Fox News host Mark Levin on Thursday railed against his colleague Tucker Carlson—without specifically naming the Fox star—for being a frequent unnamed source to mainstream journalists.
Earlier this week, New York Times columnist Ben Smith published a bombshell report that revealed that Carlson has long been a reliable anonymous source to prominent Beltway reporters. Despite Carlson portraying himself as the bitter enemy of the media and political elite, at least 16 journalists confirmed to Smith that the conservative pundit loves to dish about Trump and Fox News. And, unsurprisingly, much of the time he does it to present himself in a positive light.
While fellow Fox News star Sean Hannity has seemingly taken it upon himself to retaliate against the Times to defend Carlson’s honor—even though Carlson reportedly slams Hannity regularly in his media gossip sessions—Levin took the opposite approach on Thursday.
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During an extended rant on his daily radio show—which is notably broadcast by Westwood One, not Fox News—Levin referenced a piece by conservative writer Thomas Lifson that criticized Smith for outing Carlson as a source.
“I would tell my friend Thomas Lifson, and he is my friend over at the American Thinker and others—we know journalists, so many of them, are unethical,” Levin seethed. “That's the point.”
Levin, who also hosts a weekend Fox News show, went on to say journalists will “only keep confidences that they want to keep,” claiming that he has never “leaked anything to a newspaper or media outlet” and particularly not to The New York Times.
“Certainly not about the people around me,” the conservative host continued. “Now, I could go further into this, I’m not going to. That is a serious misunderstanding of one’s role, of loyalty, and character. Let me leave it at that.”
Levin also noted that he had been approached by CNN’s Brian Stelter in the past but never leaked anything to the media analyst. In his column, Smith quoted Stelter saying Carlson’s “fingerprints” were all over his recent book on Fox News, essentially naming him as a source.
“I rejected all of it,” Levin exclaimed. “How could I look myself in the mirror? I had good parents, they taught me to be a stand-up guy. You see, this isn’t a game to me. I’m not positioning myself. This is deadly serious, this is the real world matters here. The real world matters here!”
The talk radio veteran concluded by seemingly chastising Carlson one more time, saying it’s “hard enough” being in conservative media “without people leaking against you.”
“Just remember that, and I think many of you already know that,” Levin fumed.
