i'll be back tomorrow morning on opening bell on the fox business network. stay with fox news media buzz with howard kurtz begins right now. >> on the buzz meter this sunday, the architect of obama care caught on tape saying that -- it's ignored for days by the broadcast networks, by the "new york times" and much of the main stream media. what gives? >> you don't really get the news if it goes against the liberal orthodox, and this is proof, this is absolute prove. and the anchor who said cnbc silenced her when she dared challenge the silencing of obama care. >> i was called into management

and i was told that he was disrespecting the office of the president by telling what turned out to be the absolute truth. the press makes valerie jarrett the scapegoat in truth. what about the lost art of reporting, a conversation with brit hume. plus glen beck makes a video about health problems that almost forced him to hang it up. >> i had begun to have a string of health issues that quite honestly made me look crazy and quite honestly i felt crazy because of them. >> where does this leave beck and his media empire? i'm howard kurtz and this is media buzz. there's almost nothing the media loves more than secret

videotapes and this was the architect of obama care jonathan gruber admitting to a health care conference that -- transfer money to poorer patients. >> lack of transparency is a huge political advantage. and call it the stupidity of the american voter or whatever, but that was really critical to get it to pass. >> this was a very big story on fox news. >> caught on cam remarks a st g stunning admission new developments on the obama care architect who was caught on video admitting the white house preyed on the quote, stupidity of the american voter to get the health care law passed. >> but this was a nonstory for days as far as the network news division was concerned. not a word in the "new york times" until yesterday.

other news organizations, cbs, "washington post" finally catching up days later. joining us to talk about this huge -- stone wall fight for truth against the forces of intimidation and harassment. allison barber, staff writer, and a democratic strategist and fox news contributor. the gruber video was it important news in is it important news and why haven't they gotten more coverage? >> the first thing that i thought of when i heard that was the romney 37% video. my own network cbs jumped on that and aired it night after night. >> gruber hardly a household name. >> but the difference that i think makes the gruber video perhaps arguably more important

is romney talking about his own political fairy, gruber's talking about something that was actually imposed on the american people. think about the magnitude that he was saying, he said this was something they had to mislead and deceive the public about in order to get it passed. i think that's big news. >> why for days did the major network news organizations decide this had zero news value. >> i don't think there's a good excuse for it. i think this was something that was made for broadcasting was to pick up on it. it was actually very clear, good video. >> was it some complicated video that had on the -- >> people want video of something they can easily digest. you mentioned that he's hardly a household name, i think most health policy reporters know who he is. but this is the guy that had the tape coming out in july that's going to impact the supreme court case. the things he says now should still be important, particularly

when what he has said is going to play to the hallburg case in the past. >> abc and nbc talked about this a little bit on their sunday shows a little bit today. as far as we can tell, that's the first time on those two network newscasts. don't the media usually love videos that are at the very least embarrassing. >> it's something that's legitimate, something to talk about. part of it has to be that i think that there's media buzz. it's not going anywhere, and so therefore, people feel -- >> let's move on, let's move on. by look, i don't think that's a legitimate belief. >> a story, maybe three to four to five days later reporting on something that's somebody's been able to learn about. >> when jonathan gruber was

doing damage control. >> i was speaking off the cuff and i basically spoke inappropriately and i regret having made those comments. >> but the point that you were making underneath the choice of news, was actually quite nuanced, you were saying that due to political pressures, the language of obama care had to be somewhat opaque? >> i think the most notable, i'll let your other guests comment on that. th the interviewer went on to ask him current questions from healthcare.g healthcare.gov, the guy admitting that everything i i said before about perhaps the part about -- >> gruber came on and said i spoke inappropriately. what was inappropriate, do you still believe this, are you taking it back? >> they just moved on. >> i'm not one to cry bias every

12 minutes. and sometimes i said, well, you know, other stories were dominating the news and they sucked up the oxygen, but there's nobody in the united states that has ebola anymore so they can't use that as a potential alibi. >> i think a lot of people in the media think this has been covered enough, it's been beat to death, we have a lot of these talking points that we feel like we're getting so we want to ignore it. this is an incredibly important legislation that changed an entire industry. it's something that people should be watching like a hawk. and the bias may -- the kind of people or maybe for whatever reason feel like they're tired of it and they don't want to go back on it. >> this has been going on for year after year after year. i'm not legitimizing the fact that -- part of this has been --

