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Media Madness: Donald Trump, the Press, and the War over the Truth Hardcover – January 29, 2018

by Howard Kurtz (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars 426 ratings
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"The mainstream media’s obsessive hatred for President Trump outruns his anti-media fixation by a country mile, argues this evenhanded and incisive study of press relations with the Trump administration."

-Publishers Weekly

"‘Defiance Disorder’: Another new book describes chaos in Trump’s White House"
–Ashley Parker, Washington Post
According to the media, Donald Trump could never become president. Now many are on a mission to prove he shouldn’t be president. The Trump administration and the press are at war—and as in any war, the first casualty has been truth. Bestselling author Howard Kurtz, host of Fox News’s Media Buzz and former Washington Post columnist, offers a stunning exposé of how supposedly objective journalists, alarmed by Trump’s success, have moved into the opposing camp.

Kurtz’s exclusive, in-depth, behind-the-scenes interviews with reporters, anchors, and insiders within the Trump White House reveal the unprecedented hostility between the media and the president they cover.

In Media Madness, you’ll learn:

  • Why White House strategist Steve Bannon told Trump he is in danger of being impeached
  • How the love-hate relationship between the president and Morning Joe hosts—Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski—turned entirely to hate
  • How Kellyanne Conway felt betrayed by journalists who befriended her—and how she fought back
  • How elite, mainstream news reporters—named and quoted—openly express their blatant contempt for Trump
  • How Bannon tried to block short-lived Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci—and why Trump soured on him
  • How Ivanka and Jared Kushner aren’t the liberals the pundits want them to be—and why Trump tried to discourage them from joining the White House
  • Why Trump believes some journalists harbor hatred for him—and how some liberals despise his voters
  • How Trump is a far more pragmatic politician than the press often acknowledges (and how the press dismisses his flip-flops when he flops their way)
  • What Trump got wrong about Charlottesville—and how Steve Bannon predicted the debacle
  • How the media consistently overreached on the Russian “collusion” scandal
  • Why Trump actually likes journalists, secretly meets with them, and allows the press unprecedented access
  • Why Reince Priebus couldn’t do his job—and the real reason he left the White House
  • How Sean Spicer privately berated journalists for bad reporting—and why he and Kellyanne Conway were relentlessly attacked by the media


Never before has there been such an eye-opening, shocking look at what the White House and the media think about each other. It’s not pretty. But it also makes for the most important political book of the year.

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  1. Print length
    256 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Regnery
  4. Publication date
    January 29, 2018
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1.1 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1621577260
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1621577263
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Howard Kurtz is the host of Media Buzz, bestselling author of Spin Cycle and other books, and a former columnist for the Washington Post and bureau chief for Newsweek. A graduate of the State University of Buffalo and the Columbia School of Journalism, he has written for Vanity Fair, New York, and other magazines and newspapers, and is a former host at CNN. He lives near Washington, D.C.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Regnery
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 29, 2018
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1621577260
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1621577263
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.05 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.1 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 out of 5 stars 426 ratings

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Howard Kurtz

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
426 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book well-researched and insightful, providing a balanced approach to the media's coverage of Donald Trump. Moreover, they appreciate its fair perspective, with one customer noting how it illustrates what happened behind the scenes. However, the journalistic integrity receives mixed reactions, with some praising it as real journalism while others criticize it as fake news. The readability and value for money also get mixed reviews, with some finding it well-written while others disagree, and one customer describing it as a complete waste of money.

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40 customers mention "Readability"40 positive0 negative

Customers find the book readable and well-written, with one customer noting it is well-researched.

"This is a superb book that I highly recommend to everyone, especially journalists and politicians...." Read more

"...Attkisson’s “Smear” and Howard Kurtz’s “Media Madness” are two important books that provide objective insights into the state of journalism today...." Read more

"...It would be a great book for the participants to read as well." Read more

"...It is a real page-turner. Once I started, I had a hard time putting it down. I look forward to a sequel which includes more recent events." Read more

32 customers mention "Insight"32 positive0 negative

Customers find the book extremely insightful, providing a great factual review that gives them a good understanding of the subject matter.

