up next. i'll see you at 12 eastern. happy new year. reporter: happy new year. i hope you enjoy this first edition of "mediabuzz" in the new year. confidence in the press plummeted. we'll look at how the media might repair their tattered credibility with molly hemingway. barack obama takes the stable insisting he could have won a third term. obama imposing sanctions on the

russians over their cyber hacking of the democrats. and a power move from the u.n. >> donald trump doesn't think this is a big deal, we'll move on from it. but he will find time to discuss it next week. this is the same donald trump who had time yesterday to hang with don king. >> i think it's a mistake for donald trump to downplay this. reporter: trump versus obama with 5 days to go on a u.s.-middle east policy. >> usually the incoming president will defer to the

president's foreign policies. >> i don't think there is a limit on the president-elect expressing their opinion. >> most of the mainstream media. -- >> there is a real risk making policies 140 characters at a time, and we are seeing it. we don't know what the president meant. did he mean more warhead? >> this twitter account is a threat to foreign policy. >> the world took it and ran with it. saying oh, my god, nuclear proliferation, we are all dead. >> just moments ago i spoke with president-elect trump about his tweet on the nuclear arsenal and this morning he told me on the

phone, let it be an arm's race because we'll outmatch them at every path. reporter: joining us now to analyze the coverage, kelly riddell, and the congressional correspondent for the washington examiner. whether it's russian sanctions or the u.n. resolution. it seems it's trump versus obama with the president-elect doing some terrible or questionable by speak out prematurely. >> the media is taking a point of view like they have. i think we are falling into a trap here. republicans and obama are on the same side with respect to russia. donald trump is not a classic republican, he's not a classic

conservative, and it might be time to cover him a different way. what everybody should be doing is asking him and his team why. reporter: i would say it's not only the republican establishment but the media establishment as well. donald trump speaking to reporters on new year's eve saying there are things reporters don't know that he will reveal it. why is this ticking off pundits so much that he's staking out this ground that he wants to have a proper relatio the putin government. >> they wanted since day one to push his political narrative. when robbie mook took the stage and blame i'd it on donald trump and the russians and the hacking and tied donald trump inthe to that, that was a political move.

there is russian meddling, but there are political motives tied to it. the whole thing is clear as mud. i wish there were an intelligence report that clearly demonstrated the russian meddling into the election. reporter: intelligence is murky by its nature, we learned that. trump went beyond mere word on condemning the u.n. resolution. he actively lobbied against it. it passed when the obama administration abstained. >> he's in where in line with republicans in congress. he's not far outside the mainstream where the public is on this issue. reporter: do you agree there is a strong current of media hostility on the way he's working at the president in

waiting? >> it's fair game. i think the outgoing obama administration is acting in a politicized fashion because they are anticipating the trump administration. some people question whether that has to do with setting things up to make it more difficult for trump when he comes into office. reporter: i don't think there is any question president obama is trying to make it tough for trump. other presidents have done this in their final weeks and months as well. reporter: sean spicer says it freaks the media out when he does this. he likes fox on this issue. this way of calling out news organizations on even a serious issue is part of the pattern. >> we talked about that on this show a number of times.

it's an effective tool for trump to use, but one of these side need to bring it down a notch. the next four years media need to cover trump and need to do so fairly. i think one of the issues is trump has not gotten any positive coverage from the mainstream media and he deserves some. every president deserves some positive coverage. i believe they deserve some. i don't think he has gotten any. i think that's an overcorrection to what happened to president obama. there were so many positive stories and there is a backlash. president obama did deserve positive coverage as did george w. bush and bill clinton. so many media outlooks say they take an adversarial view of

covering politicians. we should be sceptical and ask questions and be adversarial but that's a problem. reporter: barack obama, george bush, l.b.j. presidents have a powerful megaphone. they should be sceptical, but not prosecutorial. >> "the washington post" is ramping up its investigative journalism more than it has in the last 8 years. and we see that with other papers as well. that's a little unfair. i agree. i think journalists should be spending less time evaluating donald trump's tweets and digging into the material and policies and what the plans are

