all kids. >> if you want to learn more about the gates foundation and its extraordinary work, go to our website. that's it for today. have a great week. we will see on "mornings with maria." howie: president trump tries to sack the nfl and slams on the nba disinviting steph curry from a white house visit and calling on team owners to dump players like colin kaepernick. >> wouldn't you love to see owners when somebody disrespects our flag to get that son of a bitch off the field? he's fired! howie: are the media rooting against the president? a gusher of leaks from the special counsel's office targeted the trump campaign

especially after leaks that paul manafort was being wiretapped. >> paul manafort being wiretapped. is donald trump being wiretapped by barack obama are not the same thing. >> they have been caught in a major lie and even a bigger cover-up. >> this does not vindicate the president for the saying president obama wiretapped him. >> mr. manafort may have done something wrong, but he's clearly a target. >> i think paul manafort is staring down the barrel of a gun. howie: if the president keeps denouncing the north korean

leader. an msnbc host gets very angry when things go wrong. >> there is insanity in the control room tonight. you have insanity in my earpiece. stop the hammering. stop the hammering. who's got a hammer. where's the hammer? howie: a look at why lawrence o'donnell apologized. i'm howard kurtz and this is "mediabuzz." major sports figures have been hitting back hard against the president's criticism of the nfl and nba. roger goodell says comments like these display an unfortunate lack of respect. trump tweeted he or she should not be allowed to disrespect our

flag or country and stand for "the national anthem." if not, you are fired. mollie hemingway, joe trippi, both are fox news contributor. and erin mcpike, an independent juice journalist. are the media cheering for kaepernick? mollie: this is a newsworthy story any time the president weighs in on a hot cultural topic should be covered. but there is a disconnect between people in the newsroom and the average american who have been frustrated over these protests. and whether you are disrespecting the flag.

it seems clear that the media are all in on one side of this. howie: the media narrative is the president loves picking fights with people. and perhaps he would rather talk about this than the fact the healthcare bill is hanging by a thread. but he's take on athletes who have their own following. joe: the media is doing what the president wants. taking the bait. but the point our making or asking about is correct. le bron james is not rand paul. he's picked fights with -- howie: le bron made a video and his tweets are going to get retweets. howie: it combines donald trump, politics, sports and race.

erin: i want to read a comment steph curry made yesterday. he's becoming a folk hero. he said i don't know why he feels the need to target certain individual rather than others. i have an idea why, but it's kind of beneath the leader of a country to do. if the media is rooting for steph curry, he's showing more leadership than donald trump. howie: you have sports talk radio and local media talking about their teams. robert graf put out a statement saying he's disappointed. an nfl game began in london, a whole lot of players kneeling or locking arms during the national

anthem. the president saying now fans should not go to games? this is going to love it. mollie: we need to see the president picking up on sentiment that's already out there. right now you are on one side of the debate which is respect for the flag, respect for "the national anthem" or you have to position yourself against those things. these are complicated topics. pressure for firing is a complicated topic. i hope when the media are covering these things that they understand to delve deeply into those instead of having a surface discussion. howie: taking a knee its the slogan for resistance to this

president. what do you make of mollie's point that these are privileged athletes that are disrespecting the flag and the nation's newsrooms where there is more sympathy for peaceful protests. joe: they are protesting for people they feel don't have a voice. when the president of the united states has the big voice he has and is riling up in a lot of ways playing to his base at the expense of the people these people are kneeling for. erin: i think people are starting to say these players aren't patriotic and disrespecting america and the flag. they have a moment and a microphone to make a statement. in all these professional sports game there are moments when the

teams play tribute to service members. but these players see there is racism going on in this country. they are making a patriotic moment, i think. joe: there is a tradition of this. john carlos and tommie smith at the 1968 olympics. mollie: people see these protests against them. their service in the military, their flag. these symbols are important. howie: let me turn to the special counsel's investigation. these leaks. paul manafort has been told he will be invited and the president's voice picked up on these wiretaps. in a criminal investigation it's kind of stunning the level of detail that's been leaked. mollie: we are a year into this

russia investigation and the only leaks are about fisa investigations. it speaks to whether this story has been well covered. we have a general approach there is collusion, the trump team are traitorrist. there might have been some untoward spying by own outgoing administration that was in opposition. howie: the first wiretap on manafort goes back to 2014. there is no question mueller is pressuring manafort. well some say this individual -e difficult case trump. fbi court approved wiretaps of manafort. joe: defenders of trump will say

it it vindicates trump. even these leaks say they were inconclusive. they didn't find any discovery in those conversations. but that was the reporting. there was no there there. or it wasn't confirmed there was. howie: pundits on both sides have jumped to conclusions when we don't know a lot about the origins of those wiretaps and whether donald trump's voice was picked up incidentally. erin: you are starting to see white house lawyers trying to distance trump from manafort which means they know something is coming. howie: the leader of north korea

the president is calling little rock itman. >> totally destroying a nation of 25 million people. that borders on the threat of committing a war crime. >> it's a weird speech. rocket man. >> i think north korea is one of those situations where the president is showing a steady hand. >> liberal pundits slamming the president for his threatening language against kim. mollie: you have a bunch of people coming out in the media saying it's bad to insult someone who runs slavery camps and has sex camps.

