now on fox news channel, "media buzz" with howard kurtz starts right now. >> take care, everybody. and stay well. on the buzz meter this sunday morning, the government shutdown. now in its sixth day plunges the media headlong into crisis coverage. >> today's top story, much of the federal government shut down this morning. >> just under 2 million workers affected right now. consequences for american families growing every day. >> veterans disability claims will not be decided. the wic nutrition program for needy women and children may have to shut down. >> but has the journalistic blame game been fair to the republicans challenging president obama and to their crusade against obama care? >> however, the idea that a small group of republicans have decided to simply shut down the

government over this is a central dereliction of your duty. >> mainstream media just like last time and this time already torquing it up that it's the republicans to blame. you know, they're arsonists, extortioni extortionists. >> bullies. >> anarchists. >> we'll examine the coverage from all angles. that bizarre confrontation outside the capitol that left a disturbed woman dead. we'll look at the media missteps once again. cnn and nbc pulling the plug on those television projects starring hillary clinton. this after the gop promises to yank its 2016 debate. why did those networks cave? plus as we head into the baseball playoffs, is the game and its sinking tv ratings being shoved to the sidelines by rival sports? we'll ask veteran sportscaster jim gray. i'm howard kurtz, and this is "media buzz."

we love getting your tweets about this show. keep them coming @howardkurtz. maybe i'll read one before we get to the end of the program. we'll get to that sad shooting near the capitol in a moment. but first if there's one image that's almost a parody of the media nair ty in the great government shutdown, it is this, a bloodstained john boehner as presiding over a house of turds. refusing to finance the government unless obama care is defunded or delayed. and that has produced some contentious interviews such as this one with cnn's ashleigh banfield. >> you're telling your listeners that we republicans are holding this up and the government's going to shut down, we have actually reached out to the democrats with a compromise position -- >> congressman, that's not fair. don't you dare put this back on me. you know full well -- no, you know full well you've attached it to obama care and defunding it. you can't make something up. >> ted cruz ripped the coverage

on "the o'reilly factor." >> the press is always going to repeat the white house's talking points. that's what the mainstream media does. >> but rachel maddow says it's media outlets on the right that are distorting the story. >> so where the rest of the world is marveling today at shutdown, shutdown, shutdown, the largest government on earth for the first time in nearly 20 years is shut down, on that day, here's the shutdown front page of the conservative paper. look at their front page. obama care drama. >> that's "the washington times." so is the shutdown coverage fair? a former managing editor of "usa today." bob beckle, cohost of "the five." and editor at large of the website hot air who just had a baby and came rushing in here at the last minute. >> just now? >> i like to get back on my feet very fast. >> are you seeing a great

contrast in the way that news outlets are covering this shutdown? >> are you kidding many he? me? we are living in parallel universes. some people say it's president obama's fault, as you can see by all the sound bites. others say it's a small faction of evil, evil republicans who have come to, on this kamikaze mission on hurt everyone. but the consensus, if you look at it as a whole, it is -- people are saying more that it is those republicans, that small group of republicans. that's what you see is the majority of the coverage. >> that's the journalistic c consens consensus. are you buying the narrative that this is hostage taking of one part of one political party? >> yeah, i think that's generally the line and a little unfair because you've got the president and democrats saying outright every day, we are not going to negotiate, which i think when you look at polls and the american people actually want both sides to negotiate, it's a little unfair to only lay

it on them. >> but when you say we don't want to negotiate, i think that's a perfectly fair point. you also would have to acknowledge in terms of the coverage that the republicans or at least one wing of the republican party precipitated this crisis. in fact, "the new york times" quoting this morning that months ago we decided this was a fight we were going to pick. >> no, i think that's certainly the case. and that's part of the truth. and i think what the media's job is is to give some context and to give some fairness to this. you don't often see the history and context that we've gone 17 years without a shutdown which is the anomaly. these shutdowns used to happen a lot. to give context and not act like it's the end of the world, which is a lot of the tone. >> are the media right in saying that this is a crisis precipitated by the opposition party? >> bob's already rolling his eyes. >> are you kidding me? >> it sounds like the republican caucus room. i mean, the fact of the matter is -- >> i'm just saying it exists. >> it exits for real reasons. it's true. i mean, look. we know now that this thing