heading into 2015. >> it's causing the media to be reactionary. reporter: as somebody who is basically urged the media to calm down about trump's tweets, i do think sending out 140-character messages is not the way to go. but there seems to be a pattern where trump says something, the media go haywire. his aids come out and try to clarify. >> is the pre-president trump, what's he going to be like he is sworn into office. who is going to control his twitter handle. will he be calling into tv talk shows in the morning. that's a weird way to run the

country for 140 characters. then we try to make assumptions about what he needs. >> i would like to add, those are a remarkable time this week when donald trump tweeted to bibi netanyahu and bibi netanyahu tweeted back to donald trump. this is something that's usually secret and behind closed doors. the transparency there people love. reporter: the president did take a -- the president-elect did take a few questions with reporters about his business empire and potential conflict of interest. >> honestly it's a very routine thing. it's not a big deal. you are making it a big deal, the business. when i won, they all knew i had a big business all over the place. reporter: this is an age-old technique. no one cares about this except

you people. >> i think the press cares more about this issue than the public does, but it is an important issue. but he moved it back. that was probably a mistake. but he does need to address it soon. reporter: i remember hoiking saying the email server thing, only you people care about that. >> it's true the hair can public nominated donald trump the president-elect knowing he had this business empire. he will have to deal with it and i believe he will do so. reporter: on christmas eve the president-elect announced he will be shutting down the trump foundation. he can't immediately shut it down because it's under investigation by the new york state attorney general.

>> i think overall the foundation is under investigation the big issue with him is going to be his businesses. and whether he's going to have a hand in that. the clinton foundation i thought deserved a lot more scrutiny and didn't get very much. and reporter didn't give it the scrutiny. the main problem with trump will be i don't think this issue will go away. i think it will follow him through four years. there will be teams of reporters dedicated to establishing a connection to what he's doing in office. >> the washington post did a lot of reporting on the problems. i don't see the press acknowledging that he's trying to take a step in the right direction. >> we saw this with character trump.

-- with eric trump, and it's his own charity. we should take him at his word and see what happens. all right. ahead, molly hemingway on how the mainstream media can regain some credibility. don't forget to email us. barack obama said he could

howie: president obama is leaving an approval rating in the 50s and boasting he could have won a third term. >> i'm confident in this vaition because i'm con -- in this vision, because i'm confident if i had run again and articulated it, i think i could have mobilized a majority of the american people to be behind it. howie: whether barack obama could have beaten donald trump

is hypothetical. we'll never know. was this an ungracious thing for obama to say? >> it was a dis at hillary clinton. she blew it. i would have had a more articulate message she never had. and i'm the better democrat than hillary clinton. i took that as a slam towards her. we can't forget about barack obama's legacy on his own party. he left his party decimated. howie: it won't be good for democratic party as you just cited. if he had been able to run, he would have been attacked in the last 18 months. we had a campaign that was sort of an anger-filled campaign and the incumbent president seems to

be leading on a wave of moderately good poll numbers. >> the responsibility of the media in covering an outgoing president. in the case of president obama, our first african-american president, and high approval ratings. but this approval rating don't match the way things are going in the economy. a lot of people were left out of the so-called economic recovery. and i think that deserves adequate coverage. howie: after 8 years it's standard fort media to do these legacy pieces. how do you see it being framed? >> i don't think we have seen that much legacy coverage of him at all.

obama and michelle obama daind exit interview. if hillary clinton had bun, we would see a ton -- had one, we would see a ton of legacy coverage. i think they left a lot of the legacy coverage of barack obama on the table. howie: basically donald trump overshahed everything. >> he's putting up a lot of roadblocks, so the press has to cover that. >> we talked about this a little bit this week. in the white house already people within the white house communication shop devoted to legacy coverage but they are not getting much traction because of this point. >> i think the difference with this president is he's not going to go away. he will be around and be an

historically active ex-president. his political arm twitter has millions of followers. howie: there were voters who voted for barack obama in 2008 and then voted for donald trump in 2016. barack obama said he has become a fictional character. here is a quote from his interview, i believe with "rolling stone" in 2008. he says i was never subjected to the villification of fox news and the media ecosystem. he blames that on bringing down his approval ratings. >> he won'tlet it go. bottom line, he should have come on fox news and reached across