but it's true they are not understanding there is a cohesive strategy between the state department, a more diplomatic approach, using the rhetoric to amp up the heat against china. howie: many pundits say it's the greatest speech ever at the united nations. but trump loves to insult and he's going at a guy who has nuclear weapons. joe: you have two of those kinds of leaders in this case and the coverage of that is amping up the heat on this issue. look, i think in the end the coverage has to get more to what's the end game? where is all this going? if there is a concerted strategy, what's the end game to get there? you don't see much coverage of

that. howie: the "new york times" said it was a confrontational speech. and it's the case of a press not knowing how to handle a president who doesn't speak in the careful way his predecessors do. erin: there were people on the white house staff who didn't want the president to make some of the remarks. howie: he looked like -- we don't know what he was thinking. let me get a break. a tough week for sean spicer. is the press piling on? jimmy kimmel plunges into the healthcare debate. is that risky business for a median?

howie: the media piling on of sean spicer has been extraordinary ever since he did that brief bit at the emmys. >> this will be the largest audience to witness an emmy, period. both in person and around the world. howie: the pundits piled on and said he was celebrating a moment when he lied. >> sean spicer doesn't have to lie for a living anymore. now he seems to be doing it recreationally. howie: "good morning america" grilled him. >> have you lied to the american people? >> i don't think so. do you think you have a credibility issue, sean?

>> i don't. but it's up to other people to judge that. howie: sean spicer made mistakes at the white house which he readily admits. what explains the extraordinary media abuse? mollie: because he works for donald trump he must be treated as a pariah. do we say none of those people who work for that administration can be out in public life or if they pushed for a plan that said if you like your healthcare plan you can keep it when those are discrediting statements. howie: spicer told me he was trying to poke fun at himself. he's self-depresent kaight. he said no matter what i do now, haters are hate. he's out there, difficult job.

donald trump spokesman. he didn't always personally endorse the things the president said. now nbc reports no network wants to hire him as a commentator. joe: i don't know why no network wants him. but i think that part of this is he did come on to the stage in the very beginning with what has to be one of the biggest sort of people just sort of were aghast how he could put a false statement like that out there and he kept defending it. howie: and he attacked the media and didn't take any questions and that set the tone. joe: he's going to get shots taken at him. erin: he was in an impossible position with president trump. that very first day was

obviously terrible. i'm sure the guy was terrified. it's too bad he's getting mocked as much as he is. howie: he was texted a question and he wrote back stop texting or emailing or i'll report it to the appropriate authorities. spirals lost his cool and apologize. erin: he was trying to get mike off his back. it wound up at the top of mike's morning note and everybody read it. howie: mueller might want a bunch. note books he kept while at the rnc. that interview on gma. i have never seen an interview 1/10 as aggressive involving obama's guys. they were all snatched up by

networks after their tenure. mollie: we have currently george receivstephanopoulos who workedr the clinton administration and nobody cares. you need to apply that fairly. howie: the networks picked up trump people. mollie: the media can handle anything but an attack on themselves. joe: there is something that makes him different in the way he's being handled. will facebook sell advertising to anyone from neo-nazis to to anyone from neo-nazis to russian prop bega -- my name is jeff sheldon,

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howie: the senate healthcare bill hanging by a thread. jimmy kimmel's son who was born with a heart defect even gauges in nightly confrontations. >> this guy bill cassidy lied right to my face. do you believe every american regardless of income should be able to get regular checkups and maternity care and all those things people who have healthcare get and need? >> yep. >> so yep is washington for nope, i guess. howie: jimmy kimmel is personal

and passionate. he's fighting and debating a republican senator. we know he's consulting chuck schumer. could that turn off viewers. >> viewers are saying he's not an exert. but kimmel is saying my son was born with a preexisting condition and i have a duty to speak up. but kimmel has personalized it and focused on one issue. but all we are talking about is preexisting conditions because of jimmy kimmel. they want to talk about what obamacare is doing to small businesses. but kimmel made it all about this one thing.

