worshippers will be able to see the full grandure of the national cathedral. that's it for today. have a great week and we'll see you next fox orleans. >> happy easter and a wonderful passover. thanks for joining us. >> indiana for mike pence blaming the huge controversy over whether his state religious freedom lou allows amounts discrimination on the media. >> if a store refuses to serve a gay couple at their wedding is that legal in indiana? >> george this is where this debate has gone with misinformation. >> i have a question. >> some of the reckless reporting by some in the media about what this bill was all about was deeply disappointing. >> with mike pence signing a revised law has the press magnified the mess?

"the today," asks elizabeth warren the question again. and again. and again. >> possibly i am beating a dead horse but would you even consider, entertain, the possibility of running for president? >> no. >> why are the media determined to drag the massachusetts senator into the 2016 race? >> an uproar over jon stewart's replacement? trevor noah. >> under fire for offensive jokes about jews blacks and satisfy scan. is this the right choice for "the daily show." >> and harvey winestein accused of groping a tabloid model. should the press be getting down in the gutter? this is "media buzz."

>> when mike pence signed the indiana religious freedom law saying it would allow discrimination against the gays the national media pounced. quickly. some with a more balanced approach than others. >> this evening there is a growing backlash again a law signed yesterday by the governor of indiana. supporters of the law say it protects religious freedom. opponents say it legalizes discrimination. >> some say the new religious freedom law opens the door to discrimination against gays and lesbians and now the protests are growing louder by the day. >> and one used an editorial to demand the law be unfixed and the governor unloaded on sloppy reporting as he acknowledged it needed to be changed. >> the smear is it creates a license to discriminate. or license to deny services.

that is completely false. and baseless. >> a full-fledged warfare. >> mike pence just signed the same thing that was vetoed in arizona making indiana moving on purpose to legalize and say the state aproves of businesses refusing service to people on the basis of sexual orientation. mike pence did it yesterday and it is landing with a thud in his home state. >> gay rights is not even mentioned in the bill and that is the most frequently used analogy regarding this bill. >> joining to us analyze the coverage is cheryl attkisson author of "stonewalled." and matt lewis and richard fowler. massive wave of media coverage. did that transform this into a

culture war? >> i think so. some want it to be but i found most of the media coverage i saw fair. mike pence certainly had his say if not in the early stages in the later stages. i do think what i would be doing at cbs is an executive producer who wanted something beyond what you saw i would ask questions such as, who are the special interests who are pushing the laws through state by state and the special interests who are challenging them? i want to know about them. there are other things to explore. >> did the handling of mike pence turn this into a much larger story? >> there are several reasons why this story went awry and some of it is that the media does not tend to have a lot of orthodox christians would could care more about religious liberty. i can see that mike pence early

on botched this. he overestimated his ability as a communicator. before this he was seen as adapt at communication and he was unprepared and thought he could go in and spin stephanopolis and it surveillance video open his face and when that happened the dye is cast. >> we did not see the stephanopolis fight where he repeatedly asked mike pence a yes or no question over and over and over. >> we will show that. the story moved from being the indiana legislature and about christian conservatives versus gay rights activists to being about mike pence former congressman and possible future presidential candidate. >> the 2016 fix is in so everyone, is he run increasing is he not running. that played into it. he botched the stephanopolis interview which set up what was a horrible week in politics for indiana and for the christian conservative right. they do not have an answer to why they are passing this law in

the states and the one answer that we hear is, well it is the same law clinton passed but that is not true because it says for-profit entities have religious that be can espoused and that is the problem, why mike pence could not answer the question and why gay rights are saying they won the battle. >> sharyl the governor of indiana is saying it is reckless reporting and sloppy reporting and by want the legislature to change the law two days after this hit the news but it did not add up. >> he was trying to deal with the push back he was getting but it is important that the media not be convinced to follow the story where someone is telling us to make a go. an example of that is, the focus on christian conservatives, many christian conservatives do not oppose gay marriage so we are lumping them interest one position in our news coverage.