the aisle more. he passed through without any republican help. he didn't want it, he never got it. howie: he seems to leave out other parts of the equation. >> the mainstream media has backed president obama and will have been outspoke others who have definitely been on the attack. there is no question about that. he's right. there have been talk shows and conservatives who have gone after him. but he's the president. you can expect he's also a super liberal president. when you have a president acting in a liberal way you will have the press going after him. >> the obama administration often leaked everything they needed to the "new york times." so it's no surprise the "new york times" would be on his

side. howie: thanks very much for coming in on this holiday. happy new year for people choosing to spend their holiday with us. why are so many celebrities getting good coverage from

howie: sean spicer, the incoming

white house press secretary said the president will do press conference because they are part of the fabric of our country. >> maybe we do facebook town halls and input through twitter. howie: back by popular demand. the panel. susan, i'm glad to know the president will be doing press conference. but anything wrong with spicer saying we'll circumvent the media and use our media channels through facebook and twitter. >> it's a game change. i think other politicians will use this as a model. they needed us and feared us because that's how they get to voters and listeners.

howie: the argument against it is, even with a facebook chat you can pick and choose which questions you are going to respond to. and you are avoiding professional journalists. i would argue that even though he doesn't need us in susan's words, it's also a very good channel and he happens to be good at dealing with reporters. >> the press didn't help get donald trump elected. it was him going over the top through his rallies and breaking news. >> a lot of people say the media did help get donald trump elected. but he did all these interviews. >> and he did all these rallies. he did the facebook stuff, he went over the top of the media and that's how this audience -- they don't like to hear him through a media filter.

howie: let me play for you some remarks by cnn anchor don lemon. trump has nod hat a formal news conference for several months. >> that's the whole points of it. he can't sit down with the media because he then legitimizes the media that he rallies and rails so much against. >> i'm not a news executive. but if i were, i would not cover his tweets. what do you think? i wouldn't cover his tweets? >> they have to cover his tweets. >> in that interview with sean spicer. he said donald trump would do more radio interviews. if the president is calling into tv shows, that's an opportunity to question him, so we should carry on.

howie: trump chimed in saying we should refuels to run our statements. >> i don't think don lemon is an unbiased reporter. donald trump will go on making news by this tweets. he does impromptu us in conferences like he did last night at meir -- at at mar-a-la. howie: we'll wish you happy new year. thanks for spending part of your holiday with us. former "new york times" editor says the paper believes it sets the agenda for america. later, the deaths of carrie fisher and debbie reynolds.

it sparked angst on

howie: the ex-movie editor of the "new york times" cast an unflattering light on his paper. he wrote reporters scrambled to match the narrative a year in advance. squaring the plan with editors,

then write stories that fit the pre-designated line. editors said we set the agenda for the country in that room. what do you make of the media's emphasis on narrative. >> this one of the main problems we saw over the course of 2016. many in the media are pushing a narrative rather than reporting facts. frequently they get the narrative wrong. whether it's about donald trump being an unacceptable candidate or hillary clinton being an ideal candidate. this is how the media get their story across at the expense of actual facts. it's a good thing to do to provide context and analysis on

a story and people are able to see those original forces. but now a lot of people can see the press conference. but you can't do that at the expense of reality. in the case of the 2016 election coverage we saw pushing narratives which everybody agreed on didn't help out our larker profession. it caused a breakdown in trust with people. they were pushing ideas and telling people what to think rather than listening to what people had to say. howie: you also write for county federalist." just report on what's going on on let meek make up their own mind. >> there is plenty to get upset about with donald trump, and he sets a lot of people off. but when he single thing he says or done is reacted to with this over the top snark, when people

pretend they don't understand what he's saying, actually he has been a public figure for decade. i don't think we should be so hyper literal in analyzing what he says. howie: manufactured outrage in your view? >> i think people are outraged. and it make it hard for people to listen to us when there is a problem if we are outraged at everything. >> hasn't there been a blurring of the lines where reporters are expected to go on tv, provide analysis and be entertaining on twitter? >> twitter is part of the problem. there can be people who are good reporters, but on twitter they report as very partisan and snarky and hostile. howie: it's like only their friends are listening. >> it's public, everybody can see this. it does a lot to decrease trust

