>> more on the family's infamous car trip. is campaign coverage going to the dogs? a breakthrough in the pulitzer prizes with the huffington price and politico winning the coveted awards. we'll talk about digital journalism with arianna huffington, and behind the scenes with north korea. abc's bob woodruff on reporting in that secretive country under the eye of government minders. >> wherever you go, they are there with you. you can go 20 yards away, 50 yards away, but not much beyond that. >> and whether the l.a. times should have published those possibly inflammatory pictures of american soldiers posing with mutilated afghan fighters. i'm howard kurtz, and this is reliable sources. zimplt mitt romney has done six cable interviews in the last four weeks. five of them with fox news. now he is the unofficial republican nominee, he is still keeping the national media at arm's length, still granting little access to the reporters who cover him, and now in an interview with bright bar tv accusing journalists of being in the tank for the other guy. >> those organizations that are attacking you are nonprofit and they're working with the campaign. hopefully we can call on you to -- or have you call on an investigation for them. >> i don't know how much is related to breaking the law and how much is this related to the fact that many in the media are inclined to do the president's bidding and i -- you know, i know that's an uphill battle we fight with the media generally. >> so what should he make of this more adversarial stance, and what about the recent reporting on romney's religion? joining us now in new york, ben smith, editor in chief of buzz feed.com xshgs here in washington jennifer ruben, author of the washington post right turn blog and bill press, host of current tv's full court press and his siriusxm radio show. romney hasn't been a big media basher. he was saluting the newspaper association of america, responsible, accurate, relevant press. now that he has taken this shot, does he risk further alienating the people in the press? >> you know, i think that old line about not alienating people who buy ink by the barrel is long gone. you see, it's almost part of politics now to attack the press. barack obama did it constantly in 2008. sneered at the cable news psych until particular, and i think for republicans right now to say to the press, i think it's almost part of the party platform that the press is biassed against you. >> jennifer ruben, romney has been doing a lot of intufrz with local television stations. can you run in a general election as opposed to republican primary mainly by dealing with the conservative media? >> to. i don't think so. actually, he hasn't been very friendly to the conservative media either. as you have written and i have written, he has had a hostile ri7. >> you interviewed him once. >> i interviewed hill once. many on the conservative side have interviewed him. it has been a mistake. i have written him throughout that he should be more accessible. he is a good spokesman for his own cause. >> why is he so wary of the press in general and even the conservative media in particular? >> i think this goes to the overall caution of the campaign, the desire not to make any mistakes, but i think by restricting him, it highlights each and every incident so if he makes a small mistake in one, it really stands out. if he did more of these, it would blend into the background. >> i think you're right. when you do so few, everyone becomes more of a tension-filled event, and bill press, reporters shouldn't treat romney any differently even though they're spending all their employer's money to fly with him around the country, and he barely does any press availability, but inevitably this is an undercurrent 6 resentiment, is it in snpt. >> i am sick and tired of all these politicians, all of them, whining about the media. give me a break. you know, first of all, i also want to say that romney has been treated poorly by the conservative employeed. joe scarborough says he doesn't know one republican that he talks to that thinks romney is going to win. now, that's not like helping his case. i mean, santorum and gingrich complain about fox. not so long ago they were on fox's payroll, and now mitt romney -- i think the truth is they all have gotten pretty fair treatment. better than they deserve in most cases. >> i would like to second that, and i have made that rant on this program as well that conservatives at least candidates whine about this way too much. they sound like victims. voters aren't interested in this. it's fine for all of us to critique and the media should be held to a standard, but for candidates themselves, i think it comes across as kind of whiney. >> can i point out, it wasn't a reporter who said the trees are just the right size in michigan. i mean, all of those things, they say them. >> he says sh some things that he probably wish he hadn't said. let me turn now to something that's been kind of below the radar. maybe it's now coming above the radar, and that is a focus on mitt romney's religion. i want to play for you a couple of clips, including an interview that he did do this week with a member of the mainstream media's diane sawyer. >> now that mitt romney is the likely republican nominee, he may need to begin talking about his mormon faith. it would help clear up some lingering questions about mormonism, a religion that still seems odd and ins lar to many. >> people think you're reluctant to talk about being a mormon. >> of course not. i don't think there's anyone particularly in the republican primaries that doesn't know that i am a member of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints. >> you say that new voices are demanding that romney talk more about his religion and particular lis his history of discrimination against blacks. isn't it basically the media that are demanding this? >> well, i think part of a presidential campaign is this kind of broad conversation about everything around the candidate. it's almost like this is where we talk about stuff, race and religion in america, and when people talk about a national conversation, much of it is the presidential campaign. i think this is a huge part of romney's life. he is a major donor to the church. he was a lay leader in the church. it's also, i think, there's all this nonsense about sinister mormon inch is floating out there. i don't quite nabbed how that's coming from. it's this great american religion that i think people are learning about, and i don't see -- i think the media's role is to explain