lucky to come out with a commemorative t-shirt. from new york, this is mike huckabee. good night and god bless. stay tuned for

chris christie made a fundraising speech in chicago this week as new figures show a healthy haul that he made. he continues to draw fierce scrutiny from outlets as the "washington post" and "the new york times" and on msnbc one contributor, former bush aide nicole wallace, pushed back at the saturation coverage when chuck todd questioned whether

christie had a good day in chicago. >> what's the definition of a good day? >> on till 9:00. >> we're doing a feed i frenzy on somebody who we're not sitting back and you know -- we're overdoing it now. i think everybody is -- >> overdoing what? oh, my god. so much time has been spent in four weeks covering every teeny minuscule breaking non-news event in this. >> not on my show. >> well, on the network on which you appear and i appear. >> i like the water drinking the best. >> amy holmes, msnbc has a problem with a contributor. saying it's going haywire on chris christie. >> msnbc has been mining this because it's good for their ratings and they know their viewers are enjoying this story. they are up. >> i agree with chuck todd it's been a feeding frenzy. he's trying to distance himself

from it saying he hasn't been covering it in this exorbitant way. >> chris christie can't buy a good headline. >> especially from msnbc. >> i think it's a legitimate story, multiple investigations, subpoenas. when i flip around the champnne, i see a lot of msnbc doing this. >> we talked about the hillary obsession. let's talk about the christie obsession. >> twofold here. he was the 8 hundred-pound gorilla. that is not a pun. in the republican race. he was the presumed front-runner. the presumed having the best chance. but he also had a reputation as being above politics. this is why the political media liked him, it is why moderates and independents like him. he was seen as not doing politics as usual. so this kind of scandal feeds into the idea that he's just another politician and corrupt one at that. >> what about the daily drumbeat or the hourly drumbeat? >> they want to keep it going.

their audience craves this sort of thing. >> even there was a headline comparing chris christie and hillary clinton and saying, well hillary might be a bully but it's a different kind of bully. a private bully, not the kind that chris christie is. he's a jlegitimate bully. >> that's interesting. there was a long piece about christie and his scandal and history. it was this photoshop photo illustration as it was identified where the governor's head, i'm not looking at that. there -- out of order. let me back up. leave that picture up for a minute. we'll get it together, folks. chris christie's head and tony soprano's body. if we can go to the mugshot of al capone, rachel maddow had likened him to al capone. >> come on. she said fiscal conservative that led famous individuals in our history to pay very low taxes for years until they didn't anymore. and then up came al capone.

this is someone who has been realing against republicans for a long time. it is not unexpected that something like this would happen. but i think the al capone picture, a criminal, goes a little too far. >> a murderer, by the way. >> he was only convicted of something else. >> it's totally irresponsible. it's clearly trying to smear chris christie, create this cartoon ahead of 2010 to make him unacceptable to the public. >> i understand the soprano's reference because it's new jersey. what about italian stereotyping between capone. >> that's why we're getting it here. we're mob baiting. >> are we saying he's a mobster? come on. >> you're saying that's the inevitable conclusion to be drawn. >> yes, of course. >> given that this investigation is going to unfold and that there will be legitimate news to cover here everywhere, including

on fox, does it desensitize the public when there is so much coverage every single day? another christie story and it becomes old news. >> people will eat this stuff up. keep the story rolling, chum the water with whatever you've got. like when a small child goes missing or when hillary clinton does something, there are certain issues that people want more and more and more of. >> i do think, though it's a niche story. i think it's of particular interest to msnbc's audience and to liberals and democrats who fear a chris christie campaign. >> i just have to quibble with you. i don't think that it's just because there's a feeding frenzy. and i don't think that it's going to go on and on and on. when there is real news, we're going to see a lot more of this. >> amy holmes, michelle, thanks very much for joining us this sunday. in our press picks, this media fail has this for a transition. it's a correction that could have only taken place in new jersey. the new york star ledgers

screwed up in a -- here's how the paper set the record straight. an earlier version of the story incorrectly stated drouin yak referred to the port authority's cute tiff director as a piece of crap. it was dav wildstein who referred to the director as a piece of crap. holy crap, that's embarrassing. up next. another big setback for obamacare. are the media falling for the administration spin? >> with all our gadgets, is it possible to go through digital detox?

