joining us from new york is james poniewozik, the author of "audience of one: donald trump, television, and the fracturing of america," and he is also a chief television critic for the "new york times." thank you for joining us. i want to begin with this moment from president trump's first cabinet meeting on january 10, 2018. listen to what he says as the cameramen and reporters enter the cabinet room. [video clip] pres. trump: welcome back to the studio. you heard the president say, welcome back to the studio. what do you make of that? guest: i'm sorry, i was not sure if it was a question. it is very revealing, in "the new york times," one of the political reporters reported early in the administration that president trump, who was not only a reality show, but a figure in many ways created by television throughout his advised his staffers to view each day of his ofinistration as an episode a reality show and which he defeat his enemies. i think very much the mindset of showas a production, as a of actual real-life locations as a set, that has not left him. i am not sure if the clip yo

new york times television critics james poniewozik's firstbook, thank you for joining us on book tv . >> on our author interview program "after words", research center founder and presidentbrett bozo argued the media is biased against presidenttrump . here's a portion of the discussion . >> talk about the pot calling the kettle black. isn't it a fascinating, how the media are constantly savaging the president for the language he uses while calling him a nazi, while calling him a fascist, while calling him every kind of despicable name. you could hurl at the president of theunited states . this is, again, this is one of the things that the findings of the book at all modicum of decency has been cast aside . the nerve of donald trump to his opponents and from his opponents to him, they call him far worse things. they are attempting to be far worse to him and that what they accuse him of doing for them. it's telling. i have no right. i have a right, you have rights, these folks have a right to pass judgment on donald trump's language . >> to watch the rest of this program, visit our webs

that's the these of this brand-new book by james poniewozik.tled "audience of one: television, donald trump, and the fracturing of america." the book is due out on tuesday and it takes a look at trump over the years. from peddling the art of the deal as a braggadocious businessman to his role as host on "the apprentice" for years and years and on to a recurring segment on "fox & friends." all of it meant to shape trump's public persona into something resembling, well, a president. so i sat down with poniewozik ahead of the book's release. >> because the guy on tv became president. that's the nutshell. our society had reached this place where it was possible that you could go pretty much directly from hosting a reality game show in prime-time on nbc to becoming the most powerful person in the world. and that happened that happened because of tv through tv. one change along with tracing television and tracing the history of trump as a tv character is that tv went from a three-network mass medium where you were to reach a broad audience and be bro

host: we are talking with james poniewozik who is the author of the new book "audience of one: donaldtelevision, and the fracturing of america." he is also the chief television critic for "the new york times." let's talk about what type of television appealed to president trump and how did it chase him? trump, while he has always had an intimate relationship with television, he has tended to be a figure of a particular kind of television. -- a creativegs medium on one hand, so scripted ,rama, comedies, and so forth and an art medium the broad lee speaking -- the art medium. news, shows like this, sports, things about presenting live images from one place to another. donald trump has always been much more a creature of that whether it is news, where there is talk, whether it is reality tv and pro wrestling -- these areas that are sort of nonfiction entertainment with artificial elements where there is a fuzzy boundary between truth and fiction. that is the kind of television that rewards confrontation, it rewards conflict, it rewards excitement. light ofget the red the camera focused o

is james poniewozik,