can we move on to something else? >> it's not like this is something in the history books, the open enrollment period started yesterday for obama care. this has generated dozens of segments on fox, using fox news as overplay. >> i think fox news has traditionally been the network that has taken a much heavier view of obama care than others, i think that having worked in different networks, when obama care was being implemented. fox news has been always been much more in the obama care story than other places and so i think a lot of this is part of the chorus for fox news. >> i would say that the associated press ran its first story and this program ran on monday, belatedly other organizations, we have to buck the the -- now julie kind of set us up for this question. former cnbc anchor says on her

show on friday, i happen to be on with her, that when she criticized the math of obama care, saying numbers didn't add up in her view, she was called on the carpet by management and silenced, as she says, what do you make of that? >> i'm not terribly surprised if she's giving a factual accounts. i have certainly got -- edefinitely got signals, especially the last couple of years that that was something they did not want. i have heard stories from other reporters and some of them are in my book and some have spoken by name. maybe we'll be hearing more reports. >> sometimes it was unmistaka e unmistakable. my producer understood at least what was being implied to us. >> it's the strongest signal of

al. >> let me turn to a story that's going to dominate the news. and i went too "the huffington post," a liberal website, krauthammer impeach. this was in reference to charles krauthammer saying on fox that he thought if obama did that it would be an impeachable offense. are they going to gin this up by throwing the i word around? >> if the media don't, but will always find somebody in the tea party caucus that will -- the republicans fall into this trap every time in that they give the media this huge story which is not -- >> you're making the media sound like just sort of passive resip yents. >> it's a sexy story, you've got somebody -- now they want to do

it for immigration, nothing the media loves more, the media, to be perfectly critical is not exactly something that's nuanced or in any other way not living. the media will always follow the readings. >> "the washington post" says some republicans want to shut down strategy, in other words challenging president obama with brinksmanship on the budget. don't the pundits love this kind of showdown? >> they do, and i think a lot of why you're seeing the news stories focus on this. we don't actually know if they're going to announce something next week or if it's going to be at the eptd of this year. immigration then kind of moved it down the road to do later, i think it makes sense that you see the media focusing on these difference angles. and in terms of the actual details they have, i think most

print outlets have done a fine job of covering that. >> common strategy, the white house or any administration will go to a favored print outlet, usually print outlets, not always and try to get their version of the story out in the least critical way that they can first. especially in the broadcast press, if the "new york times" has it. we will go after that and that will be on the front pages. >> just to button up our obama care -- the president was asked about this on sunday, and he said he didn't agree with john than gruber's remarks, that gruber wasn't on the staff, he was only paid $400,000 as an administration con sulsultconsu. i think it's fair to say this is fully debated and fully transparent. the president playing defense on this story. >> i want to hear from you on

twitter. we can also interact after the program, at howard kurtz. melissa francis who session cnbc management once chastised her. # so ally bank really has no hidden fees on savings accounts? that's right. it's just that i'm worried about you know "hidden things..." ok, why's that? no hidden fees, from the bank where no branches equals great rates.

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thank you. ordering chinese food is a very predictable experience. i order b14. i get b14. no surprises. buying business internet, on the other hand, can be a roller coaster white knuckle thrill ride. you're promised one speed. but do you consistently get it? you do with comcast business. and often even more. it's reliable. just like kung pao fish. thank you, ping. reliably fast internet starts at $89.95 a month. comcast business. built for business. . the press has suddenly made valerie jarrett the. the blunt headline in on a -- some unnamed officials consider her role pretty toxic and regard her as a spy.

joy reed raised this as a white house aid, but couldn't say what the criticism was. >> and i would be remiss about it if i didn't give you the opportunity to respond, there's been a lot of opportunities to talk about your own -- circulating around in the belt way, do you have any response to those reports? >> i guess i will tell you when you break -- >> morning joe co-host mika bra zin sky. >> he's white house senior advisor valerie jarrett on set. you look great. >> she keeps me calm each morning when joe tries to raise my blood pressure. >> mika says in an online comment, yes she and valerie jarrett are friends, but that

valerie deserves credit, not attacks. do you have any. >> i expect she might do that and she acknowledges they were friends, as far as if there was a sexist attack. and it called her sh rill and emotional and tearful. >> she cries a lot. >> and i didn't see anything like that -- i don't think necessarily there's any cards to play. >> when the press is seeking a scalp at a midterm wipeout. i was a little surprised that jarrett and the white house itself, one official would be tweeting the comments, would play the gender card. >> i think you can look back and

see examples in the past administration and you go all the way back to h.w. bush. he received similar attacks, pinpointed as the point of why they were having their entire administration or domestic policies were in disarray, i don't think it's like other previous male administration officials have received, you can see maybe it's scapegoating, but you can't say that it's sexist. >> all these people work their way up to the president. had asked as they have ever, it's typical to work in politics, political undermining where you go and -- not sexism goes with men and women. >> unnamed sources, current and former administration officials. >> nancy pelosi had a news conference the other day and --

