Matt Gertz

Washington, D.C.

Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America

Senior Fellow at @mmfa. Views expressed here my own. Husband of @alyssarosenberg. Dad. Not the former GOP congressman, didn't pay for the blue check.

Articles

Fox attacks Scott Pelley for accurately describing Trump’s war on the press

1 month ago | mediamatters.org | Matt Gertz |Alicia Sadowski

The mainstream press’s purported Democratic partisanship and untrustworthiness is one of the pillars of Fox’s programming. On Tuesday and Wednesday, it was Pelley’s turn as the networks’ media hate object of choice.
Freedom of the press is about more than access

1 month ago | mediamatters.org | Matt Gertz

Two things are true about President Donald Trump’s relationship with the press: He takes a lot of questions from reporters, and he’s directing a wide-ranging and unnervingly effective effort to chill critical coverage by punishing news outlets and threatening journalists. The Politico’s flagship Playbook newsletter opened on Wednesday with a beat-sweetening item lavishing Trump with praise for the former while soft-peddling the latter.
Matt Gertz on Trump’s safe space: Fox News

1 month ago | publicnotice.co | Aaron Rupar |David Nir |Matt Gertz

On the latest episode of Nir & Rupar, our live weekly video show, David Nir of The Downballot and Aaron Rupar of Public Notice talk with Matt Gertz, senior fellow at Media Matters, the indispensable media watchdog organization. Matt sheds light on today’s right-wing media ecosystem, including:How two dozen people with Fox News on their résumés now occupy senior posts in the Trump administration.
DOJ’s “weaponization” plan B is to provide frothy content for right-wing conspiracy theorists

1 month ago | mediamatters.org | Matt Gertz

The Justice Department’s “Weaponization Working Group” is the fruit of a yearslong right-wing effort to portray federal law enforcement against Donald Trump and his allies as criminal in nature.
Fox’s comically pathetic spin for a foreign government gifting Trump a $400 million plane

1 month ago | mediamatters.org | Matt Gertz

Fox & Friends’ explanation for why it is acceptable for President Donald Trump to accept a $400 million plane from the Qatari government (which will reportedly convey to an entity he controls after he leaves office) is that this isn’t the first time a government has given away a plane. Really.
Opinion | Trump’s Fox News problem is setting Jeanine Pirro up for failure

1 month ago | msnbc.com | Matt Gertz

President Donald Trump is casting yet another Fox News regular for a top position in his administration. Trump announced on Thursday that he has selected Jeanine Pirro, co-host of Fox’s panel show “The Five,” to serve as interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. She is the 23rd former Fox News employee to date that Trump has picked for a high-ranking federal post in his second term in office. Trump is notoriously obsessed with Fox News’s programming.
Pirro's Fox Producer Said She's 'Nuts,/' So Trump Names Her Top D.C. Prosecutor

1 month ago | nationalmemo.com | Matt Gertz

Fox News host Jeanine Pirro is so unhinged that the network took her show off the air following the 2020 election out of (subsequently confirmed) fear that she’d use it to launder deranged conspiracy theories about the results.
Jeanine Pirro’s Fox producer thought she was “nuts.” Trump just named her DC’s top prosecutor.

1 month ago | mediamatters.org | Matt Gertz

Fox News host Jeanine Pirro is so unhinged that the network took her show off the air following the 2020 election out of (subsequently confirmed) fear that she’d use it to launder deranged conspiracy theories about the results.
Five ways MAGA media are spinning Trump’s poll collapse

2 months ago | mediamatters.org | Matt Gertz

President Donald Trump’s zealous propagandists have been unable to come to terms with his increasing unpopularity, instead offering a range of pathetic excuses for his cratering poll numbers. Surveys conducted for The New York Times, CNN, Fox News, and other news organizations in preparation for the 100th day of Trump’s administration .
Trump White House Escalates War On The Press

2 months ago | nationalmemo.com | Matt Gertz

President Donald Trump is ramping up his assault on the press, opening new avenues for federal retribution against outlets which displease him as his administration prepares to mark 100 days in office. Trump has long railed against journalists as the “enemy of the people,” used the power of the state as a cudgel against the industry in his first term, and promised more of the same in his second.