would have stayed open. they telegraphed they were going to do this. boehner made the mistake of saying let's hear the majority of his caucus. he was always going to vote this way. he got himself in a corner and can't get himself out. i think what the press is doing is exactly what's going on. >> the press is in the tank for the democrats. >> well, they always say that. i mean, look. >> but isn't it always true? >> no, it's not always true, believe me. i spend five days a week doing this and i get beat up all the time. it's my network. i understand it's a little biassed on some things. by and large fox has done a pretty good job, i think. some individuals have been a little bit strident. on the other side, frankly, on my side, there's been some pretty active accusations as well. >> in my view, the reason that the coverage may seem unbalanced to some is that you have this -- i mean, i'm just going to call it a civil war within the republican party, with a lot of republicans beating up on ted cruz, for example. and isn't that a factor? people say, well, there's a lot of air time devoted to blaming the republicans.

but where is some of that coming from? >> well, "the new york times'" johnson martin had a great piece in "the new york times" that had been wildly quoted. great in terms of it's ais what. is that he says that the elders really see liabilities in this shutdown for the people who are promoting it. meaning that there was a closed-door meeting and that -- >> among republican senators. >> yes, among republican senators who were beating up on ted cruz. and there were anonymous quotes coming out of that, saying that they were questioning ted cruz as to where the end game is. so once that is on the table -- >> let's talk about at none mth anonymous quotes. saying there was a lynch mob in that meeting against ted cruz. that makes me uncomfortable that people say those kinds of things. >> right. they also went to ted cruz according to the politico piece. he says there's nothing the media likes to cover more than disagreements among republicans. and apparently some senators are content to fuel those stories

with anonymous quotes. >> you're smiling. >> because you go into the battle with the media that you have and you sort of acknowledge that and having an open civil war which has been pretty open sometimes and nameses attached to it does give the media a target. and they want to talk about that. that is true. but i do think there's a preponderance of coverage of it. and the other thing is the rhetoric on the left among democrats with the bomb strapped to your chest and hostage takers and all that stuff, if that were the right making those kind of statements, they would get a much bigger spanking for it. >> first of all, ted cruz complaining about this, there was a time in this town -- i've been here a long time -- where the most dangerous place to be was between schumer and -- senator schumer from new york and the tv camera. now it's ted cruz. this guy is -- he came out of the mohave desert and all of a sudden he emerges and he gets all this tv time. he come out and does that ridiculous whatever you want to call that filibuster and he got more press. have you ever seen a freshman

senator get more press coverage? >> and i think it annoyed other elder statesmen members of the republican party. and that became the story. >> what's wrong with even a freshman senator using the media to get out a message and message, of course, is that he would do anything to stop obama care. the problem, of course, is many elements of ted cruz's own party say he's led them off a cliff and there's no way out of this -- >> the media coverage has been the fight in the republican party. very little. >> very little? a lot. >> oh, no. >> at the top that that is the predominant coverage. >> have you seen many people quoted? are they willing to be quoted? >> a few. a few lawmakers. a lot of people -- by the way, you seem to feel like the media, mary katharine, have trained their collective guns on the right and giving the left a pass. we didn't have enough time to play it. but we had cnn's dana bash asking harry reid, well, the republicans say they want to have these partial funding restoration bills to open, for example, national institutes of health to help get kids s back

into cancer trials. he ripped her and said the question was irresponsible. >> right. i think that was an unusual question which is why he answered it so badly, sounded very callous towards children with cancer which is not the place you want to be. i'll throw you a bone here, bob. >> this is a rare, rare day when that happens. go ahead. throw me the whole chicken. >> part of the problem is that people looking and saying there was no end game here of what's going on. and so that allows for an opening for media coverage of that angle. but i do not get on board with this whole elder statesmen wah, wah, we're not getting as much coverage as ted cruz. he went out there and got the coverage. >> not exactly the right -- i love harry, and i've known him for a long time, but he can say things that are unbelievable. and then i have to go on, for example, and try to defend it. the only fire hydrant at the westminster dog show. >> i want to get to a sound bite. for 11 hours after the shutdown began, politico ran a piece that said that president obama was showing, quote, a display of resolve and strength that could

