♪ howie: sure it's easy now, it's easy for the media to denounce andrew cuomo, to decry the sexual harassment findings, to insist like the new york times and washington post that the governor must go. remember, this is the guy who the pundits lionized last year as a pandemic superstar. >> you see spectacular political leader emerging from this in andrew cuomo. >> governor cuomo i think is one of the heros on the front

lines. howie: but when the first cuomo accuser came forward in february, there was nothing on the network newscasts, nothing on msnbc, a brief mention on cnn, a few sentences of the today show. here's how i put it at the time on this program. but the first instinct of the network newt casts, cnn, msnbc was to do as little as possible, sometimes nothing, about the democratic govern for. they were kind of acting like political operatives. maybe this will blow over, we won't have to deal with it. but they had to deal with it as enterprising reporters found more accusers and the state attorney general launched an investigation. when you ignore or minimize a credible allegation against a popular politician you run the risk of having to play catch-up later when the scandal mushrooms and it's too big to ignore. that was the moment of truth, not now, when everyone is revolted by chilling evidence that cuomo sexually harassed 11 different women. i'm howard kurtz and this is media buzz.

♪ howie: the ag's report found that andrew cuomo engaged in sexual harassment and in one case retaliation against women who worked for him and a state trooper assigned to protect him. he denied it in a video message. >> newspaper or biased he reviews are not the way to find the facts in this matter. politics and bias are interwoven throughout every aspect of this situation. howie: hey, you asked for the attorney general's investigation, latisha james is a democrat and now you want to complain about the media coverage and the probe. a parade of top democrats is urging cuomo to step down, starting with the president. >> will you now call on him to resign, given the investigator says the 11 women were credible.

>> i stand by that statement. >> are you now you calling on him to resign? >> yes. howie: across the cable news spectrum, liberal and conservative, cuomo has virtually no defenders. >> imagine the twilight zone these women felt they were working in. they're being harassed by the governor. >> i'm speechless. okay. governor cuomo, it's one of the more bizarre defenses of accusations of sexual harassment ever assembled. okay. i'm really weird and creepy. but i didn't do that. i don't even think -- i want to use the word psychopath. who in position of being the leader of the state facing these overwhelming allegations from 11 women has the nerve to call them all liars? howie: joining us now to analyze the coverage, ben domenech, publisher of the federalist and fox news contributor and fox news correspondent and a host griff

jenkins. ben, media built up andrew quo cuomoto an almost unbelievable degree. now they turned on him. when the allegations first surfaced, many looked away. >> the lookback at the media's performance during this is not going to be a pleasant one for anyone who lauded andrew cuomo as being this incredible leader. what's amazing is to look back at the coverage and see how it was wrong in every respect. it was wrong when it came to his response to covid. it was wrong when it came to the idea that as steve schmidt said he was some kind of heroic figure emerging from this and the initial brush-off that you made reference to of reporting around these latest scandals is really a travesty in retrospect. what i fear, though, is that the lesson that so many politicians have taken from the experience of governor ralph northam in virginia, is that you can just

keep your head down and bowl forward and survive anything like this. and i think that that's probably what's going to happen with governor cuomo as well. he's a powerful, well-connected democratic politician. i think he's just going to decide i'm going to ignore all my critics including the president of the united states and i'm going to stick this out. howie: griff, the new york times which kept endorsing him says that if people cares about the people of the state, he'll step down. the new york post says there's no longer a question about his fitness for office. usually a politician has a core of support. is it now possible for anyone in the media not to denounce andrew cuomo. >> i think no, howie. perhaps there's irony that on august 8th, 1974 president nixon took to the air waves and a say i'm going to resign. you've got the times union, the home newspaper there in albany, along with columnist maureen dowd, everybody is savaging him. what will be fascinateing to see

