that's it for this week's show. thanks to my panel. especially to all of you for watching. i'm paul gigot. hope to see you right here next week. i. 61 seconds devoted to how obama care is going to hurt small business. >> that's it? >> 61 seconds. >> in the entirety of 2012. >> the media taking hits for no hard hitting coverage of the obama care train wreck and the president's power play to delay a key mandate of the law. why isn't the press paying attention? >> the injuries on mr. zimmerman's back of his head consistent with someone doing this? >> wall-to-wall coverage of the zimmerman murder trial gives critics a chance to slam the media accusing some of tabloid antics and using the event to ramp up poor ratings.

has the press misused its privilege? unrest in egypt gets media attention. tensions in the region are a real concern. but is the situation there too complicated for proper coverage? >> lied about personal sexual activity, yes. >> when it comes to bad behavior of high-profile politicians do the media tend to forgive and hen forget? does that only apply to members of one political party? when it comes to getting your news, get a switch news channel comes out on top. on the pan they will week, writer and fox news contributor judy miller. editor of the national review, rich lauery. kearse ton powers. fox news contributor richard grinnell.

you can argue that there are some republicans that are trying to sabotage the law. that they are hoping to not get it off the ground and then they can suddenly make the case. see, we have to get rid of it. and they got some state governors openly trying to sabotage it. >> that's msnbc's chuck todd. republicans are out to sabotage obama care. "washington post's" greg sergeant was especially disgruntled writing -- when you hear this sort of argument coming from chuck todd, the mild-mannered well-sected belt wane cider, it should prompt folks to take notice. this is not typical opposition. and it is to hear this stated outride by someone as respected inside the beltway as chuck todd. the only mystery is why more journalists aren't willing to point it out. rich, let's start with you on that one. >> well, i like chuck but this whole sabotage thing, i think it is obviously a loaded term. republicans are trying to stop

the repeal of the law because they think it is bad public policy. not as though democrats lost the initial vote to authorize the iraq war. said let's never talk about the iraq war ever again and accept it. right. and the whole idea the republicans sabotaged the employer mandate, had nothing to do with the employer mandate in was entirely employer mandate sinking its own weight. >> are republicans to blame here? what about media coverage? >> i think, first of all, partisan politics. and i think that since the spring, the lead liberal think tank in washington has been saying that the republicans were the ones destroying this and lo and behold, chuck echoes that line. nobody can explain why the -- margaret katz wrote a piece last week in which she said white house is known for the obama karin i havetation wouldn't work. top democrat called it a train wreck. they are trying to blame it on john baner. >> "usa today" puts out an article dash sorry, editorial,

entitled the gop poisons obama care and then claims that it is sick. you like that report. >> i did. because i -- i think that there was a fair amount of that going on. and, yes, it is true that -- the republicans didn't like this and they weren't going to surrender. on the other hand, i think that they haven't as the usa editorial pointed out, they haven't actually funded government money to explain to the american people how it works and what they immediate to do to qualify and so it is no -- shouldn't be any surprise participation rates are lower than you would anticipate. >> what do you make of judy's argument? >> i think that she needs to read the full editorial because let's be clear. you have -- have you gannett who has taken "usa today" and become upper east side new york today. they are so left wing that they actually in this editorial criticize those who are criticizing keeping politics out

of the nfl. what they say is if you don't think that the nfl should be promoting obama care, this is an appalling abuse of power. literally the "usa today" editorial board is saying that those who criticize the nfl getting involved in politics are abusing their power. this is a world unto its own. editorial boards are becoming totally irrelevant. >> the nfl is known for encouraging children to, you know, get out and stay active but promoting obama care? >> i don't know. i mean, i -- i think that it is -- i can speak more to the chuck todd thing, editorial board is free to express whatever opinions they have. i don't necessarily agree that it is as -- quite as liberal as rick sees it. i think on the chuck todd thing, speaks more to the fact reporters should be asking questions rather than making statements. i do respect chuck todd but that's sort of -- a line that's not necessarily asking.

look, there are some people that think this. what do you think about that? >> you want to ask questions, then ask whatever happened to the rule of law. all along, during the implementation, affordable care act. first they waived the requirements the class act and waived away the mandate and rich and bill kristol wrote a terrific piece on immigration if obama administration thinks it can wave laws that it enacted and signed into law, then what else can they waive? they can waive anything including the dream act. >> what about the cost of the program? you know -- no one is talking about the lie it is administration has made about the cost of the program. it is outrageously more expensive than they said and yet we have editorial boards and others talking about the nfl's need to promote the law. this is really ridiculous in terms of priority coverage. >> what about the constitutionality of the president just deciding unilaterally not to enforce the law that has been passed by

