proud grandpa are all doing well. that's it for today. have a great week and we'll see you next "fox news sunday". howie: on our buzz meter, president trump calls for jeff zucker and andy lack to be fired. president trump: the word is they are firing the head of nbc, what a great thing to do. howie: is that crossing the line for the president of the united states. cnn stand by its story saying cone is accusing the president of lying. >> this is such a mistake by cnn. everybody retracted their story except cnn. i like the guys involved in cnn.

they made a mistake. they are reluctant to withdraw it because there is an animosity towards this president that is unprecedented. it's clouding their judgment. howie: lanny davis will be here in a media exclusive. the media tributes to john mccain transformed into taking a shot at president trump. a right-leaning catholic news out let ran a letter from the archbishop demanding that the pontiff resign. >> pope francis making a point not to weigh in after explosive allegations were leveled against him by a former official saying i told the pope about

accusations against an american cardinal years ago and the pope did nothing. howie: is this largely a political attack from the pope's critics? the president says google is biased against him, and guy as the against conservatives. is that true? i'm howard kurtz and this is "mediabuzz." whether you agree or disagree with the president calling for the firing of jeff zucker and andy lack, it's big news. the only msnbc comment we could find was on "morning joe." >> not only is he attacking andy lack with stupid rumors, but also he's going after the truth. howie: cnn is standing by this story. >> sources with knowledge tell

myself and carl that michael cohen claims then candidate donald trump knew about the meeting in trump tower. howie: the president addressed the airport company saying at&t should fire jeff d. bernstein of watergate fame called trump an authoritarian. >> this is the greatest journalistic challenge in the modern era. it's worse than watergate. howie: cnn says make no mistake, mr. president, cnn does not lie. joining me, mollie hemingway,

susan ferrechio, and phillipe reines. mollie i say the president has every right to speak out but did he go too far calling for the media company's heads to be fired? mollie: it's not just about calling for firing. it's the language. as a mother it's something i don't like to see. there are lines being crossed. cnn is having a rough go of things. andy lack is rumored to be central to so many of the problems they are facing there. howie: rumors, though.

mollie: it's an interesting story but it's not appropriate for the president to be weighing in. howie: jeff zucker who is recovering from heart surgery said donald trump is trying to delegitimize journalism. what do you make of the tone cnn usinged when it hit back. susan: the president is trying to delegitimize journalism because journalists have tried to delegitimize the president. the types of attacks by the media, a lot of them had to be corrected. a lot have not been corrected. i think all's fair here for both sides. it has devolved to a boxing match. the gloves are off.

that's what happened. howie: if president obama who took lots of shots at fox news, if he said you ought to get rid of roger ails, what would have been the reaction on the right? >> i saw alan dershowitz say that's a problem. it's supposed to be adversarial. but if you look at what's going on with jeff zucker and andy lack, the president is constantly trying to muddy the waters. andy lack might have separate problems. it's fitting his narrative that the lester holt interview was wrong. the problem calling jeff zucker's firing is trying to insert himself into the at&t

merger. donald trump should send jeff zucker flowers for everything he has done for him. howie: the president went after him in personal terms. he called bernstein sloppy, a man who lives in the past. carl bernstein defended himself in his own tweet saying i have spent my life as a journalist. no taunt will diminish my commitment to that mission. mollie: there is a fantasy held by the media that they hold democratic administrations accountable. many americans were awake during the last administration. and they saw how the administration was tweeted. carl bernstein has an image of

himself i'm not sure is matched by reality. they claimed he wasn't a source, they put that in the original thing. and he declined to comments. and they have not done anything near what they need to to deal with the problems with that story. now they are trying to strongly suggest the other story is michael cohen himself. and they need to restore credibility. they have a pattern of false stories on the trump administration and this is the latest one. howie: does cnn have to do more than put out a one-sentence statement. and to report on the president's attacks on the network. it may be uncomfortable, but it's news. phillipe: every media outlet has

the responsibility to call balls and strikes. i disagree with mollie describing the obama white house. but cnn said they made a mistake. ed the source mai -- made a mis. mollie: cnn is standing by its story. phillipe: they are saying they have another source. i don't know any better. but they made a mistake. when fox is reporting on seth ridge. it took months before anyone acknowledged there was a mistake. howie: the online story was retracted, not months later. so trump says the good news about andy lack is about to be fired question mark for incompetence.

