing but nice things to say about Trevor Noah, Stewart’s immediate successor, the truth is that viewership evaporated in his tenure.”

“Yes, the show’s viral online presence increased, but as many media outlets have learned over the years, online hits don’t translate into either ratings or advertising dollars. And in fairness to Trevor Noah, Comedy Central itself was suffering as cord-cutting viewers switched to streaming.”

“The Messenger, a news website that pledged to shake up the media industry with a playbook borrowed from the doomed publishing start-ups of yesteryear, will be closing down,” the New York Times reports.

“By closing less than a year after it launched, The Messenger will now be one of the biggest busts in the annals of online news. And its collapse is the most substantial blow in recent months to the news industry, which is reeling from an unrelenting series of cutbacks.”

“In the wake of the 2020 election, the president of the far-right network One America News sent a potentially explosive email to former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell, with a spreadsheet claiming to contain passwords of employees from the voting technology company Smartmatic,” CNN reports.

“The existence of the spreadsheet was recently disclosed by Smartmatic, which is suing OAN for defamation. CNN pieced together who was involved in the email exchanges by examining court records from three separate cases stemming from the 2020 election.”

National Review: “Journalism is important because reality is important, and reality is something that many generals and politicians have a complicated relationship with.”

“Nearly a dozen mainstream media companies are gutting staff and scrambling to rescue their struggling businesses,” Axios reports.

“The media business is shrinking at the national, state and local levels — a scary, stark new reality for thousands of journalists.”

“Media cuts were so severe last year that most industry observers weren’t expecting such intense cutbacks in 2024. But an ongoing bloodbath is decimating news outlets nationwide.”

“The voting technology company Smartmatic can move forward with its defamation lawsuit against Fox Corporation, a New York judge ruled Wednesday, dealing a blow to the parent company of Fox News, which is already fighting the massive lawsuit over its repeated airing of 2020 election lies,” CNN reports.

“The decision from Manhattan Supreme Court Judge David Cohen represents a significant setback to Fox’s corporate leadership, including the powerful Murdoch family, who will now face more scrutiny in the litigation.”

Comedian Jon Stewart is rewinding the clock, returning to “The Daily Show” as a weekly host and executive producing through the 2024 U.S. elections cycle, Variety reports.

A Colorado man has been cited after allegedly stealing more than 200 newspapers after a story about a reported sexual assault at the local police chief’s house was published on the front page, the Ouray County Plaindealer reports.

CNN: “Beyond the drastic cuts hanging over the newsroom, it’s unclear what Patrick Soon-Shiong is doing behind the scenes to stable his ship. The biotech billionaire purchased The LAT in 2018, pouring nearly $1 billion into the storied paper and vowing to steer it into the future after enduring years of tumult under Tribune Publishing.”

“But in the words of the newspaper’s own leadership team, years later under his stewardship it is in a dire state of ‘financial crisis.’