any -- after the midterm debacle as house minority leader. >> what was today that any of you said to mitch mcconnell when they lost the senate three times in a row, lost making progress and taking back the senate three times in a row. have you ever asked him that question? >> i think that was asked of mitch mcconnell. >> i don't think she's the first person and being a woman is the reason the question because asked. >> the questioned is by a woman did not mention age at all. she also went on to say that she wasn't treated fair ly by "time magazi magazine. mitch mcconnell was on the cover

of time. 6 they were asked do you care if your elected officials are over the age of 70, they said they didn't care. >> thanks very much, we'll see you later. brit hume and where the pundits fell short. melis melissa francis learned four years ago -- she'll be here in just a moment. americans drink 48 billion bottles of water every year. that's enough plastic bottles to stretch around the earth 230 times. each brita filter can replace 300 of those. clean. clear. brita water. nothing is better.

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on the fox business network with melissa francis when she

suddenly made some news about her former employer. so four years ago, you were on the set of cnbc. >> it was at the time that the president and his surrogates were out arguing for the passage of obama care and they kept saying again and again that it wasn't going to cost a dime, that you could add all these people to the system and it wouldn't cost anything. i was questioning repeatedly, how is that possible? if you add millions of people to the system, it's going to cost something. and after my show one day, i was called upstairs to our manager's office and told that, you know, my comments were inappropriate. and i said, look, this is math, not politics, i'm talking about the dollars and credibilities. i was told that i was disrespecting the office of the president by questioning the map of obama care. >> i got a one word comment,

laughable. >> they poresponded immediatelyo the "new york post" and what they said was more baffling than anything else. they said they were always on the lookout to hire actresses and it was so glib, i don't even know at what point they were trying to make if they're doing scripted programming now and that was what that was about. >> in reference to your previous career as actresses. >> they said we're growing in prime time, and we're always on the lookout for actresses and comedy writers. i'm not a comedy writer. >> did the managers who had called you on the carpet say your tone was too harsh, that you couldn't question obama care at all. >> they said my tone was inappropriate, that i was being

disrespectful to the president and the office. i was called in more than once, i pointed out that there are other folks, there are many great journalists at cnbc and this make no mistake is about the management. and at the time, i said there were other people who are vocal and political, you look at larry kudlow, and their response to me was these are specific people with specific roles and everybody knows that they're out there representing a certain point of view. >> we don't want to tar old cnbc. ri if you're going to tell the story now, shouldn't you name is executives involved? why protect them? >> i thought about that a lot, i think it was pervasive across the network and there was actually more than one person who told me to stop. depending on an individual, that would allow them to scapegoat one or two people in particular.

i think it was pervasive across the network, and people should know about it. and especially now, you know, when jonathan gruber comes to light and he says the administration relied on the voters, the point of business journalism is to illuminate the economic facts. and i had to scream at the television when i saw the gruber video. >> let me jump in. >> i was a part of it. >> it's been four years now. >> i mentioned the incident to many people in the past. at the time i told people and i really told roger ills now, u i felt like i was in part complicit in the very coverup that he's talking about because i tried to illuminate the map, that they had to hide the cost, i specifically tried to illuminate the cost and was

stopped from doing that and i think the american public deserves to know that the reason why jonathan gruber and others are able to get away with this, because there are networks out there who are complicit in this cover-up in keeping people ignorant. you need to understand the real map and then decide. and that's certainly what we tried to do on fox business. >> coming up in a world awash in media polls, what happened to old-fashioned campaign reporting, brit hume is on deck. and why the media are suddenly paying attention to 30-year-old allegations against bill disease by.

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this is a fox news alert. another isis horror, the radical islamic terrorists have apparently conducted another

killing. posted video that claims to show the beheading of another defenseless american. 26-year-old aid worker peter pacy from indianapolis. he was captured in october of last year. he previously served in iraq as a u.s. army ranger. there's no confirmation that he is in the video. u.s. intelligence agencies are working to -- fifth western hostage beheaded by isis. saying in part, quote, we prefer our son is written about and remembered for his important work and the love he shared with friends and family. i'll see you at the top of the hour with much more on this tragic story. now back to media buzz and howard kurtz. >> political analysis is an art not a science.