as you pointed out correctly with ben that the press was slow to pick up on defending these victim as they're really rightfully called. will they also go after the members of his staff, the top aides, that in this report, 165 pages of unbelievable accusations, say they conducted something that amounts to unlawful retaliation. howie: i will come back to you on that. nice historical reference as today is august 8th. let me play for the audience some further comments that governor cuomo made in his defense and then we're going to look at charlotte bennett who became the face of the scandal, the first of the accusers to go public on tv. roll it. >> i do kiss people on the forehe'd had. i do kiss people on the cheek. i do kiss people on the hand. i do embrace people. >> he was coming onto me and he insinuated that survivors of trauma and sexual assault can't

tell the difference between mentorship and leadership and sexual harassment itself which is not only insulting to he me but every survivor who listened to him. howie: ben, so andrew cuomo likes to hug and kiss people at weddings and disasters, it's hardly the same it seems to me as making women feel uncomfortable. how is that particular part of his he defense playing in the press? >> i don't think that the idea that i'm an old fashioned italian man who likes to do all these things really works in this day and age of the professional environments where certain actions that are directed towards subordinates are completely different than the actions that you might have around your family members or something like that. look, whatever the standard is, it seems clear that andrew cuomo has certainly violated it in terms of behaving unprofessionally and unetic -- ethically -- unethically as

relates to subordinates. in regards to his implementation of policies of nursing homes and covid, an investigation that the biden administration shut down, not just as relates to him but several other democrat governors, so from my perspective there's no real heros in this story though i will say the women involved here have to be considered very brave to come forward and speak out about someone who was lionized by the press and was put up on a pedestal to such an incredible degree, to someone that would of not be just a potentially powerful politician in new york but potentially someone who had national hopes as well. howie: speaking of women who came forward and they were brave, charlotte bennett first spoke to the new york times and cbs and we heard her saying the governor is lying, said in another interview he was out of touch with reality a. that got a lot of media

attention in terms of reaction from one of the accuser herself. >> bennett addressed the video calling it fake, saying it was inappropriate, unnecessary, and i believe in her words downright weird. look, you have a governor who almost two years to the day signed a law, the strongest law in any state in the united states, to help women file claims of sexual harassment and now we're learning from this report that a day later he harasses a state trooper, according to latisha james' report. the larger point to be made i think weekly is that this was a taxpayer funded video which charlotte bennett called, quote, propaganda, in which the governor continues to call her a liar in the video. so i mean, it's a continuation i think of what the report laid out as egregious aggression. howie: even the liberal talking points of memo said cuomo wants

you to know he's creepy around everyone. britney kamiso says the governor groped her under her blouse. with president biden, nancy pelosi, chuck schumer, gillibrand and other of home state democrats calling for cuomo to quit, does that fuel the story? because we can run pieces that say pressure rising on governor cuomo to resign. >> i really don't think it does. i think this is going to be something that the media sweeps under the rug in part because they're so embarrassed about their performance and how much they lauded governor cuomo in the past. i think what that they will try to move on from this as rapidly as they can. and i think that that's just a statement about how partisan, how publicly partisan so many in our media have become and i'll say this too. this is a he reminder about why we shouldn't lionized politicians and political electioned leaders as if they're

somehow perfect avatars of everything we would like to see in leadership parties. it's a reminder we should not put these people on such a pet pedestal that you ignore the capacity they have to do sometimes terrible things, things that we have to be honest about as opposed to pretending and waving our hands away as if that doesn't matter because of which side of the political spec spectrum they're on. howie: i think it's a great point. it wasn't like the president didn't know about this side of the governor's personality. top editors said he screamed at them when they ran a story he didn't like and they refused to talk to him off the record. we talked about the attorney general's report. it he focused on top aides enabling behavior, trying to keep him away from being alone with certain women, a couple saying they would be fired for doing anything like that. so it wasn't just andrew cuomo but it was the people around the governor. >> listen, i think ben's point about whether or not the media tries to wash their hands quickly or not is significant because of what we're learning and good for cbs and the times