redefine his presidency. we'll see about that. now, the whole obama care debate because of the rollout that began to tuesday with lots of problems has also been covered differently in different outlets. let's take a look at that. >> there are no glitches. there are no -- there are no glitches. but, of course, fox news and the republicans, they call that a glitch. this is the first day the obama care exchanges are open, and it is a disaster. reporter after reporter has been going to these -- to healthcare.gov trying to log on and buy an insurance policy. and it is an absolute mess. >> the glitches were enough to shut down the computer system this weekend for rebooting. it wasn't just a one-day story. >> ed schultz is absolutely crazy. i went on to help a friend and the maryland system is particularly messed up. it is terrible. i went on. you have to -- this is about -- they ask you for your password,

but there's no place to sign in. to log in. to actually give them a password. it took me an entire day, by the end of the day, i had finally reached a public information officer. her telephone number who said how'd you get me? well, it was given to me by this first. that's a legitimate story. >> so many millions want to sign up for that it's overload the computer system. ed schultz said he was misunderstood. it seemed unambiguous to me, bob. >> the people are losing their narrative. they want to turn it to glitches? sure, you're going to have problems. what happened that rates would go up too high, death panels, that's not what you've been reporting. what you've been reporting is the system. >> this was part of the broken promise. it was supposed to work on this day. >> on the first day? >> yes. we know one guy's name, this chad guy who signed up allegedly. >> and he got a lot of publicity. >> why? because he's the only person

they could find who signed up. you're going to tell me -- >> on january 1st there will be millions of people. >> they're the ones who made the push for october 1st. >> i have to get to a break but i know you'll accuse me of trying to make the story sexier. actress nina dobrev posted a picture on instagram, she was topless, and the caption is "covered." >> what are you doing? >> this is why everybody competed to get you. i think this is perfect journalism as far as i'm concerned. >> unbelievable. >> is she helping obama care? >> probably. she's helping out the ratings of this show. >> that's good enough. when we come back, a more serious subject. that shooting outside the capitol just a couple blocks from here, we'll look at the media's missteps. capitol, a couple blocks from here. we will look at the media's miss steps. [ male announcer ] research suggests cell health

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it was a frightening incident outside the capitol the other day with reports that a woman with a baby in her car had had breached security and followed by a high-speed chase. we had the all-too-familiar spectacle of cable news kicking into high gear, and then came the mistakes. >> a very rapidly moving, frightening scene, shots fired. apparently now we know by law enforcement in an effort to stop that car. and we did also find out from the capitol police chief that the suspect is in custody. >> this woman behind the wheel of this vehicle was shot, and

obviously now in custody. >> it's being described that she got out of the car and started firing. that's where we are. she is in custody according to two sources. >> as it turned out, of course, miriam kerry did not have a gun, and she was not taken into custody. she was killed by police officers. and lauren ashburn, nobody is even talking about the media misstakes because they were les than the navy yard and boston marathon bombing. >> i put a question out on twitter, people don't care. >> they don't? >> they expect it. they expect that we, in the media, are going to get it wrong. and i think that's a very sad commentary on where we are in journalism. there's a reason that we rank lower than lawyers on the popularity scale. >> the bar's so low that people don't expect us in these fast-moving situations to have the facts straight. or wait until the facts are clear. >> then the source reporting where sources say or authorities say, people take it with a grain of salt now. they know that eventually the story will shake out. >> bob beckle, it took about 48

hours, it seems to me, for some in the press to start the questions, why was she killed if she was unarmed? at the same time they have to make split. second decisions. >> well, yeah, there were a lot of them. there was a baby in the back. they didn't broadcast the other police chasing her after that. i think the police got a pass here. and i think the media got a black eye. it also, in my view of black eyes for not covering the police. >> i think you're right that people don't expect them to get it right in the early going and they just say oh, well, i'll read it on twitter later and we'll figure it out at some point. and i am going to agree with bob again dlaish >> what a day. >> i do think some critical with how police acted especially with the baby in the kocar, everyone wants to give them kudos. >> but back in the '90s, i covered on capitol kill the shooting of capitol hill police officers inside the capitol. it was a story that went for days. covered the navy yard shooting.