it's purely a rumor, i just want to clarify that. two days after the president fired jim i'm. let's take a brief look at that interview. president trump: regardless of the recommendation i was going to fire comey, flowing was no good time to do it. this russia thing with trump and russia is a made up story. howie: the president treats when lester holt got caught fudging my tape they were misleading. susan: the transcript is all there. he said he didn't care about the investigation. he says things that undercut that statement we just watched. but he's trying to make it look like they fudged a story and they really didn't. each side is accusing the other of fake news and lying, he probably can convince some of

his base and people who follow him on twitter that there is truth on that. howie: we have don mcghan leaving. 11 days after the "new york times" story saying mcghan spent 30 hours with mueller's investigators. the media seemed sympathetic to jeff sessions after new taunts by the president. interesting that the media is taking sessions' side. mollie: it's very good to cover the fact that donald trump is dissatisfied with his attorney general. but they go beyond that in deciding it's inappropriate for the president to make decisions about who his attorney general is or is not. it's important they explain why people are upset with jeff sessions. he recused himself from the investigation going on in the department of justice and people want to see the rule of law

equally applied. howie: a "washington times" report that he told bloomberg sessions is safe. everything leaks in this white house. all these backstage struggles play out on twitter and the tube. phillipe: if you want to fire him, fire him. the president has not fired anyone since jim comey on this matter because he knows how horribly that went for him. he could fire jeff sessions right now, but it won't go well for him. and it's not the media pressing him on that. the fact that lindsey graham and charles grassley changed their tune shows you how long it has bent republican congress has been saying to him, don't do this. it point go well. -- it won't go well. mollie: the way it was portrayed

as obstruction investigation is a perfect example of how the media control the conversation in a way that is not helpful. phillipe: it's a lie to say that tape is not real. mollie: you can have media coverage that is inaccurate. howie: exclusive interview with lanny davis. when we come back, a week of media praise after john mccain's passing. why did many pundits turn that into an attack on donald

howie: the speakers at john mccain's funeral jed, george w. bush, barack obama, his daughter

megyn not only praised the man but seemed to rebuke the man who wasn't there. an emotional she row sendoff kept straining at the criticism of donald trump. >> to watch the president not saying anything about this hero, this lion of a man is despicable. >> mccain december spied trump. trump for his part despised trump right back and neither man pretended otherwise. howie: political lead story, washington warns president

trump. >> ridiculous. i think the tucker quote was perfect. they did hate each other. mccain really hated trump and he doesn't like the people who follow trump, the tea partyers. that's why sara palin was shut out of the funeral. to expect the president to go on and on about what a hero mccain is. mccain went to get the dossier and bring it back to the fbi, creating a huge investigation to topple his presidency. howie: it was almost as if you couldn't praise the senator and his life as a warrior and lawmaker without bashing the president. mollie: it's a shame. this man is a legitimate

american hero and people regardless of their political views could appreciate. people remember what happened when he ran for president when he was not treated as a lion or hero by the same media. howie: when he ran against george w. bush he got extraordinarily good coverage. hillary clinton praised mccain as did obama and biden. given mccain had an extraordinary life over many decades, were the media doing something of a disservice by making so much of this about the contrast with president trump? phillipe: i think at the end of the day only the mccain flame can say whether this got away from them or not. what i think is the man is dead, to put it on the equivalency of

what the president did last week and what john mccain couldn't do. put the flag up. put it down to half-mast. this stuff is silly. susan: what has he said that's negative about mccain this week? nothing. he lowered the flag. he could have said don't put it back up. then he pretty much went radio silence on mccain despite all the attacks. howie: when you have a funeral and two former presidents with an implicit rebuke of trump. that was part of the story, meghan mccain as well. but i'm talking more about the commentators. it became like the two stories were intertwined. washington used to be such a good bipartisan place and that was the john mccain we loved. president trump has changed --

donald trump single handedly change the entire culture. mollie: they put it forth because it does represent what washington, d.c. thinks. this is a complex story and there are some things people disagree with that are happening politically in d.c. that haven't been well represented this week. howie: lanny davis on why he outed himself as an anonymous source in that cnn story. the president says google is rigged against him and conservatives.