it. i don't think romney has any moral imperative to do one thing or the other, but it is our job to cover him, write about him sort of in the fullness of who he is. >> yet, jennifer ruben, you describe this piece on buzz feed as an effort to portrait mormons as weirdly out of step and immodern, but as i mention, the author is a member of the lds church. >> i don't subscribe to the notion that people of a certain religion can't make mistakes or show intemporance are aeding their own faith. >> why was this a mistake? >> my concern about this piece was that it made a specific action. ann romney's decision to stay home a function without talking to her, without intufrg her, without contacting the campaign, a result of her mormon faith. then went on to cite chapter and verse of mormon ideology. making that inference is unfair. what moefsh ates mitt romney is fair game, but to junks that pose her views or his views and mormon theology i think is unfair and really not representative of what these people actually think and actually do in their public lives. >> well, interviews with ann romney are hard to come by, although i think jen did score one. this was -- this came after a week of largely inaction news speculation about ann romney's decision and what it all meant, and this huge missing piece of it had been that this is a church that very specifically values and to this day in its sort of orthodoxed central stream values women staying home and does it in a way that's different than others. it's a choice. it's an equal partnership. it's not a matter of subordination or submission. i think this was something i didn't know, and i was glad to read the story and learn about it. >> you know, i have to say, i think it's true. let's accept that all religions have weird beliefs, okay? i'm a catholic. can i tell you about the virgin birth, for example? i think we should in the media basically give all faiths a pass and not dwell on his mormonism, unless -- if i can -- i think that's where you are going. unless we nined find out his faith is dictating his belief on what public policy ought to be and if that is the case, with ann romney, we don't know it's the case. >> the first mormon president in the -- there is a focus his religion and a curiosity in the media about his religion that you simply wouldn't see if he was a garden variety krirch. >> i think that's right. >> i'm not saying that all morman -- >> there have been two very expansive pieces. one in the "new york times", one in the washington post his relationship with the church on his -- i think it was helpful at flushing out who he is. i do agree with bill that simply talking about the lit urgy of a religion, juxta possing that with a candidate and i think it's infaur and it does provoke this sort of i think religious intensity and this religious combativeness that we would be better off without. >> in a sense, i think it's parallel to john f. kennedy, the first catholic who had a serious shot. there's more focus on catholic simple and his relation. orrin hatch has been a good public servant wrsht harry reid has been a good public servant. they're both mormons. there's no reason mitt romney can't be a good president. >> have you gotten much pushback on this particular piece? >> we got some pushback notably. we also if you read the comment section of the piece had mormons saying this is a great piece. i'm going to use it in my sermon on sunday. >> i tease this at the top, but among the many topics chord in the interview that mitt and ann romney did with diane sawyer, was this one. >> we got two questions most often. fist about shameus, which is out there forever. would you do it again? >> certainly not with the intention -- >> you said it was the most wounding thing in the campaign so far. >> the dog loved it. >> i'm going to go back to ben smith on this one. this was 30 years ago, and i said a few months ago and it's perfectly amuse, but i hope it's not going to take over the campaign, but yet, the media keep -- i'm not going to keep metapho metaphors. why? haven't we had enough of this dog story? >> i mean, to me the basic point as i wrote the other day is if this is the worst thing mitt romney has done in his life, he is in pretty good shape. >> yeah. >> and conservatives -- >> which isn't to say it's not a fun running joke. >> you have been joking about it on twitter. i'll come to you in a second. conservatives now pointing to barack obama's memoir. he ate dog meat at the age of 9 when efg living in indonesia, and that is terrible, and that has been a way of barking at the president. >> i want to make a big confession right now, all right? when carol and i were raising our kids, there were times we left them in the car in the car seats and went in a restaurant and had dinner. we could get arrested for that today. i think what romney did with the dog was dumb. it was wrong. it was a different time. he ought to just say, boy, we would never do that again today, and ann romney should stop saying that shamus loves it. for conservatives to keep it alive by comparing what a grown man in america did to a 9-year-old did in indonesia in a different culture, i think, is absurd, and they're just keeping it alive. >> the media is spending more time on this than the buffett rule. >> it's insane. >> it is. >> i did a piece to try to lump all these stories, ted nugent and the dogs and eating the dog, the whole thing, and it really is a really terrible disservice to the public. it really -- >> is it hijacking the campaign? >> what is at fault? >> the media for covering these i had on theic storylines, for assuming that the small things tell says great big things about the candidates, which they don't. >> ann has to stop defending it and saying shamus loves it. >> i think we have -- the dog issue, one of the great issues in the country. when we come back, the new york tabloid that published a picture of an alleged prostitute in the secret service scandal and how the rest of the media are handling it. ool. the teacher that comes to mind for me is my high school math teacher, dr. gilmore. i mean he could teach. he was there for us, even if we needed him in college. you could call him, you had his phone number. he was just focused on making sure we were gonna be successful. he would never give up on any of us. >> fres has been all over the secret service prostitution scandal. there was the fest interview with one of the call girls that said one of the agents tried for stiff her. the coverage took an unusual defewer when new york's "daily news" published what it said was a picture