it was also a story that went for maybe a day and a half. and then this story, shots outside the capitol, half a day. right? sort of a half a day. >> the boston marathon coverage went on for about two weeks solid. now it's nothing. >> is it because there was a political debate surrounding the boston bombing, the question how the am bos were obtained and there was a ungun-control question and her we had what turned out to be a mentally disturbed woman who snapped apparently? >> no, i don't think there were enough facts for the media to make a mistake on. you move on. >> this thing marks me as very old-fashioned. i still feel like in these breaking-news situations, if anchors and correspondents waited for confirmation, they would get fewer things wrong. they didn't have a gun. >> it didn't come until 6:00 at night. this happened at 3:00. what are people supposed to do between 3:00 and 6:00? >> they've got 24 hours of news coverage. >> you know what this is? who gets it first? who cares? the public doesn't care if somebody got them at 21 or 23 or

whatever. >> but they do want information quickly. >> it's only journalists who care who gets it first, unfortunately. cnn's anderson cooper did a moving interview with the two sisters of the woman killed on friday night. mary and bob agreeing and lauren, thanks very much. after the break, we'll look at the reporting on how the government shutdown is actually affecting america. has the impact been huge or hyped? is impacting america. youand you're talking toere rheuyour rheumatologistike me, about trying or adding a biologic. this is humira, adalimumab. this is humira working to help relieve my pain. this is humira helping me through the twists and turns. this is humira helping to protect my joints from further damage. doctors have been prescribing humira for over ten years. humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation

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the government shutdown or partial government shutdown, to be precise, is definitely having an impact around the country as news organizations have rushed to cover. >> the shutdown has hit 800,000 federal workers around the country the hardest. no work, no pay. >> i live from paycheck to paycheck, unfortunately. >> these are real people's lives that are being affected and

ruined and thrown into chaos. >> i'm getting tired of feeling like a ping-pong ball. >> reporter: in virginia, the shock is still hitting thomas foaler. single father of a 7-year-old, he's an i.t. consultant, a contract worker for the department of labor. among tens of thousands of federal contractors impacted. >> are we getting a clearer picture of the shutdown's effects or is there some involved? joining us now, james rosen, fox news, and david zurich, television and media critic of "the baltimore sun." james, in your reporting, how really is the impact? we've seen a lot of stories like the ones i just played. and are people trying to spin you about whether the impact is larger or smaller than you might think? >> the angle i have been covering this past week for fox news involved the basic logis c logistics of what's going to stay open, what won't, who's affected, how are government agencies making decisions about what's essential, nonessential? and i've also paid particular attention to the terminology that due to the sensitivities of government workers, it's no longer described as essential or

nonessential. you're called accepted from the shutdown and not accepted from the shutdown, which is nice. but in terms of exaggeration, i think that we have seen some efforts by both parties and by their respective supporters in opinionated media to do that. >> on the fox news website, for example, instead of calling this a shutdown, it's often referred to as a slimdown, as some kind of weight watchers exercise. i think that's a mistake, a loaded term. when they interviewed furloughed workers, people who lost their jobs, angry tourists, is that straight reporting or a kind of add advocacy? >> everything i've seen, and i've spent four hours a day watching it, if there's a story that's doshown of someone victimized by the shutdown, that's the game of washington

that's insane, and it reached its apex, i think, this week at the veterans memorial, you know, when politicians from both sides were trying to run over there to be with the world war ii veterans to say they were for them, it was somebody else's fault that they had to remove a barrier to get in. >> well, that was an episode that did not look good for the administration. >> yes. >> but i mentioned earlier that cnn's dana bash had asked harry reid about the republican plan to restore partial funding for certain agencies including nih, let's take a look at that clip. >> reporter: you talked about children with cancer unable to go through clinical trials. here's what you said. will you at least pass that, and if not, are you playing political games that republicans have? >> this is -- to have someone of your intelligence to suggest such a thing may mean you're as irspo irresponsible and reckless.