union for interviewing the executive assistant number one. here's why. we learned from the report that when melissa derosa, cuomo's top aide, the one that leaked confidential files to reporters to discredit lindsey boilen, the first accuser that came forward, the report finding had that unlawful retaliation. the executive assistant participated with the aide, melissa derosa in whiting out some names before the report on boilen could be released. she then accuses of course the governor of groping her, reaching under her blouse and touching her breast and so i think the role that the media has now is to make sure that every single stonies overturned, that everything comes forward and to use their i think fundamental role which is to be the fourth estate to hold governors and governments accountable. shine a light. howie: it may well be that

you're right, ben, that the media will let this drop. on the other hand you have democrats in albany who say they have enough votes to impeach the governor. if that were to happen, he would have to step aside and let the lieutenant governor take over during the impeachment process. let me get a break. we'll talk about chris cuomo's role later. when we come back, president biden took a major step that he himself says is probably illegal and the media don't seem to care. this may look like a regular movie night. but if you're a kid with diabetes, it's more. it's the simple act of enjoying time with friends, knowing you understand your glucose levels. ♪♪ i don't just play someone brainy on tv - i'm an actual neuroscientist. and i love the science behind neuriva plus. unlike ordinary memory supplements, neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain performance. more brain performance? yes, please! neuriva. think bigger.

howie: president biden said he wanted to extend a pandemic ban on housing evictions but the expert consensus was it wouldn't be legal. >> any call for moratorium based on a supreme court recent

decision is likely to face obstacles. look, the courts made it clear that the existing moratorium was not constitutional. it wouldn't stand. howie: but the president abruptly he reversed himself under fierce pressure for liberal lawmakers such as cori bush and the cdc extend the ban with a minor change. look how they framed the move, with a woman who had fallen behind on her rent and congratulating cori bush. >> how does it feel to hear the news about the moratorium tonight, thanks to you? >> i am so -- i'm elated and i'm overwhelmed. >> biden is so terrified apparently of the -- i like to call them the capital camping crazies, like cori bush, that he's just defying the court.

howie: why has there been so little interest in this aspect, president biden defying a supreme court ruling when he said it's probably unconstitutional for him to extend the eviction ban. >> it's insulting on its face. so much of what the media did in presenting joe biden to the american people in the last presidential election was presenting him as a return to normalcy, return to respecting the norms of politician and this is totally flouting those norms, signing something into law with the admission that you acknowledge this act is not just unlawful but is in all respects unconstitutional, is the opposite of norms. it's the opposite of he respecting these types of guardrails for our politics. it's incredibly damaging and to see the way the media reacting to it, it puts all this stuff on its face as kind of absurd, that they would be lauding this move by biden because they really

don't care whether those norms are respected or not. and it makes everything in retrospect look kind of laughable. one more point on this. the people who are actually hit by the eviction moratorium are overwhelmingly america's small business owners and the like who have one house or maybe two that they rent out, a small number of units, those are the ones that are hit the most by this and aren't going to be able to continue to make mortgage payments, probably end up getting swallowed up by bigger firms that can borrow debt cheaply and that's something that's very bad when you're trying to build an economic recovery. none of that seems to matter to the press. instead, they're like yeah, let's move on to the next thing the squad wants. howie: i don't want to see a couple hundred million people kicked out of their homes. they say it's a victory and. aocand the democratic party. >> i was the first reporter for

any network talking directly to cori bush about why she was leading the charge. i told her the president had his hands tied, he can't extend the moratorium because the supreme court says it's unconstitutional. where is the headline, howie, today that should read metamorphosis of how democrats justify unconstitutional governance? it should exist. because that's what's happened. what's amazing as ben points out we stunningly had the president admit he was going to simply violate the constitution if you will by doing this, knowing full well that it would be immediately challenged. i think you will see some lead gal hearings, something will certainly come this week. but one thing is clear and that is what that the power of the squad, and having cori bush who simply say, quote, something's got to happen, that the american people don't care about these rules and these rulings, yet the government saying it's okay to kick people out of homes, we've got to stop that. it just flys in the true face of democracy when have you no