howie: does this suggest we are in a new era inspired by jon stewart where comics have to be socially relevant and liberal? >> all the comics who have been critical of trump have done well with ratings. they are doing it because ratings are going up. howie: this tape was leaked. things went wrong, and he lost his cool. >> get in the gapn control room and finds out why this is going on. i have to chase those [bleep] entrails. crazy sounds coming in my ear. stupid hammering. i told you why i wanted those

[bleep] cut. it just sucks. it sucks. howie: pretty embarrassing stuff. shelby: this is a time to reminds people of the golden rule. do unto others as you would have them do unto you. if you are work for a man who is cursing like that and freak out behind the scenes. however, he has apologize. and his contract negotiations are being drawn out. msnbc's prime time has done well the past few years. but he's negotiating his contract. howie: his contract was breaking out at the time. this was back in august. shelby: a lot of the people are wondering if this is revenge. howie: he said i'm sorry, i'm a

better anchorman and better person. i am not going to pile on here. i have been testy when things are going on. and he thought this was a private moment. shelby: and it should be a private moment. howie: i agree. somebody was out to get lawrence. my former colleague at fox my began kelly debuts on the third hour of the "today show." this is the things she does that drives her family crazy. >> for sure i'm late. the only thing i am not late for is my show. and that's because i have no choice. howie: how will she do in the morning format softer with a bigger audience? shelby: i caught her drinking wine in a sumo wrestler suit, i

think she is set up for success. howie: having a sense of humor is important. coming up, facebook gets drawn into the robert mueller investigation for selling ads to phoney russian groups. why can't they control its content?

howie: facebook is getting buried under an avalanche of bad press ads from bogus russian groups. >> we are committed to rising to the occasion. our sophistication in handling these threats is growing.

we'll continue to work with the government to understand the full extent of russian interference. howie: joining me is shana glenzer. how does facebook justify selling these ads to russian front groups that are anti-hillary and initially resisting turning this over to congress. shana: it has a huge problem. in this case illegitimate russian organizations. this was a company started by a college student looking to meet girls and they never put in place the controls to put these bad actors out and we are seeing this yet again. howie: this comes days after the other facebook problem, revelations by the group

pro-publicca to show they are helping neo-nazi groups target people interested in topics as jew haters, and how jews ruined the world. she said that was a failure. carley: and she said they will hire more people to fix the issue. that's something they say every time there is an issue. here is a suggestion. don't only rely on machines. it doesn't work. hire more people. sometimes the old ways are the best ways. howie: facebook also published fake news. deliberate lying propaganda it's an algorithm, we can't always control it. there is a lot of garbage that gets posted on this huge site.

shana: there was a "new york times" article there they have this culture that was going to be used for good, but it's used by individuals looking to exploit it. howie: that suggests it's beyond the human capability to control this. the company's overriding principle has been to make money. they say it's a platform for everybody and let's keep the cash registers ringing. carley: i want to say something about the money aspect of this. one of the reasons mark zuckerberg and facebook executives may not have been so willing to comply with conscious in giving the ads over to them is the last thing facebook wants is government regulation of their ads.

last year they made $28 billion in ad revenue alone. they want as many people to buy as many ads as possible. so the bottom line dollar is the big thing coming into play. howie: by repeatedly failing to police and keep things out that's fake. facebook is inviting politicians to say we have to have regulations of this giant company. mark zuckerberg always maintained this polite fiction, were not a media company, we are a social media company and everything is decided by algorithms. other media companies are trying to get their content on it. he's only starting to take responsible for the content. shana: he looks like a young

politician in that video. it's one thing to justify standing up for users' privacy and another thing to justify a business case that makes you billions of dollars. that was the first step in the call for regulations. you might see more from him in terms of these live videos in the weeks to come. howie: facebook's popularity depend on lots and lots of people feeling comfortable using it. how much of this is giving facebook a black eye? it's caught up in the mueller investigation and it's impossible to ignore. carley: one of the questions with this mueller investigation and the russian investigation, did it affect the election? it doesn't look like it did. $100,000 isn't a lot of money. but at the same time there were

reports that a russian-linked group created facebook invitations to group hillary clinton people went to. howie: that's all we know at this point. i don't think mark zuckerberg will like this segment.

howie: the coach of the pittsburgh steelers says the team will not be on the field during national anthem. cheryl, is president trump tackling a great incisive issue about sports and protest and privilege or giving the hide yeah a bench clearing brawl. >> he's tackling a patriotic issue. if you followed trump on the campaign trail, this is what he was all about. make america great again. america is number one. as far as how the media is reporting on it, they are

forgetting that's what trump is all about. howie: cnn, playing with racial animus. is that proper framing? >> it's so difficult as a journalist to discuss a lot of these issues when they touch on racial sensitivities because we are not stenographers. it's our job to put these into context. you have a president who has a history of making racially sensitive comments. and it comes to the black football players who are kneeling he called them a word we won't say on this show. so as journalists you have to decide which context to put it in. but it is the white house on

several television shows saying this is about patriotism. this is just about the american flag, and it's important to include that context as well of what the president in the white house is about. howie: the president is clearly tapping into resentment against these athletes. >> i think it is fairly simple for journalists to look at this issue in a light that isn't covering it just from the day to day reaction. trump didn't call anyone an s.o.b. he said what if the coaches called these players s.o.b.s. it's the difference between truth and not truth. as journalists we are in the business of reporting truth as we see it down the line.

