HOWARD KURTZ (HOST): Are the media using these cases -- and there's another suit by a former Apprentice contestant that's been allowed to go forward by a judge charging Donald Trump with defamation -- to sort of pile on Trump about what he did? And of course there's a real aspect now, but what he did in his days as a celebrity businessman and beauty pageant owner in contrast to Bill Clinton who had sex with a White House intern while he was in office. Are the media rather gleeful in covering these stories?
EMILY JASHINSKY: That's actually the exact word I was going to use. And it doesn't take away any of the validity of the stories, but I think sometimes there's a lack of perspective that is exhibited by the media in covering these stories, which is unfortunate because there's some serious stuff -- you know, potential campaign finance violations to get to the heart of -- and it can take away from that.
KURTZ: And Leslie, there's been a real contrast, CNN and MSNBC have covered the Stormy Daniels very extensively. In fact, Stephen Colbert joked about Anderson [Cooper] should change the name of his show to “Anderson Cooper 36 DD.” And Fox has covered it far less. Who do you think is closer to the mark, in half a minute, of fair coverage on this?
LESLIE MARSHALL: Well, quite frankly even though I work here and I'm on the payroll, I would have to say Fox because, as Emily pointed to, there are other issues that are just as serious. But of course the other networks are going to go for what their audience wants, and they certainly want ratings. And quite frankly, Monica Lewinsky did very well for the networks many years ago during the Clinton presidency, so I'm not surprised.
KURTZ: Salacious topic, to be sure.