of this alleged prostitute. you can see it t here. cnn is blurring out the woman's face. bill press, the scandal is about the secret service agents and what they did or did not do. not the prostitutes. would you publish those pictures? >> sure. >> why? >> first of all, this woman says she's not a prostitute. she says she's an escort, which means you can take her out to dinner first. it's more expensive. she's going to sue the secret service, she says, and one of her friends is saying you watch. she's going to be on the cover of "playboy" before this is over. she is -- >> her friend says. you are saying she has made herself part of the story? >> yeah, exactly. >> ben smith, now most tv news shows blurred the pictures, likedy there, but a couple of exceptions. cbs this morning, fox and fredz friends. they're all over the web. sfli think i agree with bill. she is very much part of the story. yeah, i don't see any problem with running the pictures. >> the contrast to me is what about the agents who are being accused of the misconduct? the washington post apparently is the first to naem a kch the agents, and it showed david chaern's facebook page which had a picture of the xait campaign and him standing behind sarah palin with the notation i was really checking her out, if you know what i mean? that prompted this response from the former alaska governor. >> this agent who was kind of ridiculous there in posting pictures and comments about checking someone out. well, check this out, bodyguard. you're fired. i hope his wife kicks his -- and sends him to the doghouse. >> translate that for me. i don't blame her for fighting back, but using an agent's facebook page, if he is dumb enough to do this in public, that give you any pause? >> he put himself out there. these guys are in a heap of trouble. they brought disgrace on a part of our government that ranks in very high esteem with the public that is known for its professionalism. these guys screwed up badly, and the pressure to report it. >> that was 2008. that was on his facebook page long before columbia, so where was the oversight on the secret service? somebody should have jump odd that guy and said, hey, wait a minute, this is not who we are. this is not professional. he got away with it. >> bhaets interesting is that the washington post this morning has an interview with a senior secret service supervisor, paul reid, who is said to have taken control of the situation, banished the agents from columbia during president obama's visit there. i think in an effort by the agency to kind of get out ahead of this story and show that it is aggressively investigating. i wonder, it this has gotten a lot of coverage. these people are charged with protecting the president. is the coverage in any way unfairly tarnishing the whole agency for the actions of a relative handful? >> it's not that relative a handful. this strikes me as the sort of thing for which an agency ought to be tarnished. this was the core team protecting the president in a foreign country doing something that i'm not sure if it endangered the president's life. it was certainly a huge embarrassment and was involved in their on duty, you know, in country actions. i would just add that creepy credit service name to which -- >> anyone disagree with the notion? >> no. >> a lot of people do their jobdz and don't go around -- >> i don't think it's tarnishing the reputation of the secret service. it's the worst thing that's happened to them in a long time. no more than the 11 military, let's not forget, who are being investigated and tarnishing the reputation of the pentagon. these are 122 individuals who acted mentally do you mean and deserve to lose their jobs, as far as i'm concerned. >> you mentioned ted nugent, the aging rock star, if i can still call him that, who made those comments about president obama and we have to charge the voting booth and chop their heads off. the secret service talked to him. do you think the media played that up a little toomp? >> a little bit. even the white house wouldn't jump on this one. they said, listen, we all have millions of supporters who say stupid things all the time, and i think we should begin to distinguish between people who are actually representatives or who have some standing in the political community and people who are just celebrities saying dumb things. >> of course, he is a celebrity. all right. thanks very much for joining us this morning. up next, arianna huffington on her website winning a pulitzer prize. is the huffington post getting more serious about journalism? ny starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil now and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. way to go, coach. ♪ splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweetener with b vitamins, the first and only one to help support a healthy metabolism. three smart ways to sweeten. same great taste. splenda® essentials™. and then treats day after day... well, shoot, that's like checking on your burgers after they're burnt! 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[ male announcer ] one pill a day. 24 hours. zero heartburn. adriana huffington, was this just a vanity project for her and her hollywood friends? the huffington post has grown into a monster and was bought by aol, and won its first pulitzer prize for a ten-pardon series. joining us now from los angeles, huffington president and editor in chief of the huffington post media group. welcome, and let me start by asking you, you know, it's only one prize, but it's a prestigious prize brsh do you see this as something of a breakthrough? >> well, it definitely is a breakthrough. it's something that we're grateful for. the newsroom was elated, and it means a lot both for huff post, for all our reporters and editors, but also for on-line journalism. it's a demonstration that great journalism can be practiced on any platform. in fact, what we showed with this ten-part series is you can bring in all the different elements that go into a great story on the web -- video, info graphics, commenting, the participation of our leaders. beyond the stories themselves we had dozens of contributions from families that read and very empowering stories because at the end of its story there was a whole list of things that people could do to help with that. >> i was going to ask you, david wood is somebody who spent most of his career in newspaperses and a ten-part series kind of feels and sounds more like something a newspaper would do than an on-line digital site. i'm wondering if you think in some ways that huffi