howie: president trump is giving it to google saying its search process is possibly illegal. that they have it rigged.

fake cnn is prominent. donald trump google, facebook and twitter, i think they treat conservatives and republicans very unfairly. i have personal experience. howie: google may have flaws in the way it tweaks the algorithms. but could they be rigging all searches against con rshes and the republican party. >> because there are human beings behind the algorithms some biases is a factor. google could prove it's not biased by showing you the algorithm. but can you imagine how many people would exploit that? game the system. i can assure you it would not lead to a more balanced list in

your search. howie: this is based on a blogger on a conservative site who ran a test, trump news and found the results were anti-trump. so is that enough to warrant this sort of presidential blast? shana: the article struck a chord with people following recent coverage about buys at tech companies. what concerns me is there was a woman who sat behind a few different computers and it's caused such an uproar from censorship to calling for federal investigation. it's mismatched to the actual

study that was performed. howie: who is going to tress the government to decide the perfect balance in all news searches. when cnn or "washington post" or "new york times" pops up in these ranking. doesn't google reward the most of popular websites? >> yes. it's hard to translate the journalistic values into a set of rules they use and apply to every one. google weighs traffic to sites, and that plays against these smaller sites with maybe a handful of reporters putting out a few stories a day versus dozens of stories being put out by "the washington post" or other mainstream media organizations. howie: you are saying google rewards that.

it's not necessarily an ideological decision. people click on it and google things it must be relevant. shana: it's not a nefarious decision behind the bias. howie: there is a reason people don't trust big tech. but in google's case, i'm not sure it has been proved. ahead on "mediabuzz." an explosive charge against pope francis in the sexual abuse scandal. first, lanny davis sits down with me exclusively on the lesson he says he's learned from the cnn controversy.

howie: lanny davis has been making the rounds saying his client pled guilty and may have

more information. cnn went with a story that cohen knows the president had advance knowledge of the meeting with a russian lawyer at trump tower. >> so michael cohen does not have information that president trump had knowledge of the meeting at the trump tower beforehand. >> no, he does not. howie: you had a rough week which we'll get to in just a second. you say rudy giuliani openly admitted his purpose is to appeal to the trump base and get ready for an impeachment battle. when i was covering the clinton impeachment that's what you and your allies tried to do to ken starr. lanny: and it appears we were successful in molding public

opinion. howie: how do you criticize rudy for make similar tactics. lanny: i don't criticize his tactics if his concern is impeachment. we were talking about and subject that was personal indiscretion. this is a unanimous verdict by the intelligence communities that there was an effort by the kremlin to influence the american people to vote for donald trump. and he denied that. and rudy giuliani could focus on collusion or lack of evidence. instead he's making personal attacks on mueller. the late senator john mccain reminded me attacking the motives of mr. starr was a mistake. howie: you said i have my regrets by attacks on starr's motives.

you said -- told me you made a mistake in your dealing with cnn. where did you go wrong. lanny: i respect cnn. i have known jeff zucker for years. i respect them as journalists. i took this responsibility because i was unsure about the issue of the trump tower meeting. i thought there were other people who could have been in the room and it was up to journalists to go look at that. howie: did you ever confirm to cnn reporters this allegation about the trump tower meeting. lanny: i was never sure in my confirmation. i was uncertain. in fact i expressed my uncertainty, but not clear enough. i can understand they interpreted what i said as a confirmation and i have not blamed cnn, i blamed myself for not being more clear.