>> james. >> that was the dark side of harry reid. it's probably the worst example of the democrats in this episode and their use and abuse of the media where there have been skillful examples. for example, every time that you logon to whitehouse.gov, the first thing you see is a pop-up box that tells you, we are sorry but due to congress failing to pass a budget, we can't give you all the usual services on this website that we'd like to. there have been skillful uses. that was not one of them. >> since you strapped yourself to a chair and watched hours of this coverage, give us a brief overview of the way cable networks have covered this and their opinions. >> obama care is outrageous, howie, it really was. on msnbc, 36 hours after the exchanges were opened, everyone was reporting widespread glitches, and glitches was a kind word. in some cases, they just shut down. >> meltdown. >> ed schultz looks into the camera on msnbc and says there are no glitches. there are no glitches. he says, fox is manufacturing talk about glitches. honest to god, you know, committee have -- he's an

opinion guy. he can have his own opinion, but you can't have your own facts. >> what about the others? >> cnn fires up the cnn express and puts dr. sanjay gupta on had road trip from south carolina up to baltimore. he comes up to baltimore. he interviews one operator, minimizes all the downplay, and it really plays, when you watch it, like a call now, operators are standing by. if you call in the next ten minutes, we'll give you two health insurance. it was pathetic to see this. >> and fox? >> fox, you know that harry reid clip right there with dana bash, well, not surprisingly, sean hannity wound up calling reid a twisted old -- and then he stopped himself. listen, reid was ignorant there, insensitive -- >> and you're saying the rhetoric a little too harsh? >> i would say you attack the men, you attack the policy. >> since this is actually affecting, you know, food inspections and the cia has had furloughs and all kinds of ripple effects here, do you think, james, there's been too much media spin about winners

and losers as opposed to -- and as opposed to the effect on real people and whether the d.c. press is kind of in a bubble here? >> let me tell you what i think the contribution of media to the government shutdown is. media are playing a fundamental role in how we got here. why is there such dysfunction and gridlock and paralysis in congress? why is there such polarization? i think a legitimate -- a plausible answer and it will fall to political scientists and historians to really flesh this out, but i think it's because there's been a democratization of media. everybody has youtube, platform, twitter, facebook, it makes it much easier to primary a lawmaker. and that's why they don't have relationships. they're back in their districts. >> james rosen with the context, thanks very much. zurich see you later. send me a tweet during this hour @howardkurtz. we'll read the best messages at the end of the program. we're headed into the baseball playoffs. is it really our national

pastime? jim gray joins us in just a moment. ratings, is the sport still our favorite past time? so i can reach ally bank 24/7, but there are no branches? 24/7. i'm sorry, i'm just really reluctant to try new things. really? what's wrong with trying new things? look! mommy's new vacuum! (cat screech) you feel that in your muscles? i do... drink water. it's a long story. well, not having branches let's us give you great rates and service. i'd like that. a new way to bank. a better way to save. ally bank. your money needs an ally. ♪ because an empty pan is a blank canvas. ♪ [ woman #2 ] to share a moment. ♪ [ man #1 ] to remember my grandmother. [ woman #3 ] to show my love. ♪ [ woman #4 ] because life needs flavor. ♪ [ woman #5 ] to travel the world without leaving home. [ male announcer ] whatever the reason. whatever the dish.

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"new york times" piece took a baseball bat to what was once called a national pastime. the headline asking, "is the game over?" now that we're into the play kwlofs, author jonathan mauer says baseball has bigger problems than it has, in his view, fallen out of the national conversation. joining us now from los angeles is jim gray of fox sports. say it ain't so, jim. i love baseball, but i have to admit, i haven't watched many games lately. >> well, it's just things have changed over the course of our time. our society has changed. and the biggest thing, really, howard is these devices. when you think about how everybody uses them in everyday life and the nanosecond society that we now live in, baseball is the national pastime, and people aren't just passing their time in the same way.

