Howard Kurtz

This was not an easy book to read. The length of time it took me is indicative.

I remember the early days of the Obama Administration. The vast majority of commentators were extremely careful in how they worded what they had to say. To put it mildly, things have gone to hell in a handbasket since 2009 and they show no signs of letting up. We have a President now who communicates freely on the internet and we have a press that is willing to pounce on anything he says. In 2009, we looked at a President who seemed to be a lightweight. No problem. We've had them before and we have survived them. Now we have a distinctly adversarial relationship between the Executive and much of the press.

It would be wrong to say that Mr. Trump has not opened himself to much of the adverse press. Still, the press seems to be on a mission like no other mission it has ever undertaken.

One has to wonder how much more this Administration might have been able to accomplish to this point if there weren't so many distractions. That much has been accomplished is without doubt. Not everyone would agree with what has been accomplished but that's politics. The fact remains much has been accomplished. Mr. Kurtz' book recounts a large share of the distractions and that's what has made his book so difficult. The reporting is strong and it reminds us of too many events where the battleground has not been a debate about the President's policies but about him. Ordinarily, we would leave to historians the task of analyzing the 2016 election but, like the movie Ground Hog Day, we keep re-living the election over and over again.

Rather than taking the press to account about what they are saying now, one has to ask was it a good idea to be so enamored with Mr. Trump's opponent in the 2016 election. The press had pre-ordained her as President and it didn't happen. Perhaps a more traditional approach to covering the election might have produced a different result now. It is not for the press to tell us what we need but rather how we got to where we are.… (meer)

Howard Kurtz does not offer all that much that will be new to news junkies who have been paying attention for the last year or so, but "Media Madness" is a good summary of the media hysteria that has accompanied the election of Donald Trump to the presidency for those who haven't been glued to TV news all that much. Kurtz is quick to point out that Trump brings much of the hysterical coverage upon himself...often instigating it in order to draw attention from an issue he wants to push off "the front page." It works well for Trump, especially well, when the talking heads on the left, in their overwhelming desire to harm Trump's image at all costs, loose track of how silly they are making themselves and their employers look. Sadly, though, there are no real winners in this war between the media and the President because all sides look bad in the long run...which looks worse is often hard to decide, and is probably in the eye of the beholder anyway.

The most interesting thing for me in the book (because I knew the basic chronology of the war before reading the book), is Kurtz's revelations about how personal some of the attacks are, often based entirely on past history between the parties, old grudges, and what are to be perceived as personal spats. Most surprising was the relationship of the "Morning Joe" couple, Joe and Mika and Donald and Ivanka Trump. According to Kurtz, Joe and Mika kissed up to Trump and his daughter in a rather shameful attempt to gain an inside advantage of having access to an old friend in the White House. When things fell apart (as was bound to happen), Joe and Mika - and Trump - behaved like elementary school children having a spat on the playground. The book can do little to tarnish Trump's image because we all know what we get with Donald Trump, but it definitely tarnishes the image of Joe and Mika, two 'journalists" readers will find it difficult ever to take seriously again.

"Media Madness" is a pretty straight forward account of politics as we have witnessed it in the last year. While it's not exactly an eye-opener, it is worth a look from anyone wanting to "catch up" on what the shrill screaming is all about.… (meer)