shortage by the way i should point out of democrats who love to point out that trump subverted democracy himself. howie: congresswoman bush slept on the capitol steps to protest the lack of action on the white house. the washington posted tore y'all said what biden had the cdc do is almost certainly illegal. when donald trump took money from other departments to fund the border wall, the press went hey wear, said he had no -- hayt hay wire. >> it's like they haven't a different standard, depending on the person, whether they a agree with them idea logically. it's absurd. i think what people should take away from this experience is that the next time that you have an entity from the press come out and pound on the table and defend constitutional norms, say that democracy dies in darkness, understand that they're doing that based on their own

perspective on the politicians and the decisions they're making and almost never are they actually basing that on an even-handed and fair look at this type of decision and a nonpartisan manner. this is just the most prominent, latest example in part because as griff said the president came out and said it out loud we have the video. this is not just -- i've got to go. this is not just lawyers say or sources say. we have the source in chief. ben domenech, griff jenkins thank you for joining us. up next, peter doocy on a covid war of words between joe biden and ron de santis and later quiz chris cuomo's role in defending his brother against the sexual harassment allegation. welcome back to milkshake mustaches, high fives and high dives. to 3-on 3s... 2-on-2s... and 1-on-1s. at aspen dental, we see all the moments that make us smile so we make it easy to share your smile with convenient, total care - all in one place.

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for adults who also have known heart disease. so, it could help save your life from a heart attack or stroke. and jardiance lowers a1c. jardiance can cause serious side effects including dehydration, genital yeast or urinary tract infections, and sudden kidney problems. ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may be fatal. a rare but life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this bacterial infection, ketoacidosis or an allergic reaction, and don't take it if you're on dialysis or have severe kidney problems. taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. lower a1c and lower risk of a fatal heart attack? on it with jardiance. we are committed to making jardiance available and affordable. with our savings card, eligible patients pay as little as $10. howie: the media loved this new feud, president biden taking a sharp jab at florida governor ron de santis as well aztecs as' greg abbott for opposing vaccine

and mask mandates. >> i say to these governors, please help. if you aren't going to help, at least get out of the way of people that are trying to do the right thing. >> why don't you do your job, why don't you get this border secure. and until you do that, i don't want to hear a blip about covid from you. >> the two macho, defiant governors, abbott and de santis, have now to face the reality that their states lead the league in covid infections and hospitalizations. >> the media big tech, the biden administration, well, governor ron de santis, let's blame him. the guy whose schools have been open now for a full year. howie: joining us now from delaware is peter doocy, fox's white house correspondent. peter, as i said, the press loves this stuff. does the white house want so much media attention on biden versus de santis.

obviously governor de santis is happy to oblige in terms of tangling with the president. >> we notice that after this started, and it does have kind of a 2024 feel to it even though the republican primary is going to be grueling and ron de santis hasn't even said he wants to run for president but the white house after this back and forth had started has not stopped calling florida and texas out because they're looking at the data, they see the most breakthrough or they see the most new cases of covid including with the delta variant in texas and florida and they're going to keep using them as what they think are a bad example because those governors are trying to give people a choice. so the white house basically says ron de santis is being political when he should be scientific. they would prefer if people listen to white house experts, the people they put out and do what they say. howie: i'm sure they would prefer that. you often ask the white house,