they may want the scores and highlights, but they're not tuning into the games, and the game itself is kind of a luxury that we all kind of now think that if we had the time, maybe we would, but it's better just to get the score and we can get the score right away. you can't watch a baseball game on one of these little tvs walking around on your telephone. it's all just changed quite a bit. and "the new york times," that was an excellent piece. >> that's an interesting point. i was thinking about the great announcers from the golden era, whether it's mel allen or harry caray or joe garagiola, but as you say, you don't even need a tv to watch sports. everyone knows football has blown baseball away in the ratings for a long time. now this "new york times" piece says even the nba getting much better ratings in the regular season than baseball is. but the beauty of the game was always, you know, 162 games, twists and turns in a pennant race. do we even have the attention span for that anymore in today's media saturated fast-forward society? >> no, 162 games is way too long for how we operate.

you know, there's some fallacies in this as well. the average baseball game this year was 2 hours and 58 minutes, under 3 hours, that's a long time. everybody complains about the pitchers in between pitches and everybody complains that the pitchers are being taken out of the game and switch hitters and at-bats being taking so long and guys walking out of the batter's box. but the average football game takes longer than three hours. but the average football game matters every week. there are only 16 games in a season. now we have 162 games. now we need a one-game wild card to see who the best team is. then after that, we need a 3 out of 5. you know, 162 games, we should be able to decide who's best. the average ratings of the nfl are so much higher. i mean, we've got a game tomorrow night where the falcons of atlanta are playing against the jets in atlanta. and the dodgers are playing the braves in a baseball game in a playoff series. what do you think's going to rate higher? the football game will outrate it consider repablconsiderably. >> a meaningless football game.

>> look, obviously there's this intense regional interest. people in pittsburgh are going crazy over the pirates. that doesn't necessarily translate into national ratings because how many national teams have a following in baseball? yankees, red sox, dodgers, that's probably about it. >> well, that's exactly right. it's really interesting in pittsburgh, and last night in oakland, it was amazing to see how everybody was into it, and the a's are back and they won 1-0. it was really compelling, beating detroit. but the fact of the matter is that these small markets haven't translated. there was an interesting statistic in that piece, if you go back and you look when the game was in its heyday in the '40s through the '60s before all of this expansion, there were 16 teams being played in 10 cities. now you have 30 franchises scattered all across the map here in the united states. so it hasn't translated in the small markets at least in terms the access to the game is greater. but people don't really want to

see -- bob costas who's as brilliant as sport castor as there is perhaps ever, said they're doomed if they get tampa bay playing against, you know, another small market in the finals of the baseball in the world series. they just don't want to watch it. >> we should mention that steroids have done a lot of damage in recent years in the various scandals, tarnishing scars from mac mcgwire to sammy sosa to a-rod and roger clemens. how much of that has contributed to this decline, i would call it? >> well, i think that people are tired of seeing it. and if you look at the most searched people in major league baseball this year, and i went on and did, it was ryan braun of the brewers who's been suspended for 65 games, and alex rodriguez who's now been suspended for 211 games and is having his appeal, and he has his appeal going on right now during the playoffs. that was very well thought out by major league baseball as well. so, yes, the steroids has hurt, but they profiteered off it. if you go back to the days of sosa and mcgwire and all the

home runs of barry bonds in the late '90s, that's what brought the game back after all of their labor problems. >> and now all seems tarnished. i don't disagree with anything you've said, but there's something about it that's just a little bit sad. jim gray joining us from l.a., thanks very much. >> good to be with you. coming up, cnn and nbc pulling the plug on their hillary clinton projects. did the two networks bow to pressure? pulling the plug woman: everyone in the nicu -- all the nurses wanted to watch him when he was there 118 days. everything that you thought was important to you changes in light of having a child that needs you every moment.

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my obligation there's that megan kelly promo. we'll get to that in a moment. cnn had touted its documentary as the work of a prize-winning filmmaker.

nbc trumpeted its mini-series starring diane lane. the republican party so upset that it barred the two networks from hosting any of its 2016 presidential debates. and this week both cnn and nbc suddenly pulled the plug. david zurich is back with us. and the news divisions at both cnn and nbc undoubtedly relieved these projects have gone away. wasn't this a bad idea headed into 2016? >> howie, it was a horrible idea. if you look at the history of the reagans -- the ravens, baltimore -- if you look at the reagans in 2003, cbs did it, came under pressure because they painted a really negative picture and an unfair president reagan. it wound up on showtime. then you get to the kennedys. history channel does it, has to say it's not fit for history channel, goes to the reelz channel. this is a bad, bad process. you spend a lot of money. you get a lot of heat. you don't get ratings. and you wind up having to dump it on some little channel. this is -- who would do this except -- except, in nbc's case -- and this is what i really believe-- on the chance