just when obamacare was indicating from the pages came the law that they were changing it again. it was delayed until 2016 for companies with 50 to 99 workers. this after the mandate for larger companies had already been put off until next year.

joining us to talk about this is elise bee back, reporter who covers health care for the hill. >> did the media overplay or underplay this delay? >> there was a range of coverage options for the media. they underplayed it. >> because? >> itwe're talking about what i means for the white house, for politics, what it means for congress, what it means for the rollout of the health care law overall. >> one of the needs for politics seems to get a lot of attention. the more complicated questions are hard to answer, correct me if i'm wrong, seem to get less? >> yes. they seem to get less and then do get less because as a journalist working on a print deadline, it's very difficult to put all of that together into a story within a couple of hours or 45 minutes is what we had before the announcement this week. it's very difficult. for a reporter working on deadlines, you're just not going to get very far with the larger questions if you're trying. the media ultimately underplayed

it. there's larger relevance for the rollout of the health care law but very few people asked what it means for the businesses and the employees of those businesses which is really the real story here. >> when you're work og on this story and another delay in the mandate for a large group of companies, do you get pushback from the administration officials? >> immediately after we posted our story, we got an e-mail from the treasury department to me and to another reporter working on the story and they were quibbling with our headline which is common in washington, d.c. if you're writing about the news of the day, you're going to get pushback from one court or another. it was fascinating because it was the media. we shouldn't be calling it a delay, first of all. they wanted us to call it phased implementation. which is such a wonderful bureaucratic term, isn't it? when you think about it, there's no way to fit that in a headline. >> it is a delay for those companies. >> it's a delay. they also wanted us to make sure we referred to it as partial in the headline which i think is fair. this isn't a delay of the employer mandate in the same way we saw it delayed last year.

this is a partial delay for some businesses. doesn't mean it's not big news. >> they're arguing about the headline, not the story. >> that's right. >> conservative commentator is saying that president obama is being lawless here, going too far, repeatedly changing this law. is that a legitimate debate. >> it is. certainly, it assists republicans in campaign season because it allows thome put together all of these issues. they can talk about how they don't want to do immigration reform because the president is lawless. they can sneak around argument and put it out for the voter. all the delays and changes to obamacare's rollout aren't getting into the public's mind the same as in washington, d.c. >> don't follow the story every day. >> many people don't know that obamacare is still the law. many people are confused about the basic facts of this. republicans are in a strong position to make that argument because it allows the public to put together all of these bits and pieces of what they've been hearing. >> one other piece of this is a couple days after the delay or

the phased i am plemtation, excuse me. >> yes. >> the administration to more than 3 million people will have now in total enrolled in obamacare. that led to upbeat stories, maybe a little too positive snoo. >> perhaps too positive. >> how so? >> the administration deserves credit. here's why. the fault was a complete and total disaster. it was like covering a car wreck. that's how it was. the rollout in october, november, december. when you think about these rollout numbers, it was the first time the administration had beat a monthly target it had set for itself. of all of the media outlets that had said in the fall, oh, they're not meeting their monthly targets, isn't this terrible, the administration can't meet expectations, i think it's a fair and sportsman like thing to say things are getting better. at the same time, the press is eager to tell a different story about the rollout. people have health fatigue, congress does, and we're ready to hear a different story. >> the press was pointed out that 20% of those people counted in the 3 million, they haven't

paid premiums yet. >> everyone is noting that. >> list bee back, thank you. christine rein an from sochi and why the olympics aren't catching on or getting media attention for all the wrong reasons? rise@w@wowowpg÷÷owúç÷.

