Katy Tur Laments Too Many Media Outlets, Too Much Free Speech for GOP

Beware the Left when they start remembering when there was only "a handful of media outlets out there" that could control the public conversation, keep it within their comfort zone. 

On her Friday afternoon show, MS NOW host Katy Tur longed for the days when the liberal elite media had a monopoly on fact-checking politicians as she spoke with MS NOW legal analyst Andrew Weissmann about his new anti-Trump book, Liar's Kingdom.

The segment ignored the liberal media's history of neglecting to factcheck Democrats as the two focused on President Donald Trump and his supporters as the two conversed about how best to hold politicians accountable for deceiving the public.

Setting up the discussion, the MS NOW host posed:

And you're talking about something that we're really vulnerable to. And I don't know what the solution is. Part of the free speech in this country is that anyone can say anything, and that includes, to our dismay, our officials and the President of the United States. Tell me how he's using that and why it is so detrimental.

After Weissmann cited examples of legal actions being taken against Trump supporters like Rudy Giuliani and Paul Manafort on some issues, he lamented that, unlike other countries, there are not always enough legal actions that can be taken on other cases of deception. Tur followed up:

So what do you think it is? Is it that we were more idealistic when we founded this nation? The idea that we would have leaders that weren't -- they weren't corrupt kings or queens? We didn't have the history of that here. We were coming in, we were going to create something fresh and new, and the people that lead this country are going to be better than the old world? Is that part of the reason why we don't have it?

After noting that politicians are reluctant to regulate themselves, Weissmann then complained that there are too many alternative media sources:

... the world of the media has changed so much, and it's so balkanized that the old view, which was, "Don't worry, a false statement will be corrected by a truthful statement and it will come out in the wash" -- we are seeing that there's so many media bubbles that that idea isn't something that we really can live bit -- live by now.

Tur voiced agreement as she pined for the days when there were fewer news sources:

Yeah. Part of the benefit of having gatekeepers and there's all sorts of benefits -- and there's pros and cons here -- but part of the benefit of having the gatekeepers and only a handful of media outlets out there was that you -- politicians were held accountable for their public statements. They couldn't just do an end run around us on social media or Twitter, and then have that amplified by their own supporters masquerading as -- as journalists. We've lost that, unfortunately.

Weissmann concluded by warning that something must be done as he predicted that other politicians will emulate Trump in the future.

Transcript follows:

MS NOW's Katy Tur Reports

May 22, 2026

2:34 p.m. Eastern

KATY TUR: All right, Andrew Weissmann, you have a new book out. Let's discuss it. And you're talking about something that we're really vulnerable to. And I don't know what the solution is. Part of the free speech in this country is that anyone can say anything, and that includes, to our dismay, our officials and the President of the United States. Tell me how he's using that and why it is so detrimental.

ANDREW WEISSMANN, MS NOW LEGAL ANALYST: Yeah. So what I was looking at is this issue of why it is that we penalize some speech and not others. So political speech -- you are absolutely right -- we do not regulate that in a civil way or a criminal way. But let me just go over the ways, just really quickly, that we actually don't just say all speech is fine. If there is false speech -- not opinions, but false factual speech, you can be charged criminally and civilly in a whole variety of circumstances. I prosecuted Enron officials. The leaders of Enron made false statements about the Enron health of the company. They were charged criminally for that, and they were sued civilly. Roger Stone lied to Congress. Paul Manafort admitted that he lied to banks and to FBI agents, among others.

Roger -- Roger Stone, as I said, pled -- was found guilty lying. Rudy Giuliani was found liable for defaming Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss -- a false statement. E. Jean Carroll proved that our current sitting President defamed her, and that was found by a jury. So there's all ways that we say that kind of false speech, if found and after due process, is not protected by the First Amendment. And the question I had was: Why is it when -- let's just take the -- what I think is a big lie, which is that there was material fraud in the 2020 election, that there is no legal repercussions. And I sort of looked at the law here, and then I looked at law overseas to see how do other countries deal with that and found, remarkably, Brazil deals with it, England deals with it, France deals with it. Even some of the states in the United States deal with that issue. And so that's sort of the thesis of what I was addressing in this book.

TUR: So what do you think it is? Is it that we were more idealistic when we founded this nation? The idea that we would have leaders that weren't -- they weren't corrupt kings or queens? We didn't have the history of that here. We were coming in, we were going to create something fresh and new, and the people that lead this country are going to be better than the old world? Is that part of the reason why we don't have it?

WEISSMANN: You know, I think some of the reason that it could be -- I think some of it also was that the people who would make the laws are politicians, so they would be applying the law to themselves as opposed to drug makers and businessmen. And, as opposed to lying to Congress -- that's a crime -- but lying by Congress, that's not a crime. The other is that the world of the media -- and here, you know, it's odd that I'm telling you this, but, as you know, the world of the media has changed so much, and it's so balkanized that the old view, which was, "Don't worry, a false statement will be corrected by a truthful statement and it will come out in the wash" -- we are seeing that there's so many media bubbles that that idea isn't something that we really can live bit -- live by now.

TUR: Yeah. Part of the benefit of having gatekeepers and there's all sorts of benefits -- and there's pros and cons here -- but part of the benefit of having the gatekeepers and only a handful of media outlets out there was that you -- politicians were held accountable for their public statements. They couldn't just do an end run around us on social media or Twitter, and then have that amplified by their own supporters masquerading as -- as journalists. We've lost that, unfortunately. So is there a fix? I mean, you're talking about how politicians have to be the ones to institute this. We're still in that same boat. Is Donald Trump so egregious that -- that we're -- we could be on the verge of politicians holding themselves accountable?

WEISSMANN: Well, so, you know, that is a great question about whether there will be action taken. Where I am most hopeful is at the state level because when you look at what is happening in most of the states of this union, is they have taken action. So I'm from New York. In New York -- do you know -- if you are found guilty of any crime, any felony at all, you are automatically removed from public office, whether elected or not. There -- there are a whole variety of state laws that try to start addressing this issue. I am hopeful that what I'm thinking about is not what's going to happen now, because if you told me, you know, "Is Congress now going to do that?" there's no way.

But we are going to have to deal with this in the 250th anniversary of our country. We are not going to be in a position where, even if Donald Trump were not the President tomorrow, there will be many, many people who emulate his style and the success of how he has spoken to the public. And so I really think even if people don't agree with this idea that we have got to think our way out of this because we're in deep trouble, and there are real models for us overseas and at the state level as to how we might be able to resurrect and sort of have to take the intelligence community phrase to harden the target so that our democracy withstands the sort of assault of authoritarianism for another 250 years.

TUR: Andrew Weissmann, the book is called Liars Kingdom: How to Stop Trump's Deceit and Save America. Good read. Thank you very much -- necessary read -- Andrew, for being here. Appreciate it.