in my mind i did not know the details about that meeting and i should not have encouraged any reporter. the lesson i learned. i'm not certain even on back ground i should not be asking reporters to do investigateddive work when i'm not sure. howie: does did bother you that a lot of reports say lanny davis confirmed this then backed off and recanted. lanny: it does bother me because recanting isn't ease yesterday. i disclosed myself as a source. and i was very unclear in that. so yes. but i thought it was important not to blame cnn or anyone other than myself. i even wrote a book about taking responsibility. so this hasn't been an easy week for me. for everybody who deals with the media, this is a lesson, maybe a teaching moment moment.

don't float stories on background which is our expression for anonymously, unless you have a certainty of the facts and you are asking reporters to confirm those facts. howie: you drew flack for an interview with anderson cooper where you said you were not a source for cnn. is that true. lanny: i apologized for saying something that was not intentionally misleading. in my mind i wasn't sure of that story that was published so i didn't think of myself as a source for that story. i'm sorry i didn't explain myself better to anderson cooper. i have no excuse other than it wassing a long day and i should have expanded on my sentence. i don't blame either mr. bernstein' or mr. shudow. it certainly is a learning

moment for me. howie: you are saying as michael cohen's lawyer you don't believe your client had any direct knowledge that the president knew in advance about the trump tower meeting with the russian lawyer. am i right? lanny: i can't tell you what will cohen has told me. but i am not sure he did and it requires additional reporting. and i am not sure he did not. i know there is a lot of fuzzy memories here. there are people in and out of the room with mr. trump all the time. i have heard people say of course he knew, his son would have told him ahead of time. that's the key mistake. i take the responsibility. an assumption is not a fact. howie: you are coming forward saying you made a mistake. and it's rare in washington. is there a difference in the way

things get processed in the media. lanny: when i wrote my book on the election and i saw jim i'm through data as the reason for an illegitimate presidency it was the result of an intervention by james comey. the data shows after october 28, hillary clinton's polls plunged. howie: there are a lot of the reasons she lost. lanny: when i wrote the book i didn't use the word lie. lice an intentional will fus misstatement. that was not me when i talked to anderson cooper or cnn. it was a mistake but not intentional. james comey knew what edtold congress. not that i will disclose something even 11 days from the

election. i will take a look first. during this interviews he never said i'm sorry, i made a mistake the way donald trump will never say i'm sorry i made a mistake the way i'm saying i am sorry, i made a mistake. howie: your critics say you are a big hillary clinton booster, you wrote a book about how she got screwed out of the presidency. that you took on michael cohen's case to use him to get revenge. lanny: there is no question i believe is an extremely divisive and harmful president. when michael cohen came to me, it took me quite a while to listen to him as to why he had changed his mind about donald trump. i took on the representation because he was ready to speak what he felt about donald trump. so certainly that was part of my motive. howie: what was it he said to you that made you decide yes, i

want to represent donald trump's former lawyer. lanny: it's a matter of public record. he suddenly saw mr. trump denouncing the intelligence community. that i knew that his now conversion, a true transformation was important for the country and i would help him get those facts out. howie: not an easy thing to do, a difficult week for you. why pope francis deflected allegations that he knew about sexual misconduct by asking journalists to investigate.

howie: pope francis has been very media savvy, but when reporters asked him about the church covering up the worst sexual abiewlss. the memo was written by the former ambassador recalled by francis. he claimed theater mckerik's abuse was punished earlier by former pope benedict. and he told this to pope

francis. the archbishop. provided it to the national catholic register. it's all been critical of the pope. joining us now. fr. tom reese. and former religion reporter mollie hemingway. why would the pope tell reporters to check out the document full of accusations, knowing full well that would be seen as not denying the allegations. >> i think the pope made a mistake. he was correct saying look at the document and analyze and fact check it. if that document had been written by a journalist and given to their editor it

wouldn't have been published because it was full of allegations without evidence. the mistake was, he said he met with the pope and told him about the sanctions and told him about the abuse. all the pope needed to do was verify that that yes it did happen or no, it did not happen. that's what he need to do. howie: there is a cultural war going on in the church with the pope seen as taking a less conservative' view. >> i was going to mention that headline because i was so inappropriate. what reporter's need to do is look into the allegations that have been made. they are happy to work with anonymous sources that provide