press the white house bows vaccinations, -- about vaccinations, masks, changing cdc guidance. let's take a look at a recent encounter with you and white house press secretary, jen psaki. >> why did the president say if you have been fully vaccinated, you no longer need to wear a mask. let me repeat, if you are fully vaccinated, you no longer need to wear a mask if that was possible that that was going to turn of out not to be true. >> i think we're all dealing with an evolving virus where there's no playbook and no historic precedent. howie: is it hard to pin down the white house when the guidance on all of this seems to keep shifting? >> well, it has been difficult just to understand exactly what they expect of people in the press room, who are now all wearing masks when we're in there and what they expect of people, when we're in washington, d.c. on you assignment, you have to wear a mask. you come to delaware with the president, no such masking rules. this is an administration, though, where over the course of the last year and-a-half that we

were traveling with them, they made a point to get people to take covid-19 very, very seriously and now it seems like sometimes they struggle to get people to take the virus seriously except if you're vaccinated. so they want people to know this delta variant is out there but it really is only serious for people who are not vaccinated and i think that's where some of the confusion has been coming from. howie: okay. now, media i said this week that you are the best white house correspondent. is it uncomfortable for you usually to be asking the hardest edge questions and having jen psaki often push back on those questions? >> no, not at all. and i put a lot thought into the questions, it seems like she puts a lot of thought into the answers, trying to figure out what exactly we are going to press her on. and so it's never uncomfortable

and hopefully the information we're getting out of there is always useful even if the back and forths are sometimes cut down to be tweeted or put on facebook or something like that. howie: just very briefly, was it a historic moment when president biden called on you for a question this week rather than you have to shout at him as he's walking away from the podium? >> it was interesting, how east usually over the -- howie, usually over the course of the last year i'm getting myself prepped to shout something really quick as he is leaving the stage or the microphone. as he called on me as the third reporter, once i asked myself i could just sit there and take notes for the rest of the event. it was definitely different than some of the other ones. howie: you had a little more time. great to see you, peter doocy, thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you. howie: next, what investigators found about chris cuomo's role in defending his embattled

brother and why that's a big problem for cnn. later, a focus group on the vaccine. (phone notification) where we've just lowered our auto rates. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ and savings like that will have you jumping for joy. now, get new lower auto rates with allstate. because better protection costs a whole lot less. you're in good hands with allstate. click or call for a lower auto rate today.

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flexible cancellation. kayak. search one and done. howie: cnn's chris cuomo hasn't mentioned the sexual harassment allegations that threaten to end his brother's political career because the network decided he can't cover the governor, a sharp change from last year's 11 loved filled appearances on his program when andrew cuomo was hailed during the pandemic. >> andrew cuomo, of course my brother, thank you for coming back to the show. >> mom told me i had to. howie: the prime time host later apologized when the washington post revealed he was joining damage control calls with his brother and top officials. >> i understand why that was a problem for cnn. it will not happen again. it was a mistake because i put my colleagues here, who i believe are the best in the business, in a bad spot. we learned from the state

attorney general's report that chris cuomo in february e-mailed a draft statement of denial to his brother's office, including such lines as i never intended to offend anyone and my interactions may have been insensitive or too personal which is what governor's statement wound up saying. joining us from connecticut, charlie gasparino. chris cuomo couldn't address this mess on his show under cnn's rules, very different from the show last year. do you think he should have posted something, issued a statement, since he is named in the ag's report? >> probably. he probably should have explained it. listen, he already did kind of explain it. and let's be real clear here. he's in a difficult situation. of courses going to speak to his brother about this issue. where this becomes really dicey for him, and i know chris for a long time, i like chris, where it becomes dicey is becoming officially part of the whole thing, the official damage control. once you become officially part

of something like that, howie, then you know it really gets dicey. you should disclose it to your boss, maybe should take a leave of absence. by the way, suppose he is part of the official response team for andrew, does he think he's innocent? maybe he thinks he might be guilty. then you're part of damage control you might think could have done some of this and then you're on cnn. it's just -- it looks so bad and i tell you, i feel -- it's-dab. --howie: it's a problem. it's a difficult situation. of course he's going to support his brother. isn't there a difference between privately advising him and then joining the strategy calls and then in the ag's report actually helping to draft or e-mailing the statement the governor's going to put out, doesn't that cross a line? >> it does. but let's face it.