that hillary clinton might be in the white house someday, comcast does a lot of business, a lot of regulatory business before the fcc, it's nice to have a friend there. that's why i think the republican party was right to think it was going to be flattering. >> well, nbc didn't even really offer much of an explanation. just said we reviewed our priorities and it didn't make the cut. this came hours after cnn announced, it was done by charles ferguson, and he really unloaded on the huffington post and elsewhere where he said he's angry that hillary's people wouldn't give him any access, he called bill clinton a liar. >> and ferguson's an academy award winner. he is really a good documentary filmmaker. and what happened? as soon as he started asking real questions, the clinton team went after him and said, you're going to get no cooperation. he finally g lly said, look, th no access or possibility or access. but it was worse than that. they were hostile, telling people not to talk to them. and that is, i think, anybody in this town who has dealt with them knows that's the way that

game's played. he was smart to get out. he was not -- i do not believe he was going to do a puff job. >> do you think the gop saying they're cutting off the debates for cnn and nbc was at least a factor in the background? >> i think it was a big factor because those debates are important to them in terms of image. and i think even in a way in terms of profitability to be engaged in the presidential election, that does bring you some advertising for those guys. i think it was a brilliant move to say you get no debates. look at how all those debates where cnn ran on and on. i think it was a factor. >> i don't agree it was a brilliant move to cut two news organizations out of it, but i'm going to leave that for another time. >> okay. >> bottom line is they'll probably get the debates back. as we just saw the promo, fox news will have its new primetime lineup, first changed in 11 years, greta goes earlier, hannity goes later and this new 9:00 p.m. newscast or broadcast i should say vinvolving megan kelly. what's your take? >> i like it. i'm looking forward to seeing kelly's thing. i really do think she's a

primetime star and will do very well. listen, as long as they have bill o'reilly as the tentpole, the king, they'll be fine. but i also really like greta as a transition from news to opinion because she does it both, and i think she's one of the hardest working people in journalism. she will give you a timely lead-in every night to o'reilly. i think it looks good. we'll see how it does in ratings, but i think it's a good move. >> megan kelly says it's not about her opinions. it's mostly interviews and stories. david, thanks for stopping by. coming, a woman quits her job and sends an unmistakable message on you cube. why that's touched a nerve in our "digital download." that's next. copd makes it hard to breathe... but with advair, i'm breathing better. so now i can help make this a great block party. ♪

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time now for our "digital download." it's an old refrain in a way, frustrated workers say take this job and shove it. >> this woman had a rather colorful way of resigning with a video that went viral on youtube. ♪ ♪ take them to the show and talk all through the movie ♪ ♪ want diamonds ♪ i took her to ruby tuesday ♪ i say have it my way ♪ i ride on chrome ♪ y'all don't want pride from me ♪ ♪ what you rappers could get is to die for me ♪ >> you knew that was coming, didn't you? you knew the "i quit" was coming at the very end. this is pretty remarkable way to quit.

>> 5 million views on youtube of that video. >> at least. at least 5 million. >> why so? >> well, i think one of the reasons is, who doesn't love to see somebody quit like that? i mean, it's really a poke in the eye to the company. but what's so interesting about this is that you can now go international as an individual broadcaster. this youtube, 6 billion hours are watched each and every month on youtube. and 70% of the traffic is outside the u.s. >> and you don't need a professional studio and a professional makeup people. >> although she did have that. >> oh, okay. it seems to me this is a new form of workplace communication, you know, she quits. she makes a video. she feels strongly about it. it goes viral because people can relate to the fact that somebody doesn't like their job. but here's what's really interesting about this. the company, this company that does taiwanese animation felt compelled to make its own deal

