Howard Kurtz profile…
The New York Times’ Katherine Q. Seelye has a profile of Reliable Source’s Howard Kurtz. Seelye spends quite a lot of space examining Kurtz’s dual roles at The Washington Post and CNN and how that has led to the notion expressed in some circles that Kurtz has an inherent conflict of interest problem (a notion I subscribe to regardless of how impartial he tries to be)….
David Bohrman, vice president of CNN and Washington bureau chief, said that Mr. Kurtz was “as tough as anybody” on the network, adding that his dual roles at The Post and CNN served as a useful “check and balance,” because if he were “throttled or stifled at one place, he has another platform to get it out.”
Mickey Kaus, who is a blogger on Slate.com and a frequent critic of Mr. Kurtz, says that he has been an honest reporter and is equally tough on The Post and CNN, but that his dual positions create an inherent institutional conflict that exists regardless of how fair he may be and how much he discloses his various roles.
“The conflict is that he works for one of the giant corporations that he covers - CNN - and that corporation has made his career,” Mr. Kaus said. If he makes CNN mad, he said, it could hurt that career. “Len Downie is in denial about it,” Mr. Kaus added.Mr. Kurtz brushes off charges of conflict of interest and says the proof of his independence is evident in his work.
“The biggest conflict I face,” he said, “is writing about The Washington Post, which I do periodically and, I think, rather aggressively. I don’t think you can find a media writer in the country who has taken on his own organization as many times and on as many difficult issues as I have. And when I write about CNN, which I have also not hesitated to criticize, we disclose that at the paper.”
I prsonally think that whileMr. Kurtz is very good at what he does, he DOES NOT critic CNN in any way, shape or form. He was, in fact, the ONLY media critic who DID NOT WRITE A COLUMN or do any analysis or even mention the Anderson Cooper/Aaron Brown story on RELIABLE SOUCRES which was covered by EVERY NEWSPAPER. media blog and industry trade paper in the world.
One could think, if a cynic, that maybe his boss David Bohrman, had a hand in preventing him from doing so as Bohrman was and is a close friend of Browns’; co-created NewsNight with Brown and is now, as was written, the Washington bureau chief of CNN.
Kurtz, as good as he is, CAN’T SERVE TWO masters and still remain credible to many who read him and depend on him for critical and truthful discussion of what’s happening the the nws media and television.
He too has now found himself “the story” instead of being “the critic” and that, for me as a reader and watcher, is the first rule of what not to be.
Comment by anonymous — November 21, 2005 @ 12:44 pm
Hey Spud - I thought you would have pointed out to your readers that slate.com is owned by the Washington Post Co., and by interviewing slate.com employees to be critical of Kurtz without disclosing that fact, Ms. Seelye takes us down the wrong road.
Comment by Jake — November 21, 2005 @ 3:53 pm
Yeah but Kaus was criticizing Kurtz long before Slate was bought by the people who own The Post. But you make a good point that it should have been mentioned.
Comment by Spud — November 21, 2005 @ 4:04 pm