"...Howard Kurtz analyzes this phenomenon in prose that is fast-paced and compelling, and his insights are unique because he is not beholden to either..." Read more

"...Attkisson’s book is a serious investigative effort and is the far better read...." Read more

"...Howard makes an unbiased analysis, calling out all sides...." Read more

"Interesting read. I'm a Kurtz fan...." Read more

6 customers mention "Fairness"6 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's fairness.

"...Impartial and revealing, it shows a press corps way too eager to get something into print. It's for real political junkies, not the casual reader." Read more

"Howie is a very good writer, and a very fair and evenly balanced commentator. How do I know this?..." Read more

"Howard Kurtz ia very fair person and writes as he sees it. A lot of inside information is in the book which makes it interesting." Read more

"Howie Kurtz is a GREAT author and an honest guy...he tells it like it is!!" Read more

4 customers mention "Look"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's balanced perspective on the media.

"A very balanced look at the media versus President Trump. He is not blameless...." Read more

"This is a well-written and fair look at how both the anti- and pro-Trump media have returned to the good old days of political partisanship...." Read more

"A thoughtful and insightful independent look at the media battles of our time." Read more

"Great balanced view." Read more

3 customers mention "Balance"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the balanced approach of the book.

"This was a fairly balanced account of Trump's war with journalists, in a battle that difficult to take a hard look at...." Read more

"...It was a balanced approach." Read more

"Cautiously Fair and Carefully Balanced..." Read more

23 customers mention "Journalistic integrity"12 positive11 negative

Customers have mixed views on the book's journalistic integrity, with some praising it as real journalism while others criticize it as fake news.

"Journalism is in my blood...." Read more

"...Descriptors include ideological camps, abnormalized journalism, disdain, derision, revulsion, hostility, and suspended objectivity with bubbles of..." Read more

"This was a great read! Somehow Howard Kurtz has done real journalism and put together a complete behind-the-scenes view of the last year's media..." Read more

"Mostly filled with excuses for Fox news and a general indictment of "the media" as a whole...." Read more

13 customers mention "Readable"9 positive4 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the readability of the book, with some finding it well written and readable, while others disagree.

"...Nonetheless, Kurtz is a pleasant, flowing, concise writer.........digestible text, clear paragraphing, and chapters that one can handle comfortably..." Read more

"This is a well-written and fair look at how both the anti- and pro-Trump media have returned to the good old days of political partisanship...." Read more

"...Misreadings like this detract from the book overall and make it a frustrating read as Kurtz gives rare examples that are meaningful..." Read more

"...This is an INTERESTING op-ed on a highly visible, extremely opininated and vocal "person of interest" to all Americans. OMG!..." Read more

7 customers mention "Value for money"0 positive7 negative

Customers express dissatisfaction with the book's value for money, describing it as a waste of money with numerous errors.

"...Sometimes bad stories are bad stories and the author doesn't really help his cause by reporting on reporters using the same hyperbole of which he..." Read more

"This book is not worth reading. The author has a one-note symphony, insisting that the press is being unfair to Donald Trump...." Read more