i'm jamie colby. see you in america's news headquarters. it's no secret that sochi has its share of problems, but it seems to me that coverage of the winter olympics is suffering from something deeper. it goes beyond the usual time zone problem which we get the results long before the events air on nbc. i spoke earlier with christine brennan, a sports commentator for usa today and abc news from sochi. >> christine, i'm sure you get caught up in the excitement of being there. but other than the u.s. hockey team beating russia on saturday, i can't remember an olympics that has generated so little chatter here. why do you think that is? >> that's a great question,

howie. i think bottom line is that there have been a lot of disappointing performances for the u.s. athletes. some expected performances, obviously snowboarding, that's a sport the united states owns, x game, that's where the four gold medals have been so far. you're right, lindsey vonn never made it here. you've got bode miller not doing well. any name that is a household name at all or even is close to a household name just isn't doing, making the headlines up to this point. >> right. no breakout stars and sometimes television can create new stars. hasn't happened this time. then the monster time delay. i know a lot of people complained about nbc airing some of these events so much later than they take place. these days, christine, i can already see the results on your twitter feed. >> right. well, that's, i think the real problem for ninette work like nbc. you want to package it and be beautiful up close and personal from 8:00 to 11:00 primetime. but the world of twitter and

social media is absolutely against that. for us, for me, howie, i think it's great. i have never had the ability except now the last two olympics to really tell the story and to break news because, of course, we didn't have twitter or facebook. i love social media and i love being able to get that word out and tell people the story and even send pictures. i've been noticing that a lot of us and i've been doing it, sending a lot of still pictures because i think people get a kick out of seeing what it looks like as it's happening live. >> you have nbc, which has paid billions for the rights to a number of olympic games, being restrictive in the footage that oertel vision networks or websites can use. has the olympics been less of a shared event? >> oh, i think so, without a doubt. because of the restrictions as you mentioned. i think it is much more of a hit or miss thing now if that makes sense. what we remember as kids. sitting down and just you couldn't wait for 8:00 and the olympic -- the music to start and you were off and running.

that's not happening anymore. so i think that there is that element of it not being a shared event. i frankly, think that the sports are no longer as unique as they used to be. we see hockey all the time. so many of these sports stations now howie have all the sports on the air. there's nothing special about watching tennis in the summer olympics. you see them at wimbledon and the u.s. open. golf will be in the summer olympics. i think the uniqueness of the sports is lessened to the point where the novelty and the excitement of it is also lessened for the viewer. >> do you think, as well, christine that it's been overshadowed by the problems in sochi, the fact that some people don't like the russian host, vladimir putin, the warm weather and the low attendance. maybe, to me, the event that broke through was the bobsledder who had to break down the bathroom door to get to his event. >> certainly going into these olympics of all the ones i covered, howie and it's now 16 in a row, winter and summer, i've never seen more of a run-up

about the news and not the sports. very seriously news. the issues of terrorism, security, put in's anti-gay propaganda law. that took up all of the airspace and the headlines really for months leading up to sochi. i've never seen a games where we have focused less on the sports going into the games. now, i would say that in the last week we have really made that turn to sports. you make the point and i think it's well-taken that then where are the superstars. we don't have any huge names to talk about. splut absolutely. there's no doubt it will affect the way the games are looked at for the future, the way history will look at the games and it did take away the sports impact because there was so much news. >> right. nbc's ratings have been about the same as the last winter olympics. i'm measuring in terms of the water cooler factor and how much people are talking about it here in the states. during the women's downhill skiing event, nbc commentator steve parrino said that they do this all the while in a lycra

suit, maybe makeup. that is grace under pressure. he caught flack for that. i'm wondering is there a double standard for female athletes. lindsey vonn posed in sports illustrated. they have to look good and be competitive on the slopes or on the rink. >> we talked about this before, you and i. i think there is that element of that. it lessens every four years or two years between summer and winter games. for example, look at u.s. women's hockey. no one is talking about their makeup. they will probably be playing canada for the gold medal. that was a terrific game and it was packed and people cared very much about that. so absolutely, as long as we're in the male-dominated sports world and as long as men are making those executive decisions, in most cases for companies and for networks and sports companies, we're going to have this kind much conversation. i do think, maybe i'm a pollyanna, maybe it lessens every time. the fact that the comment was noted, howie and brought up and i heard about it almost

immediately on twitter, that's good. that means that it did create news because found it offensive or wrong and i think that's a good thing. >> it's been following your coverage on twitter. christine brennan, thanks for joining us from sochi. >> howie, my pleasure. thank you. we appreciate christine standing out there in the dark. al roker doesn't mind mixing it up with politicians. did it go too far when the "today" show star off with the relatively balmy olympics in sochi delivered icy twitter blasts when mayor bill deblasio decided against closing the city's schools. now my daughter's city school is being let out early. is it worth putting kids' safety at risk and this one? talk about a bad prediction. long-range deblasio forecast, one term. writing off the mayor just a month into his term. now, deblasio could have ignored the nbc weatherman. but instead, he stirred up a tabloid storm. >> i respect al roker a lot.

