September 25, 2016

Howard Kurtz Shows Us How Journalism Is Done At Fox News

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Alex Burns of the New York Times thinks that Howard Kurtz of Fox News was soft on Donald Trump in a recent interview. Kurtz isn’t buying it:

Let’s go to the tape and see who’s right:

KURTZ: Let me move on. You said in many interviews, including with me, that you opposed the Iraq war before it began. Now, I’ve looked at the forums that you’ve cited Esquire Magazine, Neil Cavuto’s show and don’t see any clear evidence of that. And of course, you had the sort of a lukewarm comment to Howard Stern and I guess so to be….

TRUMP: Well, that was long before the war started and I can tell you that was long before the war started with Howard that’s the first time the word Iraq was ever mentioned to me….

KURTZ: But why not say…

[crosstalk]

KURTZ: Why not say you’re a private business…

[crosstalk]

TRUMP: And then I spoke to Neil Cavuto…Sean Hannity…blah blah blah.

KURTZ: Right, but why not say I was a private — I was a private businessman. I had no responsibility to take a public position before the war and I criticized the invasion after it began?

TRUMP: Sean Hannity…Neil Cavuto…blah blah blah.

KURTZ: All right.

I guess you can form your own opinion, but it sounds to me like Kurtz asked about Iraq in a decidedly milquetoasty way, Trump delivered his usual lies, and Kurtz then did his best to play campaign manager and suggest that Trump try a whole new way of misleading the public. Journalism!

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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