Tucker Carlson takes on BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith as he continues to defend publishing info from the unverified Russian 'dossier' on Donald Trump. Carlson accused BuzzFee of being having a political agenda and "masquerading" it as journalism.





TUCKER CARLSON: I'm for openness. I'm for transparency. But by setting yourself up as a champion of press freedom, you're being slightly disingenuous because there is a political component here.



And I want to refer you to something from BuzzFeed's editorial standards, which is online, and I read it. Here's what it said and I'm quoting, "we firmly believe that for a number of issues including civil rights, anti-racism, LGBT equality, there are not two sides."



Now, it struck me really as a theological statement, not a statement of journalism which presumes there is always another side, there is always another voice to be heard. There is always a different perspective. You're saying that there isn't and anyone who disagrees should be ignored. That is a statement of activism, isn't it?



BEN SMITH, BUZZFEED: Absolutely not, I doubt that FOX News has a view that there are two sides on whether you should be racist or not. I mean, I think that is in some sense -- a lot of news organizations don't put out or don't make explicit that implicit point, that you are not going to cover racists like they have a legitimate point of view. I don't really see why that's controversial.



TUCKER CARLSON: No, because you're picking a sensitive --



[crosstalk]



BEN SMITH: But I don't see how that really connects to this.



TUCKER CARLSON: I'll tell you exactly how. Because clearly, BuzzFeed News has a pretty open political agenda masquerading as journalism.



BEN SMITH: Is it open or is it masquerading?



TUCKER CARLSON: Well, it is open and obvious for those of us who care or pay attention. I think you are hiding behind what appear to be journalistic standards when in fact they are political imperatives and I'll give you a great example.



So the day the Supreme Court ruled on gay marriage, it was June of 2015, you wrote this, and I'm quoting, "The Supreme Court ruling today, astonishing to me as much as we all knew it was coming, marks the end more or less of a story that has helped define BuzzFeed as we've grown," and I'm quoting, "and one that we should be proud of playing a big part in."



That sounds like a press release from a political action committee (PAC), it doesn't sound like something a journalist would write. You're taking sides.



BEN SMITH: What I was saying there was that we covered the hell out of that story. We took it very seriously before it was a story.