watched him on tv for many, many years. it's a different thing to run a city than to give the weather on tv. >> by friday, roker realized he had stepped over the line. >> i'm very passionate about the weather. i made a prediction that there would be one term of his administration. i apologize for that. >> glad he apologized. roker was on thin ice with his political punditry. i suspect he'll weather the storm. after the break, they loved the tale of the philandering french president, why did they jump on a bogus rumor about the american president?

it's one of those lines that generates taunting headlines across cable news and the web. even though everyone knows it's a harmless joke. it happened when president obama was showing francois hollande around thomas jefferson's place in monticello. >> we're breaking protocol here. that's all right. that's the thing about being president, i can do whatever i want. >> obama can do whatever he wants. not as chief executive but on this minor protocol matter. even more tantalizing was the sub text of the french president's visit which was catnip for the american media. >> yeah. there's also a little bit of a scandal here coming along with french president francois hollande because he is here in

the u.s. without a date. >> the state dinner at the white house in honor of french president francois hollande. he's going alone. >> a french magazine had disclosed that hollande was donning a motorcycle helmet to secretly visit an actress which led to the breakup of france's first lady who was scratched from the guest list in washington. the people in paris usually take these things in stride giving the rich tradition of high level dalliances. the french newspaper quoted a photographer as floating a spectacularly inaccurate rumor that obama is having an affair with, wait for it, beyonce. claimed that the "washington post" was about to break the beyonce story which is flatly untrue. the fact that this was obviously bogus didn't stop a lot of american websites from trumpeting the false report. not taking it terribly seriously but putting it out there. they couldn't resist the notion that obama was having as much fun as the french presidents and their mistresses.

ahead on media buzz, should we unplug the gadgets and put ourselves on a digital diet? is that even possible these days? i must begin my journey,

which will cause me to miss the end of the game. the x1 entertainment operating system lets your watch live tv anywhere. can i watch it in butterfly valley? sure. can i watch it in glimmering lake? yep. here, too. what about the dark castle? you call that defense?! come on! [ female announcer ] watch live tv anywhere. the x1 entertainment operating system, only from xfinity.

time now for the digital download. new york times writer teddy wayne went on a detox largely unplugging from all his devices and asked to see if that would simplify his life. >> i'm sorry, what were you saying? and that made most of us with multiple devices start thinking. should more of us go on a digital diet? and is that a realistic option in this twitter age, howard kertz? >> it is totally unrealistic because you're expected to be available all the time now.

did you get my e-mail? did you get my text? did you hear what happened 15 minutes ago? >> and don't you get annoyed when people don't respond to you? >> yeah. >> you are right. let's talk about what he did, he actually allotted himself to 15 minutes a day, but a lot of people can actually link this kind of stuff to addiction. and they say that, oh, come on, no, it's not, okay, are you more anxious when you're not texting? well, do you text while you drive? a friend of mine, matt mendleson, facebook'd a great picture of a beautiful beach an seven kids all inside on a device. >> the first thing i say is take the tv out of the home, read one newspaper a week, it's the same news repeated every day, excuse me, that's mronic. nobody has any respect for news information. so then that person says, well,

you don't need all the devices. >> you can't do it, but there are a lot of people out there who, you know, probably could. maybe their job doesn't rely on the news and they just have to look at the weather. >> i'm all for taking the more moderate approach and we don't have to be tethered to the devices all the time, and maybe multi-tasking is not good when sitting around writing books and poems, but clay sharkey says being on your device is like seco secondhand smoke. it affects everyone sitting so center sud did we want to show you, couples and technology. 25%, 25% have texted their partner when they are both home. and someone in the makeup room said, yes, her husband said, hey, honey, can you bring me a beer? >> that is so romantic. >> isn't that great? 9% resulted in argument online or by text. they must not like to fight. >> it seems to me that maybe