but is the art now becoming an akron anymore. back in the day when i was coming races and going to a state that cover a congressional district race or a senate race or even a primary, there weren't that many polls, so a reporter who would go to a state, there might be some poll out there that you heard about, that would give you some sense of the -- some data organization you never heard of. so you go to egyvents and you watch the candidates perform and you pick up some sense of how -- you talked to the campaign workers and see the managers and

so on and they would tell you stuff and you would be able to from experience you could kind of filter out the spin and pick the things that kind of made sense to you. you would get a feel for the race. and, you know, you didn't have a poll to go on and -- but now you have the real clear politics average of polls and david reuter would go knocking on doors and talk to people in a shopping mall, i think it's kind of seen as old-fashioned. >> the problem is that while we had some polls this cycle that were sort of spectacularly off and failed to catch things like the virginia senate race being so close and the maryland governor's race going to the republicans. most polls over time have been nearly correct or nearly correct. so when there's so many of them, you know, the first thing you see, the first thing you know about is the poll, and there's a tendency not to be able to see pass the poll. you know the poll, it's what the poll says, you believe it's

probably right. and then you kind of go out looking for why the poll shows what it shows. and so you end up working back from the pole instead of sort of relying on your own instincts. just not pick up some of the things that you would tip you off in the old days that something was happening that you weren't expecting. >> even in the old days, you were telling me about covering the old -- >> there was a new jersey congresswoman named mill sent fenwig. she was a total character and she was kind of popular because she was such a colorful figure and the early polling in the race such as it was, had her way ahead in the senate race, she was a house member and i went up there to do a story on her race and i thought her crowd seemed a

little flat, she didn't seem that great on the stump and fra frank lautenberg, a political newcomer, he seemed to be pretty good on the stump and the crowds were enthusiastic and there was a sense that something was happening on the race. i reported this where i worked and they were dubious about my thinking about it, i ended up doing a piece that was quite fair to both sides but i didn't fully state any tense -- because that indicate that it can be difficult to break from the pack. ive you go on -- to staying, hey, i was just in the state and i have sources and they're telling me that so-and-so is surging or so and so is flipping. >> most people who don't -- you know your sources and you develop an ability over time to -- saying what you have to say that you think your guy is

going to win. and when you relate that to somebody else who doesn't know what you know, they're going to say, well that's what you would expect them to say. everybody would say the polls are showing and ---that happens about once a century. and skepticism and that kind of thing is understandable and you have to know from experience when somebody is giving it to you stwragt or not. >> i have talked a lot in recent weeks about the network newscasts and how they covered the midterms very little, shockingly little compared to past years. what's going on? >> i think, look, the way bias worked and it does affect these networks, it's insid ydous, it' not that men and women -- we don't want to do that story,sto

genuinely looks at them quite interesting, they just tend not to emphasize it. and that's why, the solution to bias begins with a recognition of bias, if you know every day that you go to work, and you would rather see one side win and that's in your mind, it's not that hard to screen that out and make neutral calls, so you feel like in 2014, which shaped up to be a big democratic year, do you think they may have mustered up the courage? a looking at an extraordinary and emotional video by glen beck in just a moment. okay, call me crazy,

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it's the humanization of opinion journalism. he's certainly a good performer. i'm not saying he's performing in any capacity. he was speaking directly to his audience members. >> he now says he has a clean bill of health. but there have been some

skeptical voices wondering whether he's kind of overdramatizing this at all. >> yes. this mainly came from liberal media. most times when they come forth with a revelation like this, it's usually universal applause. in some cases, especially screaming to be relevant again, he said glenn beck is making this whole thing up because he's going bankrupt. glenn beck two years ago signed a $100 million contract for his radio show with premier networks. he also generates $45 million according to forbes each year from the blaze. he also has four new york times best sellers. he earned $90 million last year. that's more than oprah. anybody who says that he's going bankrupt and made up this whole

thing doesn't live in a reality that has google, a calculator and basic logic. >> i think you've settled that question. beck is a guy who has said some insind yar things. he's regretted some of his statements, like calling president obama racist. i wonder whether it's connected, whether maybe this has changed his political outlook at all. >> i think any time you go through a health issue like this, you have a different perspective on life. he went through this ordeal over the last couple years with neuropathy. maybe he has a different perspective now and has to cool his jets a little bit, wants to be the next walt disney. we wish him well and glad he's doing okay again. >> i will second that.

the fact that he's crediting his faith in god is going to make his fans love him even more. thanks very much for joining us from new york. coming up after the break, our video verdict. an interesting one. stick around. mr. clean's grandmother was stronger than people twice her size. and that strength inspired his liquid muscle cleaner. it lifts tough dirt so you do less scrubbing. and it's nozzle stops by itself so less is wasted. sure made grandma proud. mr. clean liquid muscle.