he wouldn't be the first. you know, i remember years ago george will wrote some speeches for reagan or of he helped prep reagan for a debate. he said listen, i'm doing this because i'm a columnist, an opinion guy. howie: a lot of people dropped the will column as a result. .>> right. chris is kind of in genre at cnn. he's not a guy you're going to for straight news. he's not covering officially the governor's mansion. there's a little bit of difference here but he still should have disclosed the whole thing and if he was going to be part of the rapid -- cuomo rapid response team, he should take a leave of absence, he should not be doing both jobs. it makes the network look really bad. absolutely supporting -- howie: the network made mistakes by changing the rules. i've also known chris a long time. i've andrew cuomo and i know you have known the family, since he was in his 20s.

andrew has always been a brawler, a bare knuckles guy. but over the years the story have always portrayed that as a positive, saying he knocks heads but he gets things done. was that a mistake because obviously we're learning about a darker aspect of the governor. >> well, you know, i think there's a difference between being a sexual abuser which that's the allegations here, and being a tough guy. because listen, i covered new york state politics before i started covering wall street and it's a rough and tumble game. none of those guys are nice. mario cuomo i really like mario cuomo personally but he had some really sharp elbow as well. remember, being a tough guy or tough woman in new york is not exactly unique here. where i think it's different for andrew cuomo was this other dark side of him, whether it's true or not, the evidence is pretty damning, though. i read the report.

and i read the appendix as well which is kind of scary stuff. howie: of course, it's an investigation that he asked for because -- now he's attacking the investigation. last question, i've got about a minute. now that the other democrats are coming out, when it's people like bill de blasio the new york mayor, saying yes, cuomo should he resign today and he should be tarred and a feathered and all that. does the press have a responsibility to say some of this is payback for the relations an threats that governor cuomo issued even against some of his nominal allies. >> yeah. and if you read the new york post where i have an affiliation with them, i'm a columnist for them, people have been saying that and i think it's -- listen, none of these guys are perfect. think about bill de blasio, talk about people in glass houses, you know, you mismanaged the city during the summer of love last year where we were having riots and downtown manhattan was being ransacked is calling on

cuomo to resign. so no one's perfect here, as you know. howie: you've got be tough in new york politics. you're right. and ben domenech made the point we shouldn't build up these politicians as being larger than life figures because they're human beings and they have flaws. thanks so much. after the break, are the media actually hurting the efforts to get more people vaccinated? frank luntz has new research, next millions of vulnerable americans struggle to get reliable transportation to their medical appointments. that's why i started medhaul. citi launched the impact fund to invest in both women and entrepreneurs of color like me, so i can realize my vision and give everything i've got to my company, and my community. i got you. for the love of people. for the love of community. for the love of progress. citi. we did it again. verizon has been named america's most

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howie: here's a new focus group of people who have not been vaccinated talking about the coverage of this issue. >> the media seems to be portraying it all one sided. i feel i'm forced into the vaccine and almost penalized if i'm not embracing it. >> i feel they're all using some type of scare tactic, all about getting viewers. howie: joining us now from new york is the man who did the interviews, frank luntz, the veteran republican pollster. what do these folks mean when they say the media's vaccine coverage is one sided and amounts to scare tactics. >> the beaumont foundation is the sponsor of this. they've been focused from the beginning on how to communicate the science, how to communicate the medicine and how to communicate the facts behind covid and now the vaccine. tomorrow, the beaumont foundation will release a nationwide survey on this.