no evidence. but when they have allegations on the record that can be checked out, their job is not to put it in the context of a culture war. don't assume pope francis is guilty or the archbishop is lying. howie: do you find it interesting an italian journalist helps pope francis, giving it to the national catholic register. it looked a little bit like collusion. >> italian journalism is very different from american journalism. there is no big distinction between the edtowardial page, the editorial page, op-ed and news stories. the papers have strong

ideological biases. so it's no surprise at all. howie: mollie you said it's fine for him to take a sceptical attitude towards the allegations. but how could we have a situation where pope benedict supposedly secretly imposed sanctions against the head of the catholic church inch d.c. and nobody knew about it? mollie: i think the allegation was mccarrick knew about it. instead of thinking about what team they are on. benedict took a light punishment to someone with credible allegations of abuse. it's not like he even looks particularly good. . . urgh.

it's an unspeakable tomorrow it has taken on young boys. mollie: it seems they are running interest force for the situation to not hold people accountable. you look at what happens even with this media rollout. even when people are trying to bring attention to these things, they get such resistance even in

the media. people should be caring more about systematic corruption in the church. howie: i have been reading anguished ' be' pieces from catholics. journalists covering this, commenting on it. but those who are catholic are in anguish. >> this has been a real challenge to everybody in the church. but the focus has to be on the victims. they are the ones really hurt by this, tragically scared. the church needs to respond to that and reach out to them. howie: the call has to be holding accountable those responsible for this. >> there is no question about that. we have to have systems in

place. if there is an accusation and cover-up. it needs to be investigated. it needs to be tracked down. and if it's true, he needs to lose his job. >> thanks very much for joining us on this difficult subject. still to come, a report that president trump wanted to buy up all the "national enquirer"'s all the "national enquirer"'s secrets about him. my name is jeff sheldon, and i'm the founder of ugmonk. before shipstation it was crazy. it's great when you see a hundred orders come in, a hundred orders come in, but then you realize i've got a hundred orders i have to ship out. shipstation streamlined that wh the order data, the weights of , everything is seamlessly put into shipstation, so when we print the shipping ll everything's pretty much done. it's so much easier so now, we're ready, bring on t. shipstation. the number one ch of online sellers. go to shipstation.com/tv and get two months free.

howie: president trump made off the record comments about canada. but the toronto stash * not bound by the ad the "toronto star" not bound by the agreement

found out and leaked the comments. justin trudeau found out. the president said the powerful understanding was blatantly violated. the "toronto star" reporter says he's smearing the bloomberg interest viewers and they were not his source. the "national enquirer" buying and burying the story about karen mcdougal may just be the tip of the iceberg. the "new york times" reports donald trump had a plan to buy up all the so-called dirt the tabloid supposedly extra kiewsmed up on him since the 1980s. but the deal never happened. new york's "village voice" that published a lot of investigative reporting it was liberal but the

model for similar papers around the country died this week. victim of print publications and other city papers have shrunk or shrivels or gone away. the "village voice." i'm howard kurtz. i hope you are enjoying the labor day weekend. ratings go up and down. but i want to take a moment to thank you. this show had more viewers in august than any cnn show in prime time. let's continue the conversation on twitter and my facebook page. you can comment and i'll comment right back. you might want to subscribe to my podcast. you can subscribe at apple itunes, google play, or

foxnewspodcasts.com. we'll be back next sunday with the latest

>> good morning, it is monday september 13th, this is "fox & friends first", happening at 4:00 a.m., fox news alert, chaos at california racetrack. >> okay, there's gunfire at the track, there's gunfire at the track, there's gunfire. rob: gunman opening fire on live television, it could be heard, the breaking details we just learned overnight. jillian: brett kavanaugh may not be getting enough rest on labor facing what's a grueling day tomorrow. rob: last ditch effort to derail confirmation to the supreme court