Ingraham, Kurtz Break Down ‘Bar Fight’ Between Trump and Media

In an era in which the mainstream media have lost their credibility — and their ability to share with Americans the full and honest truth about a range of topics — Fox News “Media Buzz” host Howard Kurtz is releasing a new book called “Media Madness: Donald Trump, the Press, and the War Over the Truth.”

Throughout the book, he reveals just how biased the mainstream media actually have been in the age of President Donald Trump.

On Thursday night, Kurtz appeared on “The Ingraham Angle” with Fox News host Laura Ingraham to discuss how the mainstream media have become essentially an agenda-driven super PAC in recent years.

“I have a lot exclusive reporting about what other reporters say on Twitter when they think only their friends are following,” Kurtz said to Ingraham. “Sometimes, I think the president writes his own distractions, but there are too many journalists who feel like it’s their job to save the country from Donald Trump, and that’s not journalism. That’s advocacy.”

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One of the biggest revelations in the new book comes in regard to New York Times political reporter Jonathan Martin. Kurtz alleges that Martin told an Republican National Committee staffer by phone, “Donald Trump is racist and a fascist, we all know it, and you are complicit. By supporting him, you’re all culpable.”

Kurtz told Ingraham he has four sources who can support that the incident did occur. This preconceived notion, of course, would impact Martin’s ability to cover today’s news.

“When he’s reporting on a candidate like Trump and now the presidency, he thinks the president is a racist and a fascist — so he must have the desire to remove a racist and a fascist from office,” Ingraham noted.

The revelation of Martin’s bias is just one of many that Kurtz covers in the book. Although he said the mainstream media have always been biased and that their bias has been revealed more explicitly in this past decade, Kurtz noted that the 2016 presidential election truly revealed it to the public.

“The past two years have radicalized me,” Kurtz wrote in a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter. “I am increasingly troubled by how many of my colleagues have decided to abandon any semblance of fairness out of a conviction that they must save the country from Trump.”

“It’s like a bar fight, but is it always smart?” Ingraham asked about the strategy.

In the battle between Trump and the mainstream media, Kurtz said attacks on the president can be beneficial for him: There’s growing public distrust for the outlets that constantly attack the chief executive. Kurtz added that Trump controls the news cycle and — at times — has used his platform effectively to punch back at the news and those who control it.

“It’s like a bar fight, but is it always smart?” Ingraham asked about the strategy.

“It’s often smart that he is his own spokesman, although often he speaks in street language,” Kurtz said. “It’s not always smart to attack journalists individually — but I think there’s damage done on both sides.”

Tom Joyce is a freelance writer from the South Shore of Massachusetts. He covers sports, pop culture, and politics and has contributed to The Federalist, Newsday, ESPN, and other outlets.