also, many non-christians do oppose copy marriage. look at the muslim population many of them not only oppose gay marriage but gayness and say it should be outlaud or does not exist. are we being led into focusing on something other than what people want us to look at. >> it seems it was about was this law like the federal law passed in the chinning to administration or like the 19 other state laws, and there were significant differences and it heated up so much that the governor of arkansas would said he would sign a similar law asked for it to be reworked. >> part of this is that governor penc. was overcoached in a way in spin on message transparently and not answering stephanopolis' question. >> you said that you think there

is not a lot of sensitivity in the mainstream media to the concerns of religious conservatives. do you think therefore the coverage was overblown or bias? the indiana legislature did change the law. >> there are a couple of things. there are not a lot of orthodox christians in the media, something has been talk about which is selma envy an activist that want to make it into jim crow a flawed analogy and journalists that want to see our work as important and historic it is easy to cast villains and victims. very clearly the media has seen the folks on the side of gay rights are the victims and the people who are talking about religious liberty which now seen with square quotes where the bill is perceivings the framing, as antigay bill not a religious

liberty bill. >> here is the thing you have to follow the money and the money is corporations. most corporations are trying to figure how to penetrate the millennial demographic and 70s percent agree with gay marriage and they think that gays should be tweeted equally. when the laws happen corporations are scared as we saw with wal-mart. >> i want to make the point this did not happen in a vacuum, it is six months after the federal courts cleared the way for same-sex marriage to be legal in indiana and three prominent marriage proponents were at the signing ceremony but this is a lack of sympathy and a lack of representation in the many stream media by conservatives that he thinks filtered the coverage of this. >> i would not go that far. as a face we have changed our views for lgbt folks. >> everyone has not changed their view. >> gay marriage is legal in 37 states, we see where this is heading legally and politically

but a third of the country --. >> it is a 50/50 issue nationwide but in the news room it is 90-10. >> we have more young people who are producing the shows, they are the ones pushing it failure. >> not reflecting the news coverage and the viewpoint the reflection of america not that it is their job to making everything 50-50 but too often, maybe they are not taking into account the reflections of many people. >> when you are a network news reporter and you show both sides with sound baits, we looked at the reports and that was the case, you have one group, gays, claiming to be victims, zero bias creeps in. >> i have talked about this. it is not an intentional bias. it is a tendency to seat underdog as the victim and the ones would needs need to be promoted and that is probably the correct position to take but we should also take care to look at the viewpoint that is less

pat lattable. what about religious freedoms? there is a question, do the rights of lesbians and gays or the rights of those expressing their religious freedom aspected under the constitution trump each other? >> there are potential victims on the other side that could be highlighted, the grandmother who is forced --. >> we don't have to be theoretical pushed by social media, the owners of memories pizza in indiana and this woman who answered a hypothetical question said i am happy to serve at the pizza place but not indicator a same-sex marriage, but this led to so much talk the place had to shut down. >> and one high school coach wanted to burn the memories pizza place down. >> isn't that an example from

intolerance from the left because it is a bunch of crazies online but --. >> totally. there is an interesting battle. the question i have, i am not saying if you were a gay person why would you go where they don't want you? i understand that argument. but there is a story being missed. they are used to one group versus another group we are missing the underline story which is bigger and larger moving piece, that the media is figuring out. >> what? >> that there is more to the story. you have a lot of younger christians who are pro gay marriage and older people who have evolved their views and older people who are not relimits but do not believe in gay marriage. >> i agree and there is business pressure apple and wal-mart coming out against. >> write do me at twitter and you can e-mail us.

ahead, the next host of the "daily show," being skewered because of some of his votes. >> why are the media begging elizabeth warren to run for president?

elizabeth warren was on the "today" show this week and a van gu insted : pressing the question the senator has been asked over and over. take a look at this montage. >> you didn't think you'd get away without me asking you point blapg, are you going run for president?

