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Howard Kurtz
It’s been common knowledge for years that the Washington Post, the House the Graham and Bradlee Built, has long since descended into neocon cesspittery with the rise of Fred Hiatt and the exile of Dan Froomkin. What’s not quite common knowledge is how it got there.
The rot began with the slow demise of DC’s other longtime daily paper, the Washington Star, in the 1970s. The Star, which at the time was considerably more conservative than the Post, had a number of persons who would find themselves looking for new jobs at other papers as their old jobs and old paper faded away. Among those that wound up at the Post or Newsweek, its sister publication: Fred Hiatt, Michael Isikoff, and Howard Kurtz. My comments are focused on the last of these named gentlemen.
Mistah Kurtz spent his time at the Post aiding Hiatt in shoving the paper towards the right end of the spectrum, and away from the journalistic excellence upheld by Katherine Graham. Kurtz is now working for CNN, but the husband of longtime conservative Republican operative Sheri Annis is still out there trying to shove those Overton Windows rightward, as in this recent piece where he mocks Obama and Gore for pointing out the power wielded by Kurtz’ friends in the right-wing media.
Tell ya what, Howie: Name me three factually-challenged dirty tricks by right-wing spewmeister James O’Keefe III that you and your colleagues DIDN’T latch onto and amplify. Just three.
Heck, we won’t even look into the archconservative garbage spewed by your good friend Rush Limbaugh, who you’ve spent the past decade trying to paint as normal and “mainstream”.
Face it, Mistah Kurtz: You’re the modern version of William Safire, except you’re nowhere near as polished.
Photo by David Shankbone under Creative Commons License
4 Comments
Mistah Kurtz, he not dead.
I occasionally surf by Kurtz’s pretend media criticism show which CNN airs on Sunday mornings. I really don’t know what to say beyond the obvious: Dude’s a clown, straight-up. Kurtz wouldn’t know media criticism if it came up and bit him on the ass. (Hey Howie: Prove I’m wrong.)
It’s going to be interesting to see how (or if) the three cable infotainment outlets react when Al-Jazeera fires up its US operation later this year. In theory, the presence of competition which features actual real news might force the other three freak shows to up their games. (Yeah, I had a little delusional spell…but I’m over it now.)
Nice piece, PW. More media criticism would be a good fit for FDL. Like shooting fish in a barrel…
Mitah Kurtz as been passing his brand of “shit on stick”as jounalism for years.
” Kittenball Kurtz ” asks the questions behind the questioners, questions. He analizes and, his guests size up, the analysis of the nation’s top reporters’ analysis. God, that’s an awful lot of anal-checking ( in less than an hour ) even for the Washington Post and Mr. Kurtz. Poor Howie, maybe Bob and Sally could lend him a latex gloved hand.