the public is asking a question, why do we only hear the bad news. there was a gentleman in the focus group who talked about all the people who got he covid and recovered, talked about the people who have not gotten covid, some members of the family got it, some members did not. in the end, it's the responsibility of all of us, howie, you and i and everyone involved, to be able to communicate the facts sufficiently, effectively and accountably and the key in all of this is the public doesn't know where to go for the truth. and i know there's a greater frustration right now among those who are vaccinated about those who aren't. and why their lives -- howie: and anger, you see that in the media as well. let me come back to that point because i want to get you in on this. the vaccination rate has been rising lately from under 500,000 daily shots to more than 800,000 yesterday. and i would say it's because people see folks they know and love dying and they're virtually all unvaccinated. don't the media deserve some

credit for highlighting these dangers? >> yes. and i want to give specific media outlets that your viewers probably don't like, npr has done a brilliant job at explaining the issue and explaining the details behind it. the washington post has always focused on what matters most to people and providing this kind of information. there are news outlets out there, the new york times has done a good job at this. most news outlets have been very effective at presenting the details behind it. the problem, howie, is when you start to add emotion, you start to add passion. i know you've got a clip, i would love you to show it because this idea of humanizing and personalizing covid while it's helpful in getting people vaccinated, it creates an anger among those who aren't yet, that they're trying to dramatize and aren't giving the public the full truth. howie: let me play the sound bite from cnn. there's been a lot of similar

pieces on the air. this involves a man who got the virus from virginia, whose name is thomas campbell. >> please for the love of god, if you really want to have a chance, don't -- [ indiscernible ] -- social media, just protect yourself. howie: so is maudlin or is it effective who have people who have not gotten the vaccines and who have goten sick. sick.>> whose are cynical havew started to reject it. these are facts. this is the proof. these are real life examples. and so i applaud it. but before you show that clip and after you show that clip you have to give people the details. and the delta variant is actually causing people to re-examine it.

howie, the reason why this matters so much is because kids are going back to school in a matter of days. in some cases, just a couple of weeks. we have to get the kids vaccinated and the parents who are getting vaccinated themselves are getting their kids vaccinated. the parents who aren't are saying no for their kids and the fact is, we're going to have a lot more people going to the hospital if we don't start describing this, accurately, effectively, efficiently and most importantly factually. howie: the number of daily cases in light of this delta surge has gone from about 15,000 in first part of june to more than 105,000 now. and the white house is among the places that have been pushing back saying the media is sensationalizing this, talking about breakthrough infectionses for the vaccinated which are very mild, very rare, less than 1%. when you have that surge in cases, concentrated in low vax states and counties, how can the

media be blamed for reporting that? isn't that reporting the nature of what's going on with this interminable virus. >> yes. you just said it in the question. you told the truth. that's what's necessary in all of this. i'm in new york right now. i've had the conversations right here in my building and i've been doing focus groups as people are coming in and out and they're telling me they don't know where to go to get the fax. facts -- facts. after all the time, if the public doesn't trust what they see on television or read in the newspaper, then we are -- to use no better term, we are screwed. that's why it's essential that those who report it be careful. keep your politics and ideology out of it. frankly, dr. fauci has a become a horrible spokesman. he's a brilliant man. i believe in what he's saying. but we need people who the public trusts. howie: amen to all of that. we have to report the facts.

i do think perhaps many go too far. frank luntz, thanks very much. still to comings a stunningly bad new york times headline, trump versus the soccer team, jennifer aniston losing friends and more onea the buzz beater. -. [ chuckles ] don't get me wrong, i love my rv, but insuring it is such a hassle. same with my boat. the insurance bills are through the roof. -[ sighs ] -be cool. i wish i could group my insurance stuff. -[ coughs ] bundle. -the house, the car, the rv. like a cluster. an insurance cluster. -woosah. -[ chuckles ] -i doubt that exists. -it's a bundle! it's a bundle, and it saves you money! hi. i'm flo from progressive, and i couldn't help but overhear... super fun beach day, everybody.

