china and india. now they're promoting free tax in heaven. >> one and all, back next week. paul re see you then. on "fox news watch." what is the president healthcare plan? the number one question as the press keeps up the pressure. have we heard the answer? u.s. troops continue their hunt for the bad guys in afghanistan. some at home lose interest in the effort. are the media to blame in former falcon flies with the eagles and the exconvict victim goes from jailtime -- ex-con vick goes from jailtime to primetime. and a politician is dancing and is tripped up by the media on the left. some man who paved the way to

how we get our news today, john hewitt. >> television is good. not when you see it and not when you hear it. but when you feel it. ♪ >> on the panel this week, guthrie, programming editor for broadcasting and cable magazine, cal thomas, jim pinkerton, fellow, new america foundation and fox forum contributor and kirsten powers, "new york post" columnist. i'm john scott, fox news watch is on right now. >> what is your response so far to the suggestion that the healthcare reform might not include a public option? is it winning any converts, angering quarters? >> on the messaging process, do you accept any responsibility on the fact that you haven't some of the other issues on healthcare that you had, whether on

incorrect interpretations of the bill, other than do you accept any of that responsibility or all just the media's fault? >> mr. president, thank you for taking my call. >> hi, tracy. >> hi. until i heard you say that a private option is a sliver of your healthcare proposal recently, i think myself and many americans thought it pretty much was your principle. >> i know. >> can you please explain five or six bullet point of what legislation must include for you to be willing to sign it. for instance, employer mandate, tofrt reform, illegal immigrants what about them. must include public option. >> i'd be happy to. >> the president seems to be getting it from all sides, getting grilled every day on the healthcare plan. his spokesman is fending off reporters right and left. jim, are the media finally doing their job here?

>> i think charles krauthammer had a fair minded piece in friday "washington post" about the death panel which said look, sarah palin is not correct. krauthammer is talking here, about there being a health panel in here, but it's true that if you subsidize as the section of the law proposes to do, doctors, to give the death counseling to people, surprise, surprise will do it. they'll do what you pay them to. a fair-minded summary of the situation. >> the feeling is the white house lost control of the message. have they? >> they lost control of the message. the fact that we spent so much time talking about death panel i proves that. there was a vacuum and people were able to step into it. all respect to charles krauthammer who i have

respect for, i don't believe that is what the sessi legislat says nor would it lead to that. the media has done a hifk job. you only get to idea of the death panel if you believe there is nothing wrong with the system now. people point we'll be like sweden because the system was so great. if the media was doing their job and talk about the people suffering under the current system, i think they might not have a different perspective. >> i heard that the white house, the phrase "public option" which has become a headline really is something that the white house poll tested to see how it flew with people. people liked it. they hear the public option and think that's like public service. good thing. >> the problem with the administration it's like a broadway show. they have a leading man, no leading lady, no book, no music or orchestra. the guy is trying to sell tickets to it. wait a minute, i'm not going to buy something i don't know what it will be.

the president is carrying water for bills that aren't written yet. number, two you have secretary that's inarticulate as best but he doesn't know what he's sell either. maybe the public option and then she is thrown under the bus by gibbs and obama saying yes it is. what is it? >> maurice is nodding in agreement when you talk about the fact people don't understand what is in the plan. is that the case? should the media do more to explain it? >> the problem is it's hypothetical. we don't have a plan. we have several plans. there are parts of each that will go in the final plan. because it's hypothetical, you get paranoid people making up things about the death panel. the fact is the angry town halls were all over the media. then it was the death panels. pal youtive care has been around for decade. in the medicare bill.

>> the same thing is in the medicare bill that the republicans voted for. a horrific job by the media. if they are going to do that they should give the same time to people getting rejected for healthcare and current system, people who have preexisting conditions. people left to die. where does that come from? >> the media loves the conflict more than they love the solution. >> right. >> it's august. it's a slow time. normally this is a dead news time. president is out of town. congress is out of town. this is made for media. a food fight. >> is that why the president wanted it all done before -- >> sure. >> he didn't want people reading the bill. as peggy noonan said if people don't trust the government, for some reason they don't trust the government that much and they can understand what is in front of them. if it's say 1,000 pages of legislative they say i don't trust you. i don't have confidence in you so i say no. that's what the american people have done. >> there is all the criticism

of the death panel discussion. why not? why not write a bill, put it out there, let everybody see what is in it and then let the media turn it loose. >> a political calculation they made, they want to do it different than the clintons did it. that's what the clintons did. disaster and they say let congress own it. that's a disaster. no way to do that is not going to create vacuum for people to make it up. i think that -- i mean i think the administration is to blame and the media is to blame. both. >> the stories about people caught in the healthcare mess, the current healthcare mess, only started popping out in the last few days. "new york times" did one last week about the rise in the medical billing advocates. you need an advocate to decipher the medical bill. the hospital is charging you $200 for mucus recovery system, which is a box of tissues.