>> no. i'm not going to run. >> are you categorically saying i'm not running for president in 2016? >> i'm not running. i'm not running. p. >> so no way you're going to run? >> i'm not running for president. you can ask it lots of different ways. >> are you going to run for president? >> i'm not running for president. >> there's nothing that could change your mind? >> like i said, i'm not running for president. >> like an snl skit. why won't the media take no for an answer? >> because she should run. she's 65. so who knows how many other opportunities. and -- >> who is to decide here? she's not running. >> lightning doesn't strike twice. barack obama was in the senate for 15 minutes a cup of coffee and he made the right decision. you strike when the iron is the hot. >> you're like a political consultant. >> that's why the media won't give up. >> isn't it embarrassing when

elizabeth warren is being asked again and again the same question and giving 18 different variations of the same answer? >> in a way, but obama's famous last words were he was not going to run for president in 2008. so you don't want to be the reporter that doesn't ask the question. >> how many times do you ask? >> once or twice. >> because maybe you could beat her into submission? >> if you look at her answers beyond the first clip, i thought it was a weird phrasing and they probably thought so, too, when you say are you going to run and she says i'm not running, the answer is, no i'm not going to run. there was one version of that and the rest of the time, she kept saying i'm not running. of course you're not running now, but will you in the future? >> so trying to find a little loophole. is will this about the press desperately wants a competitor on the democratic side?

>> i think the press wants a race against hg.illary clinton. but feel back the layers. just like you see why people are so excited about ted cruz running because of the populous method. elizabeth warren has captured the progressive base and that i think for her, hillary clinton we're not sure if she can do it or not. >> and elizabeth warren has been able to capture the populous base of the journalist party. >> that can win you an election. i mean barack obama. >> i'm not denying that, but i will tell you this it's like a romance. the unattainable is more attractive. if she flipped tomorrow, we'd start to point out all her weaknesses. >> that's true. >> i disagree. when barack obama ran nobody pointed out the weaknesses.

the romance existed and he was able to -- >> the reason most of these journalists i think were probably so interested in elizabeth warren, she might be a candidate. >> we're not going to find out because she's not running. >> right now. >> all right. who knows. ahead on the "#mediabuzz," robert menendez indicted for bribery and some claim the obama administration is engaging in political pay back. but first harvey weinstein accused in a groping incident.

harvey weinstein was

interviewed by police as last week after a womaning a accused her of groping her breasts and putting his hand up a skirt during a meeting. and then the new york "post" went after the italian model with the story saying she accepted tickets to attend a show and she once filed a suit against a, quote, sugar daddy. her camp striking back in the daily news saying she's not afraid of harvey. joining us now from new york, amy holmes. big spread in the daily post. does the new york "post" in your view trash the italian model on harvey weinstein's behalf? >> i think there is no doubt that the new york "post" has been running with the story of attacking the accuser, oh, and bhi by the way, exploiting those photos of her for their own gain. it seems to be saying look at this lying hussy.

no, really, you can't take your ice. i'm sure it sold many copies for the new york "post". >> doctorwhy would the "post" want to side with a movie titan who is prem presumed innocent of course, but accused of alleged harassment? >> why would they want to side with someone enormously successful and powerful and provides a lot of ink for that newspaper. and this is a 22-year-old formerly nobody, now apparently very well-known. and i think the new york "post" has a long standing relationship with lots of people in the entertainment industry and why you don't read more about the bad behavior in hollywood is because of that. >> so you're suggesting that if

you're somebody like wineeinstein has connections? >> and i'm sure they're not the only newspaper with that type of arrangement. the word powerful has a meaning, it means having power. but i would point out the daily news did use the picture and i think are just as guilty as exploiting- exploiting using that photo their reporting had more to do with the actual police case. p this woman did go to the police immediately. apparently there was a phone call set up by police where they were listening in and the new york daily news has -- that's the angle they have been taking. >> and they often take different sides on these stories. daily news reporting a of coursesource saying she's not afraid of

harvey weinstein. but are the points in the original story fair game the fact that she is said to have accepted the tickets and she had a past sexual harassment suit? >> well, i think once these accusations do t out in to the public square, yes both sides you know if it's true they get to make their case. this is obviously being tried in the court of public opinion. we'll see if it ever actually gets to an actual court. but these are really serious accusations against someone and we don't even know if they're true. so of course it's fair for the other team to come out guns blazing. >> an these are serious accusations and i have to commend you on your restraint and not going for any of the obvious puns. >> but this segment has also been using those photos. >> only with some restraint. amy holmes thanks.