as far as what journalists can do to flesh out this issue, we could put this in a better context and look back at protests, the hands up, don't shoot movement came from that was based largely on a lie that led to nfl players putting their hands up and saying don't shoot on the field. howie: it was a lie perpetuated by the media. >> it's our responsibility as journalists to explain all sides. you have the president who said this is about the flag and about disrespect for our military. then you have the players saying they are not trying to disrespect the flag and they are not trying to disrespect veterans. howie: steph curry said he wasn't sure he wanted to go to the white housen for a

championship visit. the president was answering back. jemele hill called the president a white supremacist and other things. cheryl: the white house said it was steph curry who started this discussion and it morphed into a conversation about whether it's appropriate for the president of the united states or the white house to say these are fireable offenses or to say people should be fired or suspended. howie: is this about president obama always needing a new enemy and the media needing a new juicy story? cheryl: no this is about president obama taking a stand for the patriotic americans who elected him president against a special interest group on the football field. howie: more on this highly sensitive, highly charged media topic in just a moment.

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howie: nfl commissioner roger goodell says he will air an ad during the game tonight. are there conflicting feeling here. it's so easy for the media to make these whiney unpatriotic players. but in this country if you do it peacefully you have a right to protest. mollie: they do the whiney multi millionaires or that they are

making a protest against a horrible president. we have a very tough, complicated situation. we have an ongoing issue with black lives matter, protests with police brutality. that itself has not been covered well by the media. they don't cover very well what it feels like for people who feel badly about how the police are treating their communities. and they haven't covered people who are worried about attacks on the police community. howie: you talked about the media being disconnected from public sentiment. you think there has been too much sympathetic coverage for these below testers. they are taking a knee during "the national anthem" that seems to many to be disrespectful. but they say they are using the great platform they have as tv

sports stars. >> the protesters want news created by their actions. so it helps them to have this hyped up. we know why the people are taking a knee. we know why they are having this approach. what we haven't gotten coverage of is how that feels to the people in the stands, the people at home, and how people feel about whether those protests are appropriate or inappropriate. and whether there has been any good outcome as a result. do we see any changes in the discourse on police brutality? have we seen increased interest in the movement these players are taking part of? howie: has the media tallen into the president's -- fallen into the president's trap here? it's like the sports talk radio formula. you reduce it to pro and con.

mollie: the whole team mentality. i encourage the media to think back to bill clinton. he spoke against certain things happening in rap music. and that was treated as smart politics by the media. they were generally supportive of it. they don't see the president has crafted the terms of debate that help him more than anyone else. you are either with him or against the flag. you are either with him or you are against patriotism. it's a difficult thing when that's the position he's chosen. so go carefully. howie: we'll have to punt for now. but i'm glad we had this extra time. i think this debate will be really hot.

mollie hemingway, thank you very much. we'll be right back.

howie: charles payne 9 fox business host recently returned to work after a charge of sexual harassment by a guest. she has sued fox news and payne alleging he pressured her to have sex against her will over a two-year period. she says she has been living in absolute hell. payne's lawyer says he vehemently denies the allegations. and the latest lawsuit has no merit and is shameful and we'll vigorously defend it.

apparently it took some time to find someone willing to file this bogus case. you may have heard about big lineup changes at fox. laura ingraham is starting a nightly show at 10:00 eastern. and a live 11:00 p.m. newscast. sean hannity goes to 9:00 p.m. eastern and "the five" goes back to 5:00. that's it for this edition of made what buzz. i know you have -- edition of "mediabuzz." write to us @mediabuzz@foxnews.com. let fuss know what you think. don't forget to dvr the show if you have miss it.

we enjoyed this engagement. we are back here next sunday. see you then, that. hulk: you got me. life is good and i couldn't even answer the question life is so good. >> live from los angeles the next revolution will be televised. fighting republicans over healthcare. fighting for a tax plan and even fighting steve bannon in the alabama senate race. we will break down present drums. we cut. plus, all the tech giants getting dangerously big and powerful. we meet the man who wants to cut them down to size. the google boss who crushed a critic. we expose how big tech big money can sink tanks into corporate student. steve: welcome to the next revolution. on steve hilton and this is the