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hour after hour of diving deep, touching base, and putting ducks in rows. the only problem with conference calls: eventually they have to end. unless you have the comcast business voiceedge mobile app. it lets you switch seamlessly from your desk phone to your mobile with no interruptions. i've never felt so alive. get the future of phone and the phones are free. comcast business. built for business. time now for our video verdict where we examine what's good television and what's good journalism. george w. bush is out with the book on his father. they picked someone to interview him. >> dad, growing up what type of father was gampy? >> well, he set the boundaries.

but he never was one to impose his will on us. >> as you watched as he was a president, you would turn on the television to hear critics talk about him. >> yeah, it made me angry. >> what about you, though? >> same thing, i did not like it. >> my grandfather considers serving his country his greatest privilege. >> i was weeping too. >> that's just a matter of taste. it was a little awkward for me to watch. it didn't seem terribly natural. it was something different they could offer viewers because of the relationship they had with jenna bush. >> i think it would have been high and fine to have her as a guest, but doing the interview made me uncomfortable too. i wonder if it had anything to do with getting this interview. all right. now bill cosby refused to

respond when he was asked about the resurfacing of allegations that he sexually assaulted several women. a women said cosby drugged and raped her three decades ago a. >> the mainstream media does not want to deal with it. it's just now becoming important enough for worldwide attention. and because of the situation with the fame and the celebrity and the power and the media, the media doesn't want to make enemies and they have to follow some jurisdiction and he does a lot of great damage control. >> for that reason, i'm so glad that you are speaking up, barbara. >> what do you make of that moment where she grabs her hand? >> that's difficult. that crossed a little bit. i can see where you're talking to somebody who seems

heart-felt, yes, that's a difficult situation. you have to also keep in mind the idea that there's been no conviction or admission and cosby should be presumed innocent under the eyes of the laws unless otherwise. >> cosby has faced these allegations before and it is -- part of me says i'm glad this woman is speaking out, but she never brought a lawsuit or anything like that. at the same time, it is true that most of the media give bill cosby a pass because he's such a father figure and entertainer. >> we know that that can be true. so you look at her allegations and seeing in the past that perhaps things have been covered up before because of someone's power, it's believable that perhaps that's happened. as an interviewer you have to be careful not crossing over the line looking as though you formed a conclusion. >> exactly. and cosby's lawyer put out a statement just this morning

saying that cosby does not intend to dignify these allegations. still to come, your best tweets and fox news facing a major decision on mike huckabee. buzz worthy is up next. ♪ americans drink over 13 billion gallons of sugary beverages every year. over-consumption may link to obesity. but there is a better choice. drink more water, filtered by brita. clean, refreshing, nothing is better. iespecially when it's miralax. re can love their laxative. it hydrates, eases, and softens, to unblock your system naturally. so you have peace of mind from start to finish. ve your laxative. miralax.

in our press picks more on the media fail. the "washington post" has finished reviewing allegations of plagiarism against the cnn host. sayings, quote, strike me as problematic. this is quote, again, unfair to readers and the original sources. the paper has posted notes of apology. they took place before he

promised to be more careful in 2012. another media fail, the conservative site, an embarrassing mistake when president obama announced his attorney general nominee. the problem, this was another loretta lynch. strangely with the same white water headline and a note at the bottom of the story before doing the right thing. question is why some media outlets ignore bruber's obama videos. the biggest change to american health care was based on a lie. christian bell, because it's a nonstory as if it wasn't understood. of course it's been underplayed. the architect was barely that. gruber's comments were silly, move on. the affordable care act is a

huge success. now when fox news announced last week that it was dropping ben carson as a contributor, i said they face the same decision on mike huckabee. days later, we are taking a serious look at governor huckab huckabee's recent activity in the political arena. we plan on meeting with him. huckabee is alikeble guy, but right now, he is straddling two worlds. they reported this week he is recorrecting with activists. that's it for this edition of "media buzz." i'm howard kurtz. thanks for joining us. we hope you like our facebook page. we post videos you do not see on this program. once again, we're back here every sunday morning.

you know the drill by now, 11:00 and 5:00 eastern. back here with the latest buzz. we start with a fox news alert on another isis atrocity. the terrorists posting a graphic video reporting to show another american hostage beheaded. the victim this time is a 26-year-old aid worker peter kassig. he was captured in syria last year. so far, there is no confirmation from his family or u.s. intelligence agencies that kassig is the victim shown in the videos. hello, i'm eric shawn. this is "america's news headquarters." >> if it is true, kassig would become the fifth