up next jon stewart's replacement under fire for history of offensive jokes. greg gutfeld on whether this will ruin his debut. and later charges against robert menendez. why some pundits are saying this is political payback. shannon bream weighs in. ♪

i think i speak for all americans when i say my reaction to trevor noah being picked as the post of the dwael"the daily show" was who? he doesn't have much of an appearance here in america. >> not even obama and he's african. >> well, african american. he was not born in africa, born

in hawaii. >> yeah, right. >> now noah is being smacked around for a series of insensitive jokes he posted on twitter. almost bumped a jewish kid crossing the road. he didn't look before crossing but i still would have felt bad in my german car. people will get drunk and think i'm sexy. to reduce my views to a handful of jokes that dpts land is not a true reflection of my character nor my evolution as a comedian. with me greg gutfelded. welcome. >> thanks for having me. >> as an aspiring comedian do you have sympathy for a comic who is suddenly under fire for offending this or that group

based on jokes therefrom years past? >> well i'm neither a comedian or aspiring comedian. i take offense to that. >> you play one on tv. >> no, comedian actually gets up on stage and tells jokes. i don't come that. >> so do you think the outrage is a little over the top? >> it always is. it's always over the top. the interesting thing about it is the left had assumed the people that were going to get angry with about his jokes or his tweets would be from the right. however, it's the left that were mostout raged over what they perceived to be sexist and racist jokes. they missed the fact that they're actual jokes. but it reads as too disturbing elements about twitter. one, it's a great place for manufactured outrage. it's a laysplace to go if you're bored and you want to get angry about something. >> or you've been drinking. >> exactly. i think that was directed at me. but it only lasts 48 hours.

people get really angry, they demand contrition and then they you've on to somebody else. and it will happen to you. it's happened to me. it happens to everybody. and that is why we got to say enough. we have to declare a truce on phony manufactured outrage. i wrote a book on it a couple years ago. i thought it was reaching its peak back then. now it's actually worse. the cycle has accelerated so that it's almost every two to three days there, is a new outrage. >> this is now broader than twitter i'd say. and i give comedians a lot of leeway because all comedy could owe depend somebody. but just to read you one, he blue eyed people have a higher alcohol tolerance and he wrote lower jew tolerance. >> i don't even think that's the worst one. these are -- they're not just unfunny, they're kind of mean.

but again i go back to the fact that i have to give everybody a pass. if it's a joke i have to give them a pass even if it's a bad joke. this is it the other disturbing thing about about twitter. him on twitter trevor on twitter is not likeable. i mean when you read those tweetses it's like who is this by? guy? then you watch his actual performances and he's very funny. he's a fun ny guy and he makes fun of everybody. but there is a weird thing that is focused on jews in his tweets. >> jews fat women. and let me readed you another one. flying over the middle of america turbulence is so bad, like all the i go authorize raps is rising through the air. he's from south african he's an outsider. risqué to be taking all these shots at the u.s. of a.? >> i don't care if you're an

outsider. however the problem with that joke isn't that he's from south africa it's because he's so predictable. like he was checking off the litmus box of what makes an successful comedian on comedy central make the assumption that americans are ignorant racists and basically make jokes about israel. he does that. those are acceptable in the people that watch "the daily show". >> and trevor noah has put out sort of a defensive statement to say shouldn't this guy come out, do a couple big tv interviews, try to diffuse it with a little humor, put on his big boy pabtssnts and face the music? >> here is the irony. i'm defending this guy because he made some really bad jokes. when he's in his new job, i doubt he will ever return the

