Tucker Carlson's obsessions with Dr. Seuss and New York Times reporter Taylor Lorenz reveal the true priority of conservative media

• Tucker Carlson has repeatedly smeared New York Times reporter Taylor Lorenz on his show.
• It's the latest instance of right-wing media using cultural symbols to spread a political message.
• The attacks show how right-wing media uses culture war topics to distance itself from "elites."

Over the last week, right-wing activists, influencers, and broadcast news anchors have been angry.

This anger has been focused on a series of seemingly unrelated cultural flashpoints that have found ample airtime on Fox News.

When the company that preserves Dr. Suess's legacy decided to cease sales of six books that featured racist imagery, it was labeled an instance of cancel culture, and mentioned over 60 times on the network, according to The Washington Post. When Hasbro decided to make Mr. Potato Head gender-neutral, Fox News similarly offered intense coverage of the moment, at times giving it more daily airtime than coronavirus legislation. When Meghan Markle revealed to the world that she experienced suicidal ideation, Tucker Carlson called her a narcissist. And when Taylor Lorenz, a technology reporter at The New York Times, tweeted about the harassment she faces, Carlson devoted two full segments to it.

The continued focus on these stories, rather than on President Joe Biden's White House or the coronavirus pandemic, illustrates a failure by some in the right-wing mediasphere to tackle substantive policy issues. It also shows how outlets such as Fox News or OAN rely on outrage and anger to fuel continued viewership.

Additionally, it fits in with a decades-long trend of making "elites" - like Markle or those in the "mainstream media," such as Lorenz - seem out of touch with regular Americans.

Reece Peck, the author of "Fox Populism: Branding Conservatism as Working Class" and a media professor at the College of Staten Island, told Insider this "culture war" focus helps conservative pundits position themselves as everyday Americans, rather than as elites themselves, despite bringing in multi-million dollar salaries.

"Conservatives, in this narrative, are framed as kind of the last defenders of traditional culture," Peck told Insider.

Anti-elitism is part of the DNA of modern conservative punditry

This anti-elitism rhetoric has long been a part of Republican politics and punditry, according to Yotam Ophir, an assistant professor at the University of Buffalo who researches media persuasion. Ophir told Insider in an email that in modern-day conservative punditry, the entertainment of "culture war" issues creates the basis for their broadcasts.

"It was always about how the dominant white, male, Christian culture of America was under attack by immigrants, globalists, and liberals," Ophir said.

The advent of "cancel culture" - a term popularized in the last few years and quickly co-opted by the right - features anti-elitism messaging that posits that the elites are "canceling" non-elites because of cultural differences. Former President Donald Trump has condemned the concept of "cancel culture," calling it "completely alien to our culture and our values."

For some conservatives, the "Dr. Seuss ban" - which is not a ban, just a pause in sales of six specific books due to racist imagery - is an example of the power of "cancel culture." Carlson actually made the case that the books were "banned" not because they were racist, but because they were not racist.

"What Fox is really good at is not only talking about the politics of pop culture, but in connecting it to the partisan electoral sphere," Peck said. "They connect the dots. They use these anti-elitist narratives to rail against celebrities in Hollywood," or other figures considered members of the "elite."

The concept is remarkably similar to QAnon, the baseless far-right conspiracy theory that alleges the existence of a "deep state" cabal of human traffickers. That fictional cabal, according to QAnon believers, includes prominent Democrats, celebrities (including Oprah Winfrey and Chrissy Teigen), and billionaires. To put it simply, QAnon considers "elites" to be evil, fitting into this traditional conservative framework.

QAnon has also recently gotten some Fox News airtime. Last Friday, Carlson said followers of the conspiracy theory, which has been linked to several violent crimes and helped encourage the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol, were "gentle people."

Journalists are seen as part of the 'elite' world

This is the framework in which Lorenz - who previously worked at Business Insider, The Atlantic, and The Daily Beast - was compared to Hillary Clinton, a former presidential candidate, and Meghan Markle, an actress who married a prince, during Tuesday's installment of "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on Fox News.

Carlson criticized Lorenz for reflecting on the harassment women journalists face in an International Women's Day tweet.

"It's not an exaggeration to say that the harassment and smear campaign I've had to endure over the past year has destroyed my life," Lorenz wrote on Tuesday. It is well-documented that online harassment endangers journalists, leading to news outlets seeking better ways to protect their employees.

But Carlson argued that because Lorenz is employed by The Times, she lives a privileged life and therefore should not complain about harassment. The writer Glenn Greenwald made the same argument on Twitter.

Carlson also likened Lorenz to Markle, who was criticized by Piers Morgan and Megyn Kelly, among others, for telling Oprah Winfrey in Sunday's televised interview that she struggled with mental health issues after joining the royal family.

For Carlson, reporters like Lorenz represent the mainstream media at large. Carlson and other Fox News pundits like Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly seek to create distance between themselves and members of the traditional American press, Peck said.

"The journalism establishment community is seen as elite," Peck told Insider.

But these attacks have real-world implications, such as additional online harassment and threats targeted at Lorenz after Carlson criticized her on his show on Tuesday and Wednesday.

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for The Times directed Insider to the newspaper's public statement.

"In a now-familiar move, Tucker Carlson opened his show last night by attacking a journalist. It was a calculated and cruel tactic, which he regularly deploys to unleash a wave of harassment and vitriol at his intended target," Wednesday's statement said. "Journalists should be able to do their jobs without facing harassment."

Lorenz and The Times have since been further criticized by right-wing pundits, including Ben Shapiro, for the statement.

When reached for comment, Fox News pointed to a portion from Carlson's show and said that journalists are not "immune from legitimate criticism."

With Trump out of office, right-wing media is choosing to focus on culture wars

The controversies of the last several weeks covered by Fox News on-air pundits fit into a long history of culture war coverage on the network, but come at a time when its pundits could be focusing on the Democratic politicians and the policies they're quickly moving through Congress and the White House.

In focusing on these seemingly inconsequential issues, both Republicans in Congress and in the news are missing out on opportunities for real political discussion. A poll conducted by Morning Consult and Politico found that more GOP voters said they had heard "a lot" about the Dr. Seuss book controversy than the share of voters aware of the passing of President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill.

Ophir said that these outlets are focusing their attention on cultural issues because Trump is out of office.

"I believe we should treat it as what it is," Ophir said: "a distraction that attempts to shift attention away from what Americans should really care about these days - the economic and public health crises that the Trump administration had left behind for the Biden administration."