‘Not Journalism’ Fox’s Kurtz Rips Media for Wanting to Silence Trump

May 14th, 2023 4:07 PM

Fox News Channel’s MediaBuzz host Howard Kurtz used the opening monologue of his show to slam the leftist media for melting down over CNN hosting a town hall for former President Donald Trump. Proving again that those at media outlets like MSNBC, The Washington Post, New York Times and others want total subservience to the radical left-wing agenda, Kurtz even aired a clip of MSNBC’s resident racist demagogue Joy Reid who lashed out at CNN. 

“When CNN announced it was doing a televised town hall with Donald Trump, some critics, including MSNBC hosts, ripped the network. How dare CNN give the former president a forum to answer its questions,” Kurtz said opening the program. 

 

 

He then cut to the aforementioned clip of Reid and her faux Republican guest Charlie Sykes:

JOY REID: This is a pretty open attempt by CNN to push itself to the right and make itself attractive and show its belly to MAGA and to conservatives hoping that they will tune in.  

CHARLIE SYKES: Let's be clear about this, this is not journalism, this is entertainment. 

“So days before the program, days before CNN host Kaitlan Collins had asked a single question, these people were saying that Trump, a former President, and the leading candidate by far for the Republican nomination, should be barred from TV, banned, exiled, silenced because they just don't like him. But that's ludicrous,” Kurtz noted. 

He then made the obvious point that it’s not like Trump went unchallenged during the event, in fact, quite the opposite: “This wasn't a rally where he just gets to pop off. And whatever you think of Trump and his stormy tenure, shouldn't journalists question him as part of the campaign?”

“As it turned out, the town hall turned into an absolute train wreck, even many people at CNN being sharply critical. But the alternative, banning Trump from the airwaves, is suppression of speech, and that is not journalism,” Kurtz said. 

It’s not even like CNN was uniformly in agreement with their network’s decision to host Trump. The next night, primetime anchor Anderson Cooper had a meltdown over Trump being allowed on their airwaves. 

To read the transcript click “expand”: 

FNC’s MediaBuzz
5/14/2023
11:00:26 p.m. Eastern 

HOWARD KURTZ: When CNN announced it was doing a televised town hall with Donald Trump, some critics, including MSNBC hosts, ripped the network. How dare CNN give the former president a forum to answer its questions! 

[cuts to video]

JOY REID: This is a pretty open attempt by CNN to push itself to the right and make itself attractive and show its belly to MAGA and to conservatives hoping that they will tune in.  

CHARLIE SYKES: Let's be clear about this, this is not journalism, this is entertainment. 

[cuts back to live]

KURTZ: So days before the program, days before CNN host Kaitlan Collins had asked a single question, these people were saying that Trump, a former President, and the leading candidate by far for the Republican nomination, should be barred from TV, banned, exiled, silenced because they just don't like him. But that's ludicrous. This wasn't a rally where he just gets to pop off. And whatever you think of Trump and his stormy tenure, shouldn't journalists question him as part of the campaign? As it turned out, the town hall turned into an absolute train wreck, even many people at CNN being sharply critical. But the alternative, banning Trump from the airwaves, is suppression of speech, and that is not journalism.