favor to me because i worked at fox news. the moment i screw up or i say something that can be taken out of context, he'll step on my drowning head. so i'd like to think that i'm doing the nice thing by saying give this guy a break, he's young, he's made some stupid tweets. by the way, twitter is really dumb. you're not even being paid for it. i do it. i come home after work, i have flee glasses three glasses of wine, i get on twitter. the next day i wake up and go what did i do? i'm defending his right to contempt me. >> thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you. coming up shannon bream on the bribery case against senator menendez, why are some commentate at a time tors saying it's politically motivated?

if i got to go to college, oh my goodness. i like discovering new things. you get to see what works for you and what doesn't. that helps you evolve as a person. and you get to make like a supernova of skill or talent or whatever it is. i've always wanted to go to college. i just feel like that is my destiny. my name is queen, and i am your dividend. robert menedez was indict order bribery charges, allegedly trading favors for luxury vacations and campaign donations. and some commentators say politics was at work. >> i'm outraged that prosecutors at the justice department were tricked into starting this

investigation three years ago with false allegations by those who have a political motive to science me. >> we've nopeknown about these allegations for a while. so it is questionable and you do have to ask is the doj using the law to be absolutely punitive to even political scores. >> some concerns were raised a few years ago. at the time, senator menendez was not criticizing the administration as he is now. do you think there is a connection? >> yes, i think there's a connection. >> joining us now shannon bream. nice to have on you "#mediabuzz" "#mediabuzz". >> nice to be with you. >> justice department has charged sthorenator menendez as a matter of political payback? >> and he's really pushed back on cuba. so they have been at odds and

the white house has strenuously pushed back at him. but as several mentioned a lot of these things were in the works years ago. early 2013 there were reports that there was a grand jury already looking at some of this relationship between menendez and this eye doctor in south florida. they say they're long time friends, but the 68 pagen dimt en indictment accuses something much different. >> i think a group of career prosecutors have a basically good reputation for independent independence. what about the obama can doj had dropped charges? >> right. and that's one of the things that happened this will week, also, they did decide not to pursue charges against lois lerner. she was the irs official. it doesn't drop all of the investigations, but it does drop

the criminal charges. remember she took the 50s. house held her in contempt, referred the charges to the u.s. attorney. and he sent an extensive letter to the speaker of the house and said i'm not sending it to the grand jury. so the decision not to go after her for contempt charges on the same day essentially we hear of the aboutenendez charges the appears appearance isn't good. >> so even if it doesn't have anything to do with politics, the timing is suspect? >> because it's been going on for the past couple of years -- >> why now. we all kind of knew this was coming. and i don't detect that much outrage in the media over this.

everybody's reported the details of the luxury vacations and five star hotel. got about $700,000 stored his re-election campaign from in guy sal monday melgen. is there a feeling in the press that politics as usual, they all trade favors and why -- >> you and i live here in washington and have covered capitol hill. but there is a lot of this that you see that goes on. and srm people arecertainly people are friends with some of their biggest donors. bribery charges saying menendez knowingly took things of stral in exchange of acting on behalf of melgen. and will arethere are many cases where he did intercede with cms, with border patrol, all kinds of ways that he or his staff are allegedly stepping in to intervene for melgen.

>> reminds me of the commission of robert mcdonnell and his wife who said he was helping a friend but taking lots of favors and money and did not get off the hook. last point is that the liberal norg "new york times" surprising people by saying menendez should step towndown. saying essentially he can't represent the people of new jersey and that he should step down and let someone else take the shannon bream, nice to see you. after the break, the consensus conversation over the religious freedom law. and the cnn reporter who got harry reid to admit he doesn't regret lying about mitt romney. video verdict is next.