>> think about that. think about that. >> a part of the media, though, doesn't really care whether the bill gets passed or not. they really just want to hit the right hard. richard cullen compared sarah palin to joe mccarthy to his column in the "washington post." that's a big red letter that you throw on conservatist. you're mccarthyite. >> check out the website. we have other things there, including the spirited discussions that erupt in the break when we're not on tv. it can feel one coming on now. go to foxnews.c foxnews.com/foxmusewat/foxmusew. we'll be back in two minutes. >> we helped build the most powerful media and launch a ground breaking program. done hewitt and how he shaped the news business. jailtime to primetime. michael vick takes his story or sales pitch to the press.

is all forgiven? all next on news watch. female a] the deeper you clean, the cleaner you feel. olay deep cleansers go beyond what the eye can see. they remove 2 times more dirt and make-up than basic cleansing. for a deep clean feeling, deep cleansers from olay. how many washes did it take cheer brightclean to get this from dingy to bright? ten. seven. it's six. why? why is... one... yeah! hundred. no. cheer brightclean. surprisingly bright in just one wash.

recognized a the father of the news and creator of the most successful broadcast "60 minutes." hewitt left a lasting mark on television died on wednesday. marissa, a lot of people say

he brought entertainment value to television news. do you agree? s>> i agree. but at the core it wasn't adherence to journalism. rerealized that personalities told stories and he assembled a cast. a big broadway buff. he called them the all-star broadway cast. mike wallace, ed bradley. the journalism that intertwined the person telling the story with the story. imitated ad nauseam and "60 minutes" stayed the same for 30 years. >> let me ask another broadway fan. the autobiography was called "tell me a story." some say for him to story mattered more than the facts. >> i don't know. look, don hewitt, yes, there is inherent show business in television. it's a visual media. the print people are more

cerebral. you have to give people a reason to watch. but his view of show business ruse renee fleming than paris. a higher class. he mixed in entertainment and they want you to watch it. so many stories were fascinating and interesting. he wasn't the only pioneer. we had good ones at nbc, too. rubben frank and bob ketner. he wrote in the book out of thin air. making it up as they went along. don hewitt made it up and lasted three decades. not a bad track record. >> another old timer we lost this week, columnist robert novakk. talk about his contribution to journalism. >> robert novak made everybody in america who read his column feel like an insider. fearless, smart and he was -- i had the privilege of knowing him -- unbelievably hardworking.

they are still doing it at an old age because they love what they do. >> you weren't referring to me, were you? [ laughter [ laughter ] >> there are only few syndicated columnists to make it out there. these guys were real reporters. they developed forces. they didn't just sit in the office an write commentary of what other people had done. that shoe leather reporting is becoming endangered species to detriment of journalism and the publpublic. >> one person reported that bob no novak was written up as conservative columnist but they didn't apply conservative label to hewitt when he leaned that way. agree? >> it's a little harder, and the difference is robert novak considered himself conservative. you're self-identifying that way, versus a person who

says -- there are journalists we suspect that they're democrats but they say i'm a journalist. unless they self-identify that way. >> wait a second. are you saying that cbs news is liberal? >> i'm just asking the question. >> why did you open that can of worms. >> the poll, data shows overwhelmingly most of the last 50 years cbs is the most liberal network with dan rather. "60 minutes" a great show but more than its share of hit pieces on business. and people it didn't like and pile advocacy of attacks but it was entertaining. >> hit pieces like what? like tobacco business and things they were doing? >> people watching with hidden cameras and so on. it's accepted now but at one point it was impolite. >> the tv camera brought a new element to it. >> mike wallace brought a new element to it.

>> there were balanced stories about big business that type of thing on "60 minutes". >> when they were doing bad things. think of a time it wasn't justified. they brought out what was going on with the tobacco industry and nobody had any idea. these are revolutionary stories that changed the way we understand an industry. i don't think there is anything unfair about it. >> unless you think it's a personal freedom issue. >> not a right to focus about knowing, finding secret memos of things they were misleading the consumers. important information. >> i feel another arguen't about to break out. but it's time for a break. if you come across a story you think shows media bias, let us know. send us an e-mail. news watch@foxnews.com. we'll be back with this. >> super star now ex-con vick is back in the game and back in the headlines. former political big wig takes his texas two-step to tv. and gets heckled from the