comcast nbcuniversal is investing and i couldn't help but overhear... in entrepreneurs to bring what's next for sports technology to athletes, teams, and fans. that's why we created the sportstech accelerator, to invest in and develop the next generation of technology that will change the way we experience sports. we've already invested in entrepreneurs like ane swim, who develops products that provide hair protection so that everyone can enjoy the freedom of swimming. like the athletes competing in tokyo, these entrepreneurs have a fierce work ethic and drive to achieve - to change the game and inspire the team of tomorrow.

howie: time to see if i can beat the clock on the buzz beater. seems like a parody of a bad headline, the new york times reviewing a book on osama bin laden, saying he was a good family man. they changed it to a fuller picture of his life. jennifer aniston telling in style magazine she is blowing

off some of her pals that is refusing to get the covid-19 vaccine or won't say whether they have. she says there's a lot of people motivated by fear or of propaganda. i wonder if that will lose her any friends out there known as fans. speaking of the virus, cnn's jim acosta who claimed to be fair in covering donald trump said yesterday maybe we should call the delta variant the de santis variant over florida's governor. barack obama had a big 60th birthday blow-out planned for martha's vineyard but got hammered in the press for being tone deaf during the delta surge. he announced it will be cut back to close friends and family. a lot of celebrity friends showed up yesterday. now the papers are investigating who didn't make the cut. and speaking of obama, remember the ridiculous media flap when he dared to wear a tan suit.

joe biden was similarly attired recently. u.s. women's soccer team won a bronze medal at the tokyo olympics and donald trump wasn't happy. he put out a statement and said this last night on fox. >> they were supposed to win the gold medal. you know the word woke means loser. if you're woke, you're going to lose. howie: or sometimes you just lose. r apinno says you're rooting for people to do bad? yikes. wasn't it nice after the media debate over simone biles benching herself that she came back to win a bronze medal. nbc's ratings down as much as 50%. some pundits erupted on twitter, how was jeffrey toobin holding forth on sexual misconduct. it wasn't him.

it was david sevmentz halion and i don't think they look alike. megyn kelly and others ran corrections. this eye-catching new york post cover on andrew cuomo, i'm not saying there's anything wrong with him working at the pool of the executive mansion with a blonde woman on her laptop a couple feet away. she turns out to be a secretary, she's wearing a dress, not a bathing suit. obviously he didn't expect the press to obtain these photos. the optics for the governor, not so good. just made it. that is it for this edition of media buzz. i'm howard kurtz. we hope you'll check out our facebook page, give us a like. we post my daily columns there. let's continue the conversation, the back and forth on twitter at howard kurtz. check out my podcast, media buzz meter. we look at the day's buzziest stories, you can subscribe at apple itunes, google pod casts or your amazon device.

there's a lot of moving targets that we deal with today. tomorrow we have executive assistant number one to an drew cuomo going public in the interview, the senate is debating the infrastructure bill. we'll watch all that for you and i'll be talking about it jupe online,on the podcast. we're back here next sunday, you know the time, 11:00 eastern. we'll see you then with the latest buzz. (burke) deep-sea driving, i see... (customer) something like that... (burke) well, here's something else: with your farmer's policy perk, new car replacement, you can get a new one. (customer) that is something else. (burke) get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ this isn't just a walk up the stairs. when you have an irregular heartbeat, it's more. it's dignity. the freedom to go where you want, knowing your doctor can watch over your heart. ♪♪

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unlike ordinary memory supplements, neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain performance. more brain performance? yes, please! neuriva. think bigger. arthel: we begin today with a fox news alert, a tragic night in the windy city. a chicago police officer was shot and killed in the line of duty during a confrontation on the city's south side, another officer was wounded and remains in critical condition. at least one suspect is at a large. good afternoon, everyone. welcome to "fox news live." i'm arthel neville. hi, eric. eric: hello, arthel. hello, everyone. thank you for joining us on "fox news live." i'm eric shawn. new revelations about embattled

new york governor andrew cuomo, he faces multiple all