between readers and writers. so we should redouble our efforts to improve. howie: hire people who have no intention of living or working in washington, d.c. otherwise find people in an impressive group of elite liberal opinion. i would say it goes beyond that being in a cultural bubble. the people you see at schools and parties think a certain way and are out of touch are america. >> new york and d.c. are overwhelmingly partisan. you can look how people voted in those places to see how out of touch they are with the rest of the country. i think news papers used to have more bureaus in other places. and the problem there with those things not happening so much is

think it affected our ability to understand what was happening in the country this year and did nobody a service to have everybody in these elite echo chambers. howie: new york is not the real world and the upper end of manhattan does not represent the whole world. one cnn reporter said i was shocked by the high bar for one candidate and a high bar for another candidate. >> the high bar was for hillary clinton and the low bar for donald trump. there were issues early on which how much media coverage donald trump got no matter what he did. i if i no objective viewer could be confused about how much the media were helping hillary clinton along and downplaying her scandals and problems and how they reacted dramatically to

everything single thing that happened with donald trump. making huge issues out of things that might not have been huge issues with the voters. howie: the "new york times" is the maybe that broke the email scandal. do you see any serious self-reflection of recognition other than maybe a few columnists, gee, we botched it and we need to do a much better job? >> i thought after the election you would see all these people saying what did we do, how did we mess up so much? it's an objective truth that we messed up. we never understood the fundamentals. but there weren't that's reflections. there were a few here and there. but we have seen double down on what we got wrong. people who covered this race who didn't do a good job of understanding how the buyers felt. that's the lack of change that's

not helpful. >> on a baseball team you fire the manager. howie: donald trump says he doesn't want a-list celebrities at his inauguration as more of them make a big show offfff

a. howie: some celebrities are making a great saying they won't perform at the inauguration including two members of the rockettes and a member of the more man tabernacle -- the mormon tabernacle choir. are we now in the middle of the culture wars? will this define everything around donald trump and his presidency? >> i think this is a very manufactured story. howie: manufactured in that no one cares and made up? >> they think they are getting positive press from their liberal fans. p.r. firms know how to get good

p.r. that's all these celebrities are doing. so as we talked about, back in 2008, there were a number of republicans who were expected to go to the convention in minnesota. but they didn't go. i broke that story. the reason i broke the story is i was calling a number of campaign asking if they were going to do. i found that all these republic consequence weren't going to go and all the democrats were. in this case people are going out and asking celebrities, are you going to go to the inauguration? howie: jan chamberlain, a member of the mormon tabernacle choir resigned. at least she used her name. an unnamed member of the rockettes said she felt she was

being forced to perform for this monster. i wouldn't feel comfortable standing near a man like that in our costumes. letting someone make an anonymous cheap shot like that at the president-elect. >> he hasn't even taken office yet. we need more benefit of the doubt given to this guy. howie: . a column said by being part of his inauguration they would be validating his election. >> he's still going to be path of the united states. the inauguration is not necessarily a political or partisan thing. the inauguration is something we go through every four years as part of american history.

>> it used to be people showed up. because they participate in american rituals. this drove me nuts. charlie sheen, the actor, wishing death on donald trump. dear god, trump next, please. this after the untimely death of carrie fisher and debbie reynolds. how is this such a specious level of discourse in america? >> i have no idea. but it's disgraceful. howie: it seems to me that there are people who might have liked him as an actor who don't agree with his political thing. what about carl palladino, they say he said racist things.

barack obama should die of mad cow disease and michelle obama should go back to africa. all of that is equally bad. but when somebody you don't like says something you don't like, you deflect it. after the break, ted cruz, chris christie, ben carson, mike huckabee, they all thought they could beat trump and win the nomination.

howie: it seems like another era. but there were plenty republicans who thought they had a good shot at donald trump. but as a leading candidate don't you need to be able to withstand tough scrutiny? >> sure, that goes with the territory. but no republican running should not be confused and think the mainstream media are our friends. the "new york times" wants hillary clinton to be the next president.