to respond. take a look at that. ♪ talk about cool j ♪ see me at the airport ♪ treat me like the president ♪ as my sweet brother lou says ♪ take him to the show and talk all through the movies ♪ ♪ she want diamonds ♪ i took her to ruby tuesday's >> you know, you have to admire the head of that company who did that, saying we are hiring. i thought it was brilliant. >> brilliant? >> brilliant. >> yeah, but the company was forced to play defense here and to use the same kanye west rap music as marina did. >> that's what social media is all about now, reputation management, really. you have to look at your twitter feed and your facebook pages and reddit to make sure that you're not being maligned. >> really? >> you don't do that? and by the way, do you know who was singing on those videos? >> didn't i just say? i looked it up. >> kanye. >> okay. but the company in this case

could have just ignored this, right? you're saying they couldn't ignore it because it got 5 million plus views and the company had to worry about not just its reputation, because she was saying they were more concerned with getting a lot of page views as opposed to workers' rights. but that the company had to show that, hey, we're still a pretty cool place to work. >> right. yes. and that still goes to reputation management. but the other piece of it is really that everything now is online for the younger generation. they aren't shy about putting things on facebook or social media that could affect how they will be hired. queen latifah had her on the show, had marina on the show, and said, i'd love to give you a job. >> right. but you would say that many people would risk -- younger people would risk losing their jobs or not being hired in the future if they did something that was not especially -- >> pc. >> right, okay. but she took a risk because she could have been seen as a disgruntled employee lashing out at people who had been nice

enough to give her a job. >> i think so. don't you remember the guy who quit his airplane job by sliding down the chute of the airplane saying, i'm out of here, right? i mean, i think we really like stuff like that. >> let me just say this. >> oh, no. oh, don't even. >> i would never, ever make a video like that. >> okay, i would. >> you would? >> i would. >> okay. are you quitting? are you quitting? >> i'm not quitting. i promise, i'm not quitting. still to come, your best tweets of the hour and a newspaper editor who responded to interview problems by slighting some of his readers. i'm kind of seeing a... some kind of... this is... an alien species. reality check: a lot of 4g lte coverage maps don't really look like much at all. i see the aleutian islands. looks like a duck. it looks like... america... ish. that's a map. that's a map of the united states. check the map. verizon's 4g lte is the most reliable, and in more places than any other 4g network.

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here are a few of the top tweets. she likes the show. she keeps writing to us. media says potus won't negotiate. untrue. won't negotiate aca, will

negotiate other vital issues and fox is now tea party arm. paula greathouse says all msm except for fox continue to cheerlead and push the @barackobama venue. boo! msm typical ph lap dogs. don't care if it stays shutdown for months. it's all show. prez will negotiate when poll numbers drop. want to end the shutdown? all media refuses to interview any member. i think he right about that one. here's a story hthat is over th line. blaming them on struggling women, to be precise, poor, promiscuous women is just plain insensitive. that unfortunately is what chris powell did, the editor of "the journal inquirer" in manchester, connecticut. he writes that papers can still sell themselves to traditional households, two-parent families involved with churches and civic groups, but newspapers cannot sell themselves to households headed by single women who have

several children by different fathers, survive on welfare stipe ends, can hardly speak or read english move every few months to cheat their landlords, barely know what town they're living in and couldn't afford a newspaper subscription even if they could read. i hope that made you feel better, chris powell, because for most of us, it came off as cruel. finally, the great government shutdown has reduced at least one great media moment. turns out mike and his fiancee had to drop their wedding planned for the jefferson memorial because of the shutdown, complained to "the washington post" and wound up tying the knot with stephen colbert. >> in sickness and in health until death do you part? >> i do. >> and mike, do you do all that same stuff but with the word "wife" in there? >> i do. >> yeah! you're married! go for it!

>> they're going to have a slightly funny wedding video than most couples. that's it for this edition of "media buzz." i'm howard kurtz. like us on facebook, continue the conversation online, and we are back here next sunday morning, 11:00 eastern with more "buzz." i'm chris wallace. two top-secret raids target terrorists including one wanted by the u.s. for more than a decade. >> the numbers of al qaeda and other terrorist organizations literally can run, but they can't hide. >> in somalia, american forces go after those responsible for the recent mall attack in nairobi. in libya, they capture an al qaeda leader linked to the 1998 embassy bombings in east africa. we'll have a live report. plus, as the partial government shutdown drags on, do there's another financial crisis on the horizon. >> this isn't some damn game.