it's a good thing to resolve an argument because it kind of takes the emotion out of it, but this notion you're in the same house and sending each other a text, i'm sorry, that is weird. >> you have never done that? >> maybe once. >> come on, so you're just calling yourself weird. give me a break. >> but it does kind of underscore this wired world we live in. so to say, you know, how many times have you gone out to forget your phone and feel like you missed all these important e-mails? it was a nice gimmick for "the new york times," but it is not terribly realistic. >> i do. i want to quote bill neil who is one of my twitter followers. he says to enjoy each day to the fullest. i think if you're going to do that, you can't have your nose in the screen all day. >> give me that, give me that, take it away. >> no. you can follow me and read top twitter talks. still to come, our mistake about the beatles leaves one family member very unhappy.

@w@wg [ male announcer ] this is joe woods' first day of work.

and his new boss told him two things -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll work his way up from busser to waiter to cf before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game from the great northwest. he'll start investing early, he'll find some good people to help guide him, and he'll set money aside from his first day of work to his last, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade all on "the factor" your life will be better if you see it. here's some of your top tweets. what about the press reporting on hillary clinton and monica lewinsky? media should be diving into papers for breaking news. media shouldn't use as excuse to rehash old news. kirk allen says, ask yourself what the media would do if the

papers were instead about the palins. and the subdued interest in the sochi olympics which i talked to kristen brennan about. and i am usually an olympic junkie but not this year. reasons, lack of stars. tape delay. schizophrenic coverage from nbc. and another, social media spoilers plus tape delay. 80% of the time i know the results before it's aired 16 hours later in the u.s. >> i don't get it. there are the x-games sports in here, i don't get it. >> i would explain it to you but i don't get it ear. some sad news to report to you. >> the long time former anchor and very good friend of ours, tom brokaw is undergoing treatment for multiple myeloma, a former cancer affecting blood cells in the bone marrow. he was diagnosed this summer at the mayo clinic.

>> brokaw says he's optimistic and looks forward to continuing his adventures and is the luckiest guy i know. tom is one of the most true gentleman i know in the business and we wish him the best. and last week as i was celebrating the beatles 50th anniversary, we had this exchange. >> not everyone likes the beatles. there's a big percentage of people who don't like them. >> who doesn't like the beatles? >> my dad. >> so in the interest of equal time, i have an e-mail here from warren ashburg of pittsburgh who tells his daughter he's been getting calls for, what? where did you get the idea i don't like the beatles? i must have 20 beats cds on my shelf. i even have a novelty tie with beatles record covers all over them. loved them back then and love them now.

yoik! dad. >> i am so sorry, dad. i just want to say, i'm sorry, and i love you. and do you love me? he loves me, yeah. >> we'll have to see what his response is. if you're going to make a mistake about a viewer -- >> don't make it your dad. >> never report unless you have it in writing. that's it. i'm howard kurtz. we converge with people who want to talk to us about we are back here at 11:00 eastern and 5:00 p.m. eastern with the latest >> it is monday february 17th. a plane bound for rome hijacked by its own co pilot? that co pilot now in custody and

speaking out. why he says he did it. >> new and disturbing details emerging in the case against the so-called craig's list killer. how she was taught to kill and the mounting number of people who allegedly died by her hands. >> a 7-year-old boy out for a walk with his dog gets trapped for 14 hours behind a cement wall. how he survived the freezing cold temperatures will warm your heart. >> "fox & friends first" starts right now. >> good monday morning to you. you are watching "fox & friends first". it is february 17th. i am ainsley earhardt. >> i am heather childers. thank you for stating your day with us. a co pilot under arrest after he hijacked an ethiopian air mine flight and flies to geneva looking for asylum. the man waited until the pilot

to go to the bathroom to lock the cockpit door and grab control of the plane after landing in geneva. he escaped out of the cockpit window with a rope and ran toward security officers identifying himself as the hijacker. police safely escorted all 202 passengers one by one off the flight with their hands on their heads. a stunning confession a 19-year-old man killing a man she killed on craig's list. she admitted to murdering 22 other people. now they are trying to figure out if it is true. >> what did she say, kelly? >> a bizarre story. one woman's confession to murder is like a hollywood horror quill am. she will plead guilty to butchering herrera.