and every day from now until the election day, they will push stories advancing that. there is a reason necessity don't like the mainstream media because they are partisan liberal democrats. almost without exception. they have a partisan agenda. howie: almost without exception. i heard you say the media stereotyped republicans in being stupid or evil. are you saying -- that's a pretty heavy charge. are you saying this is true all journalists, most journalists? many journalists. >> it's true an awful lot. the mainstream media is not fair and impartial. necessity served as the presenterrian guard protecting barack obama and this presidency. no one is more ready for hillary than the mainstream media. howie: when i sat down with

chris christie he was careful not to go too far with his criticism of donald trump. >> donald goes too far on everything. so this is not something people should be surprised with. this is if the way donald speaks whether he's firing somebody on the apprentice or running for president. you said he's trying to slime his way to the white house. >> it's not harsh. if you are from new jersey that's like saying hi, how are you. >> you heard it here. howie: as for marco rubio it was tough to get him on the program. you have said the media has a double standard on its coverage. do you think the press has been unfair to you personally?

>> it's not about unfair to me personally. hillary clinton has a hearing on bengazi where it's cleared she lied. >> bush was your mentor in florida. was thnt uncomfortable? the media often raises the experience question when it comes to you. young, ambitious, first-term senator as was barack obama. how much of an obstacle is this. >> president obama has two years of senatorial experience. he's not failing because of that, but because of his policies. howie: tough pieces were written about ben carson and he was not

pleads. are you saying politico and the squall street journal are deliberately trying to dodge? >> yes, that's exactly what i'm saying. howie: why? >> when you deliberately lie and put that out as a story or you do shabby investigations and you say, we have investigated and we can't find anything. is that an acceptable standard? you are the media. is that acceptable. howie: generally journalists have to nail down a story before they publish it or broadcast it. >> i don't have a problem with people looking at my past or being vetted. but when people are outright dishonest, that's worrisome to me. >> when you wrote about some of

the violent incidents when you were a teenager, he said you have a pathological disease an hopes you are all right. >> i said i had a pathological temper. anybody who thinks a pathological disease and pathological tell ferrell probably don't know what the term means. howie: they have since mended fences and he is trump's nominee for the helped of hud. rand paul has been driven out of the race by my statements against him. >> i think it rumors of my demise are somewhat exaggerated to say the least. we are doing quite well. we run a tight ship around here and we plan on being in for the long-haul, and i think celebrity will felt early out of this.

howie: you called donald trump a clown. >> there are some clownish things he said. and i don't believe he's a true conservative. howie: in 2008, you got almost no attention from the main stream press right up until shortly before the iowa caucus which of course you won. this time around it seems you are also not getting as much attention. do you see a pattern here? >> i think there is a certain media narrative. the media decides this guy is a winner in a way that doesn't make sense top the voters or the candidates. i could complain by the. but the best thing to do is to go out and win. if you start winning it's hard to be ignored. howie: you have been accused of

running a vanity campaign. >> people say i think huck beef is doing this base wants a television show, a book deal penal wants to help his speeches. i am thinking, are you people nuts, i had a television show, i had a book deal, and i had as many speeches i could squeeze into i calendar. i believe this country needs experienced leadership. >> none of the republicans could match trump who did far more interviews. what's behind the online phenomenon of celebrity mornings.

howie: the death of carrie fisher resonated with more than fans of "star wars." she had people who appreciated her blunt talk of mental illness. there were icons in the world of sports, muhammad ali and astronaut turned senator john glern. leonard cone, the eagles glenn frey. and george michael.

gene wilder, patty duke and zsa zsa gabor. but most those doing the online tributes have never met the celebrities. they are mourning their own memories, the nostalgia they feel for the stars they once admired and endured. or sometimes getting into spats over whether steve martin's deleted tweet how carrie fisher was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen and also turned out to be witty and bright. all this was once the province of obit writers. but i guess that's how we do it in this social media age. we hope you will check out our facebook page. we post a lot of original content there as well as your

comments. you can email us at . >> the hunt is on for a gun wielding terrorist who fired on police and stormed a nightclub in turkey. hello. i'm gregg jarrett in for harris faulkner. this is the "fox report". [sirens] a massive search is under way for the suspect who turned new year's celebrations into a nightmare, at least 39 people killed in the shooting including a police officer, dozens more wounded in the attack, we're getting word now that the evidence is emerging about the shooter. adam housley is live in our west coast newsroom. adam, what is this new evidence, and what leads do investigators