Howard Kurtz provides a fast-paced, provocative and funny look at politics, media and culture from his unique vantage point as the nation’s top press critic. Offering an insider’s perspective from his tenure at CNN and Fox News, he can move from an in-depth look at the polarization and absurdity of Washington politics in Barack Obama’s second term, the Republican civil war and the Hillary Clinton obsession to the growing sensationalism, superficiality and mistrust of the mainstream media. Kurtz dissects controversies as they erupt in business, technology, sports and entertainment, examining how news is shaped and agendas pushed by print, television, the Web, Facebook and Twitter. As the author of the best-selling Spin Cycle, he brings the experience of a longtime Washington correspondent, fused with the sound-bite savvy of a cable anchor and the no holds barred approach of a Brooklyn-born blogger in taking you behind the headlines and the hype.

No one in America has done more than Howard Kurtz to expose the bias, sensationalism, superficiality, polarization, conflicts of interest and outright fabrications that have sent journalistic credibility into a tailspin. From disclosing the lies of the New York Times’ Jayson Blair to aggressively reporting on Dan Rather’s Memogate, the 60 Minutes Benghazi blunder, CNN’s Boston bombing mistake and many other debacles, Kurtz is the man who holds the media accountable. He looks at how liberal and conservative media engage in selective outrage and shape their own political narratives. Kurtz speaks with the authority of someone who has worked for major news organizations but has had the rare independence to call them out.

With nearly 300,000 followers on Twitter and Facebook, Howard Kurtz speaks authoritatively on how social networks have shattered the mainstream media’s monopoly on news—and why this is healthy. He says the old gatekeepers have lost their grip as millions of ordinary people now break news online, offer their own commentary and take the press to task. Kurtz explains how Twitter has had an enormous impact on the media conversation, but also ended a number of careers as pundits tweet garbage that they immediately regret. However, there is a dark side. As Kurtz details, social networks are also awash in misinformation and fiction that too often slip through the media filter—and journalists are regularly the target of racist, misogynist and hateful abuse.