krerkt. indiana governor was determined to defend his state's new religious freedom law when he appeared this week and george stephanopoulos asking again and again does this law allow discrimination against gays. here's what happens. >> is advanced america right when they say a florist in indiana can refuse to serve a gay couple without fear of punishment. >> the purpose of this bill is to empower and has been for more than 20 years. the government overreached. >> your supporters say it would. yes or no. if a florist in indiana refuses to serve a gay couple at their wedding, is that legal now in indiana? >> george this is where this debate has gone with miss

information and -- >> it's just a question, sir yes or no. >> there's been shameless rhetoric about my state and the law and its intention all over the internet. some of the media coverage of this has been shameless and reckless. >> final yes or no question governor. do you think it should be legal in the state of indiana to discriminate against gays or lesbians? >> george. >> it's a yes or no yes. >> hoosiers don't believe in discrimination. >> what do you think, george? >> there's nothing that peeks your interest more than when someone won't give an answer to a simple question. that makes you think you need to poke around. judging from what i've seen since then pence might have been well served to say that's not true. this will be decided on a case by case basis by a court. someone will arbitrate that. instead by deflecting the question, it was evasive

sounding. >> it was a fascinating 11 minutes because politicians count on the reporter giving up. george steph pop lis went the entire 11 minutes and stuck to it. he did it in a way where he wasn't badgering pence or interrupting him. he let him give long answers. that's why i think it was very effective and pence couldn't get out of his own way. harry reid once ripped the coke brothers has un-american and said mitt romney hadn't paid any taxes for ten years. it was false. we asked the minority leader about that. >> no regrets about mitt romney? >> no. they can call it whatever they want. >> dana bash for asking the questions but this would be

big news if you were to play the substitution game and put a prominent republican in his place. let's say romney did that. it would have made big headlines. >> especially giving the lack of regret by harry reid. dana bash asked the right question. i was stunned that "the new york times" didn't do a story on this. i fail to understand how when you have a guy who is a senate majority leader and says a lie and doesn't even say i regret it. . >> why should he regret it? he's -- there's no reason for him to apologize. he sounded fairly proud of the fact that he thought that was part of why romney didn't get elected. >> good for cnn.

>> coming up i'm buzzed about a situation where an employee was laid off because she spoke to a reporter. love

manager in arkansas who fired a minimum wage employee for the sin of talking to a reporter. the staffer was asked about a $0.25 bump in the statement and wage to minimum wage. she said it would be easier to buy diapers for her grandson. the manager introduced her to the reporter as somebody to be inter interviewed. dies in inn ought to decide if they want to be in business with

this guy. time for your top tweets as the religious freedom law. has it been fair to both sides? >> i don't think the media has done a good job deciding this rjs religion choice should have more sway than orientation. >> facts only lead to one conclusion. i disagree. i think there are strong personal feelings. heidi stevens is a columnist who has been given hate mail for a picture in which her hair is on the untame side. >> one women anyone who thinks the hair style you have is attractive likely is overflowing with too much narcissism.

>> i think people think you're making a statement in with your hair even when you're not. you don't spend a whole bunch you do spend a bunch of time. people think they can read into your personality by your hair. >> a newspaper columnist with no credibility unless she has perfect hair. at least for men the only requirement is that we have hair. >> some hair stories. at my first job i had been anchoring a couple of weeks and my news director called me in. there's a tape machine. he played clips on different days and he said your hair looks different every single day. >> it wasn't about the journalism but the hair. thanks. >> happy easter and happy passover as well. check out after the buzz where i'll be analyzing the tentative nuclear deal with iran.

we'll also talk next week about the review of the rolling stone article by columbia journalism review. back next sunday. 11:00 pope francis making a plea for peace as christians around the world celebrate easter sunday today. and happy easter to everyone. happy passover. i'm julie banderas in for harris faulkner. this is "the fox report." the pontiff taking the opportunity to address conflicts around the world and condemn recent brutality against christians. the holy father also leading the faithful in celebration marking the resurrection of christ more than 2,000 years ago. ♪ >> pope francis celebrating easter malice at the vat tan. tens of thousands of worshippers braving a downpour to see him there live. they huddled together with ponchos and