congress and -- >> jim's spoypt a good one. will is no obligation under the law for republicans to set up the exchanges. republican governors. some are choosing not to. within their rights. no obligation for them to take medicaid funding. they are not. but there is an obligation under the law to actually set up this employer mandate and you have the administration to -- waving its hands and shrugging its holders and say never mind even though it is written there in black and white. >> media are being accused of ignoring many of the problems coming with the enforcement orion set of obama care. >> yes. mine, i think that -- look, i was a supporter of obama care. i still am. i don't think that they are known in any area for critical thinking, media. they don't seem -- it is getting to the point now where it is just -- hard to defend a lot of it. they don't give the kind of, you know, just -- take one story line because it isies sxwrer some of the policy reporters get it. but people aren't really informed about the difficulties

that lay ahead. >> because the cynics say the president pushed off the enforcement of the employer mandate until after the 2014 elections because he does not want democrats to get hurt. >> that's a fair assessment. jay carney denies and it mainstream media -- they go along with jay carney. >> does it sound plausible? is that part of the media coverage? >> i think we need more skepticism on both sides. i was impressed by a piece by john goodman of forbes who pointed out that one out of four people who are eligible for medicaid under this program have not even signed up. the question i would ask is why is that? we haven't seen a lot of reporting about why people aren't signing up for rights they should have. >> coming up next on "news watch," did cameras in the courtroom have an effect on the george zimmerman trial in florida? >> your objection is overruled. >> media coverage ramps up as the drama heats up in the murder trial of george zimmerman.

were the courtroom antics real or made for tv? that debate next. ♪

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why does this defendant get out of the car and think that trayvon martin is a threat to him? why? why? because he has a gun. he has -- >> how many what ifs have you heard from the state in this case? they don't -- i don't think anyway, they don't get to ask you that. i don't think that they get to say to you what do you think? no, no. no, no, no. what have i proved to you? what i have -- what if i convince you beyond a reasonable doubt that you don't have any reasonable doubt as to those issues that i presented to you? >> the prosecution and defense brought closing arguments in the murder trial of george zimmerman, trial which received wall-to-wall media coverage. something critics thought was

bit too much. cnn became a big target. thursdaying's closing arkment raised the already simmering coverage toward a boil and evoked the customary empty-headed questions from cnn's wolf blitzer, who kept asking what is going to resonate with these women, referring to the all-female jury. what do you think about this? fox obviously has provided a great deal of coverage but cnn has been slammed foregoing over the top, excessive. >> look, i think that the coverage is all too much, you know, unfortunately this is a terrible tragedy that happens pretty regularly in america's cities. this should have been more of a regional story. but let's be honest. race was interjected early on by the president of the united states. and we defined this issue in

terms of race and now it is -- you know, in terms of white, black, because he is considered a white hispanic by some news networks. i think that at the end of the day, most people just are going to watch the verdict this coming week. simply because the media has made it an emotional plea. they don't much care about it. i hope russell simmons is wrong when he says that justice is going to come to zimmerman one way or another and all of the people really creating havoc with this upcoming decision really should calm down. >> national review claims that "the new york times" invented a new ruberick. >> normally hispanic but for purposes of this case he is a white hispanic. i disagree with rick and suspect some of my other colleagues, this is a newsworthy trial. it is fascinating to watch, number one. two, there has been so much social and political -- put on to this case that it is -- it is

inherently news worthy. three, we are learning how so much of the early coverage was deeply flawed because it bought in to the racial met for and morality and the more facts we learned in the trial, broadcast directly to the people, we learned that was not true good what about the arguments many are making that this trial should not be covered? let's get cameras out of the courtroom. >> i actually believe it or not will surprise people because i don't like this kind of stuff. i agree with rich. i think -- it is not to me even the race issue as much as the gun control issue. lot of people looking at this as there is the camp that thinks that george zimmerman needed to defend himself even though he was tracking this kid down and other people like me who think i don't want the george zimmermans of the world shooting me because had don't like that my hoodie is up. i think that this is a serious issue in the country, the gun control issue, people want to see how -- how will this play out and what happened? i agree. coverage early on was very

speculative and in one direction. >> it has been pointed out that if george zimmerman had gone by the name of or say mesa, his mother's maiden name, this case may not have gotten the attention it did. >> right. that would have been just an underclass back and forth shooting like happens in chicago 1020, times a weekend. i agree that the -- media -- zimmerman was badly advised with pr to go with george zimmerman because it became a white hispanic versus black then as rich wrote in another piece, this week, the media -- media gets to -- america is in mississippi in the 1950s and the emmett till case. it is just not so. but i think the media are -- "new york times" has been the most guilty and time to say if you don't hear the race every five seconds in trial we have been here, we will put it in for you. >> one of the concerns is that