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feel close to me and taken advantage of those and then people, it's very important that people give him an opportunity to prove that they can change. so we're doing that with michael. >> the big announcement there from the philadelphia eagles that michael vick will return to football and join their team. this after he was booted out of the game in disgrace, locked in prison for crimes related to dog fighting. how did they take the news in the team's hometown? check out the headline from the "philadelphia daily news." hide your dogs. ouch. what do you do when you need an image maker and want a

comeback in public life, you sit down for one-of-one television interview. of course. here is what he said last sunday on "60 minutes." >> the first day i walked into the prison, and they slammed that door, i knew, you know, the magnitude of the decisions that i made. and the poor judgment. and with an i allowed to happen to the animals. no way explaining the hurt and the guilt i felt. that was the reason i crashed so many nights. that put it all in perspective. >> michael vick there. cal, a lot of pr people said from pr stand point it was perfect. hit the right notes. will it work? >> we'll see. a cynic would say he's mouthing the word, he didn't mean it. james brown did a great job and glad they had him on there to do the interview, one of the co-anchors on nfl sports. but he did lose, as james

point out, $130 million in promotion and salary and everything else and now to a palty $12 million the eagles are giving him. see how it works out. from a media concession, you don't go to the priest or rabbi or pastor, you go to tv. >> the nfl did a brilliant job, the idea of bringing tony dun gee, the famous coach and wayne from the humane society as an entourage for him on this. who knows if he is really insere or not. we will find out over time i suppose but a great job of reintroducing this guy to civilized america. >> you cover broadcasting and cable. why has that, you know, the comment about the new confessional, why has it become so much part of the american landscape? >> it's powerful. if you watch the vick interview you felt for him. he spent two years in leavenworth. he deserved it but you felt like he was making a genuine attempt as reform and remoors. and, yeah, i agree. having tony d dudunge who lost

son and liked in the nfl. the nfl has amazing public relations apparatus. he had to go through all of this or he would have never gotten another contract. >> talk about two countries back in the headlines this week. wednesday, the deadliest day in baghdad since u.s. troops withdrew in june. 100 people killed in attacks there. in afghanistan, voters were at the polls to pick the next president. it's the first afghan-led vote in more than 30 years. at the same time, a new abc news/"washington post" poll finds the war dropping for -- support dropping for war in afghanistan. 51% think the war is not worth fighting for. is this because the media aren't covering that war? >> i think the media reflecting the general interest of americans which shifted to other issues like the economy and so on, and the fact they can't afford

the bureaus they used to have other there to cover this are falling away. i think americans i can could make a recommendation should see the movie "hurt locker." if you want to know what seasonals are going through and what they're doing see "hurt locker." >> should the president speak out more about this? he used to say in the campaign afghanistan is where we ought to be. >> healthcare is his iraq. george bush made iraq the central thing and he went out and tried to sell it, tried to sell the surge. he campaigned for it to a certain extent. for obama, you know, you can't do more than one major push at a time. it's healthcare. americans are far more focussed on the domestic issues now than they were sort of post 9/11 and those years. >> the difference is you won't have the doctors and nurses flying planes in the buildings. the president is not speaking on this issue. not selling the war as he did in the campaign. george bush was out there

talking about the terrorist threat. the subject is off the radar for a lot of people. >> another story we couldn't help but notice. a big announcement for "dancing with the stars." abc's chris cuomo now. >> tom delay, the former house majority leader, is a new member of the cast of "dancing with the stars." the question is will tiptoeing around partisan factions and pirouetting on policy points lead to a winning ballroom bounce? that is the question. >> well, then the mocking began. some of it funny, some of it snide. here is how the news played on a channel called msnbc. >> the hammer, them forehouse majority leader will shake his groove thing on "dancing with the stars." educated as such, our own contestant brewer showing off the dancing -- hold, hold on. hold on. hold on. >> all right. >> is it about time that a politician showed a lighter side here?

>> yeah. i mean look, "dancing with the stars" always has one or two people that you kind of are, you scratch your head and say hmm, jerry springer, but, you know, i think that the media went just as hard on rod blagojevich. i mean he was a democrat. so, and he -- when he wanted to be on "i'm a celebrity get me out of here" before the judge quashed it. i don't think anything partisan in the sneering. >> there was a good column on the subject in the "new york times" this week where gale tommens bemoaned the lack of quality of celebrities anymore. we have to reach out to former politicians. here is the show to get the ratings. dancing with your mistress. mark sanford and bill clinton on there and over the top, make millions. >> it sure would. cal, thanks. when we come back, we take one more break. here is what's up. >> when it comes to the media, new college freshmen may be clueless. details next on news watch. fema] the deeper you clean,

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