"...This book is of limited appeal." Read more

"The errors in this book are numerous---what kind of mickey mouse publishing company is this? Not much in the way of proof reading...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Rick Newcombe
    5.0 out of 5 stars Clear-headed analysis of a real mess
    Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    This is a superb book that I highly recommend to everyone, especially journalists and politicians. I am writing this review as someone involved in the media business, having started my career as a reporter for UPI in 1974 and, since 1978, as a person responsible for syndicating political columnists and editorial cartoonists, and I have never been so surprised and confused by the obvious hatred that exists between a president and the media."Hatred" is not an exaggeration. Howard Kurtz analyzes this phenomenon in prose that is fast-paced and compelling, and his insights are unique because he is not beholden to either political side. If you see this book as a defense of Trump, then your anti-Trump bias is blinding you, and if you see this book as a defense of Washington journalists, then your pro-Trump bias is blinding you. I write this after reading some of the reviews on Amazon, where one reviewer says the book is an apologia for Trump and another says it is a defense of the media establishment. I loved this book and found it helpful in sorting out political stories coming out of Washington in this historic time.
    33 people found this helpful
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  • Thomas M. Loarie
    4.0 out of 5 stars Fake News, Smears, and the Failure of Modern Media’s Stewardship of Honest Reporting
    Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Journalism is in my blood. My grandfather was editor of the Chicago Times and then served as Executive Editor of the Chicago Sun-Times after the Times was acquired by Marshall Field Enterprises. My mother followed in his footsteps with a local newsletter, SCOOP, which focused on the actions of our local village board (Deerfield, Illinois). Our dinner table was frequented by reporters from the local, regional and national papers, and a Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist, HerBlock, who went to school with my parents.

    My grandfather would often sit with me and take me through a newspaper to show me good journalism and bad journalism (look at the use of adjectives and adverbs!). He was emphatic that opinion pieces belonged not in the news section but on the editorial page(s). The job of a journalist was to report the facts and let the reader draw their own conclusions.

    Despite today’s claims and concerns with the pervasiveness of “FAKE NEWS,” poor journalism has been around since “Yellow Journalism” had its heyday in the late 19th Century. Yellow Journalism was a style of newspaper reporting that emphasized sensationalism over facts. It sells and its purveyors find it very profitable.

    The depths to which journalistic standards have fallen today can find its roots Watergate, after Washington Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein garnered national attention for their investigative reporting. The investigative reporter became the story and with it, fame and big money. More recently, the slow death of the print media (Facebook and Google sucked away the advertising that supported reporting and fact-checking), the ubiquitousness of social media making reporters and commentators of us all, and the rising need for clicks and page views in a crowded information marketplace have taken journalism and with it, the credibility of mainstream media to new depths.

    Sharyl Attkisson’s “Smear” and Howard Kurtz’s “Media Madness” are two important books that provide objective insights into the state of journalism today. Attkisson’s book is a serious investigative effort and is the far better read. In it, she meticulously reports on how the news media has allowed itself to become co-opted by political, corporate and other special interests. She provides great detail on how political operatives have been invited into the newsroom as consultants then as reporters, anchors, and managers. Boundaries (the proverbial “Chinese Wall”) that separated news from opinion have evaporated. Intermingling is not only tolerated, it’s encouraged.

    Attkisson exposes smear secrets, its financial underpinnings and its unchallenged path into mainstream media stories. “The smear artist specializes in character assassination driven by passion, ideology and money. It is profitable…making people rich. It has become our biggest global export.” She goes on to note that the smear is equally happy to be the tool of the government, corporations, special interests, and both Democrats and Republicans.

    Kurtz plays it straight down the middle. He offers straight reporting on the recent Trump-related-madness of the media that draws from a wide array of reporting and commentary from newspapers, magazines, networks, websites and social media. He believes that the fundamental values of journalism have gotten twisted with the normal rules of balance and “attempted” objectivity being suspended…dismissed as a relic. Kurtz has harsh words for his profession and believes that the media has become tribal with news sources serving as a personal badge of partisan political ideology.
    “The press’s attempt to normalizing Trump’s presidency has led to abnormal lying journalism…Perhaps the greatest offense is the distain and derision, if not outright revulsion that seeps into so many reports and segments about the president. This spills into the culture as well.”

    Social psychology shows that people tend to spread falsehoods when they feel obligated to have an opinion about something they know little about – and when they feel they are not going to be challenged on it.

    When people hear a false claim repeated even just once, they are more likely to let it override their prior knowledge on the subject and believe it. This is called the “illusory truth effect,” which shows that repeated statements are thought to be truer than statements heard for the first time. . It’s easier to process information the second time you hear. It is also time-consuming and difficult to access our previous knowledge, so we often go with information that is close enough. This is a concept promoted by activist Saul Alinsky.