the media and fanned racial arguments or racial concerns, racial tensions about this case, one of our favorite cartoonists created this to drive that point home. take a look at that. you have some sense of his take. did the early involvement of some of the -- you know, big names in race relations in this country in this case did they drive the coverage? >> of course they did in the beginning. i think there is a paradox here. in that this was a case that really was driven by social media in the beginning. and tweeting and facebook and interests that propelled the police of -- florida police to take another look at it. when arianna huffington writes this week wall-to-wall coverage is not the way to honor the memory of trayvon martin, well, you know, this is not about honoring anyone's memory. this about s about a certain much for justice and americans

have always been fascinated by such trials. >> lee more for trials. ft. hood, whitey bolger case. >> they are not getting coverage. next, the media challenge of covering egypt. >> unrest in egypt continues and as tension escalates in this crucial region are the media giving the matter enough attention? or is the situation too complicated for the press?

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nobody on this panel knows more about egypt than you do. what's your take? >> canceled for than anyone because of zimmerman this week, an extraordinary amount of good coverage and extraordinary amount of bad coverage. coverage from afar and coverage that equated with removal of the whistle brotherhood as a terrible day for democracy, i think it was the opposite. i want to salute the 22 people of al jazeera who resigned because they were ordered to be nice to the muslim brotherhood. >> this pot boiling drama going on in egypt is too complicated for the media. your thought? ? >> i think it is very complicated. we ve great reporters who understand it.

npr. there are a variety of reporters who could give us context but, you know, what -- what's really missed this week is the daily beast. they had this story where they began to have anonymous obama administration officials trashing our u.s. ambassador to egypt by saying that she was too far out front with the muslim brotherhood. it was all anonymous sources. i predict that the backlash against the administration for trying to throw another woman under the bus in foreign policy issues is really going to be big this week. people are going to come out and defend her and recognize that the coverage of anonymous sources trashing, you know, another woman here, is just too much to take. the complication of the story is becoming all too much for reporters. >> i think as long as the obama administration stays under the radar and president himself does not engage, that's the strategy.

administration gets away without being held responsible for what they are doing or not doing moving on. big media story at least in new york this week. the state's former governor eliot spitzer getting back into politics and back into the media spotlight. . >> i want the voters to listen to what i have done, look at the record, attorney general. >> paid hookers. >> and say this guy -- >> and you lied. >> cheated on your familiar. >> i >> should the media forgive and forget? >> i think some of the energy of him -- first week have been tough. the fact is that -- everyone who has standards in such areas of swimming upstream in our culture, there's no shame anymore. i think that -- one of my big new axioms of politics if you are a politician caught in a sex scandal and you don't want to resign, you shouldn't resign because within five, six months, it is all going to be forgotten and no one cares. >> on abc they managed to do a story about spitzer without mentioning that he is a democrat

but mentioning mark sanford, former governor of south carolina, they did mention he is a republican and got his -- an office back. >> how can you defend that? i don't know. i guess -- i think most people know that eliot spitzer is as a democrat and i don't think the democrats are getting my special treatment. i think anthony weiner has gone through the wringer. . spitzer will go through the wringer. stanford got off easy. i don't know how somehow the democrats are walking away unscathed. >> next, which news channel is america's favorite? giving me a sales pitch, especially when it comes to my investments. you want a broker you can trust. a lot of guys at the other firms seemed more focused on selling than their clients. that's why i stopped working at my old brokerage and became a financial consultant with charles schwab. avo: what kind of financial consultant are you looking for? talk to us today.

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>> so where do americans get their news? a new poll from gallup answer that had question. in a survey, whopping 55% turn to television as primary source of news, followed by 21% that use the internet. 9% only get news from newspapers followed by radio at 6%. those they said they first turn to television specified news outlets. 8% said they turn to fox news, 7% to go cnn. 4% tune to local news and the network news only 2%. one more poll of interest out this week, this one from pern asking who contributes more to society's well-being. military comes out on top. 78% followed by teachers and medical doctors and where are the journalists, you ask? only 28% think journalists contribute positively to society.

27% think journalists contribute very little or nothing at all. time for a job change. that is a wrap this week. thanks to our panel this week. we'll see you again next week. >> gregg: fox news alert out of florida, day two of jury deliberations in the george zimmerman murder trial are well under way. a live look at the courthouse in sanford where six women of the jury you are hunkered down considering zimmerman's fate. we could hear their decision any moment now. be sure to stay with us. i'm gregg jarrett. welcome to america's news headquarters. >> heather: i'm heather childers. panel going on seven plus hours of deliberations. george zimmerman on trial for the shooting death of trayvon martin last year. now, it is up to a jury to find him not