    We must be vigilant.
     We must do our homework and be open to hear opposing sides of an issue.
     We must be skeptical and analytical in our thinking. A lot of our problems today are because many people do not take the time to think as they ought to and are prey for misinformation.
     Check the source. Why is this person telling me this? What does this person have to gain?
     If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. We suffer from confirmation bias and believe something that conforms to what we already think or want.
     Ask questions. Why do you think like that? How do you know that to be true?
     Don’t trust your gut. People who pause and think about whether information is true are better able to detect false information.
     Seek evidence. Facts don’t lie…but check them to make sure they are real.
     Pay attention to people who discount evidence. This is a big red flag.

    Smears and the present media madness stem from those who want to win arguments, gain status, and get money to get what they want. Language is used to bend and twist the world into delivering what they want. It is an attempt to manipulate and influence others.

    Fake news is not external but internal. It persists because we allow it. We need to be better stewards and demand that those who deliver the news do the same. Archbishop Charles J. Chaput notes that “honesty needs protection of those who recognize its value and commit themselves to good stewardship.”
    17 people found this helpful
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  • Laura Freed
    5.0 out of 5 stars If You Can Handle The Truth - This Book Is For You.
    Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Mr. Kurtz has been trying to clue in Americans (for many years) how journalists have been used - and have willingly participated in government power struggles. This book is extremely timely with the Release The Memo movement (soon to be a released memo?). Anyone following the Release the Memo timeline and watched CNN NOT jump on this story when it broke on 1/18/18, and then Schiff and Feinstein sending threatening memos to facebook and twitter, telling them that the #releasethememo hashtag is being promoted on by Russian Bots (it's not) and asking to repress those people is really starting to understanding exactly everything Kurtz explains in Media Madness. And watching CNN's Chris Cuomo spout the same nonsense only crystallizes how media has nothing to do with truth and everything to do with status. With so many distractions (who is telling the truth, who do we believe?) - this book will help you understand how the media operates, distracts, and how to wade through "madness."
    112 people found this helpful
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  • T. Conrad
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great read - suddendly the past year's chaos makes sense!
    Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    This was a great read! Somehow Howard Kurtz has done real journalism and put together a complete behind-the-scenes view of the last year's media coverage of Donald Trump, from both inside the White House and inside the media companies. The book is well organized and easy to follow. I was familiar with many names in the White House, but didn't understand the big picture. Howard makes an unbiased analysis, calling out all sides. The inner workings of President Trump's inner circle starts to make sense - they largely declared war on the media. You also see the media being not only biased, but vindictive. You had to realize that there was a story to be told here and Howard's book captures it nicely. No matter your political persuasion, you would enjoy making sense of the previous year's apparent chaos. It would be a great book for the participants to read as well.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in Canada on February 25, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Really good read ...........there really is a lot of fake news out there!!!
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  • Oscar F
    3.0 out of 5 stars Hay mejores libros y estudios sobre Trump
    Reviewed in Spain on February 2, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Libro relativamente interesante punto Donald Trump ha generado tanta información que es difícil encontrar un libro con novedades.
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  • User Amazon
    5.0 out of 5 stars Pleased with my product
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 15, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    Arriver in good shape, no stains no damage. Please with the purchase
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    User Amazon
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    Pleased with my product

    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 15, 2020
    Arriver in good shape, no stains no damage. Please with the purchase
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  • Eric
    3.0 out of 5 stars It was no great shakes. I don't know what I was thinking ...
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 8, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    I just finished the book about 1/2 hour ago. It was no great shakes. I don't know what I was thinking when I ordered a book by a Fox newsman.
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  • Kindle Customer
    2.0 out of 5 stars Mr Kurfz attempts the impossible.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 3, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Mr Kurtz attempts to pull off the impossible - writing a book mildly critical of the the current White House while his head is firmly up Trump's rectum alongside Piers Morgan's. It seems the mainstream media isnt just at fault for not anticipating the Orangeman's win but for everything Donald J subsequently did. Not an enlightening book.
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