May 3, 2013

"Kurtz had a string of high-profile mistakes on his record and that had become a source of embarrassment for The Daily Beast."

And "he commanded a hefty paycheck, despite turning out fewer scoops than in the past," write  Dylan Byers and Katie Glueck, citing anonymous sources at the Daily Beast and CNN.
“People here have been groaning about Howie for years,” a source at CNN said. “He’s like the Dick Morris of media critics — just shoddy and out of the game.”...

“It became clear to folks here that Howie had a lot of other commitments, and that that wasn’t working,” a Daily Beast source said....

Despite having his own show on CNN, Kurtz has dedicated much of his recent time to a new venture: a website called “The Daily Download,” where he regularly appears in video segments with the site’s founder and editor Lauren Ashburn. That preoccupation seems to have taken a toll on Kurtz’s attention span and focus....

”What would I go to this site for? As another place Howard Kurtz does his able thing on the week’s media news? Okay, but why does he need that? And why do we? He’s got the Daily Beast and CNN: plenty of platform,” Jay Rosen, the New York University journalism professor, wrote in an email to POLITICO. “Daily Download resists understanding.”
"Resists understanding" is a nice phrase.

48 comments:

TosaGuy said...

So why is this supposed to be interesting?

Henry said...

“People here have been groaning about Howie for years,” a source at CNN said. “He’s like the Dick Morris of media critics — just shoddy and out of the game.”...

Who are the other media critics?

And why aren't there more of them?

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

That's why it's called show business and not show friendship.

Dante said...

It's like being arrested for probation violation because you made a video that could be blamed for Bhengazi.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I binged Lauren Ashburn and the first hit was a video discussion with Kurtz entitled "Lauren Ashburn: Sleeveless Anchor Dresses Are Stylish, Not Sexy."

That doesn't help much with the ditz-factor but she certainly seems like she'd be a pleasant person to be around.

Must make a lot of money, would be my guess.

SteveR said...

Howie probably lived off some good liberal cred from some prior shots at FNC or Rush Limbaugh. Which went along nicely with having worked at WaPo. Like Dick Morris who got right wing cred for bashing HRC and otherwise saying what he thought his niche audience wanted to hear.

It only goes so far and too much focus on your own business ventures is risky.

rhhardin said...

I don't recall anybody being fired and then disparaged except from a lefty organization.

It's the scapegoat mechanism, probably. Sins are heaped on the goat.

I'd advise Fung Shui next, then the harmonious arrangement of cabbage, Kim Chi.

Matt said...

Meanwhile Drudge fell for an Onion like story about Mayor Bloomberg being denied pizza.

And some stupid conservative woman said that the Age of Enlightenment and Reason lead to... The Holocaust.

Wow.

SteveR said...

@rhardin Don't forget to take some Chai Tea to your Tai Chi.

traditionalguy said...

Kurtz has run afoul of a perfect death panel of pretend friends.

The word is that Kurtz is lazy, self serving and boring according to unnamed insiders that want his job.

machine said...

"...like the Dick Morris of media critics — just shoddy and out of the game.”...


Ya burnt again el douche...

TerriW said...

I binged Lauren Ashburn and the first hit was a video discussion with Kurtz entitled "Lauren Ashburn: Sleeveless Anchor Dresses Are Stylish, Not Sexy."

And this is the reason MS will never get Bing verbed like Google. I keep expecting "and purged" afterwards.

Known Unknown said...

Matt is squirrel hunting, if anyone is interested in tagging along.

Ann Althouse said...

"Meanwhile Drudge fell for an Onion like story about Mayor Bloomberg being denied pizza."

It's so obvious that the little man Bloomberg would not want a second slice of NY pizza (those slices are large).

That said, The Daily Currant isn't funny enough for it to be ludicrous to think one of those stories is real.

Ann Althouse said...

"And some stupid conservative woman said that the Age of Enlightenment and Reason lead to... The Holocaust."

What demonstrates deep feeling about the Holocaust better than using it as ground to stand on when you deliver another kick in that ass to a conservative?

Matt Sablan said...

Meh, Drudge fell for a phony story about pizza. Remember how many people fell for a phony story about a bombing in the White House when the AP got hacked?

Or, are we not playing media stupidity one-ups-manship any more?

edutcher said...

One word

Sure.

As I say, welcome to the party, pal. Mr Steyn will be your grief counselor.

machine said...

...like the Dick Morris of media critics — just shoddy and out of the game.


Ya burnt again el douche...


More like the machine of commenters.

Morris was right. He just didn't anticipate vote fraud on that level.

test said...

edutcher said...
Morris was right. He just didn't anticipate vote fraud on that level.


Are you angling for the 'garage mahal of the right' brand? Does that seem desireable in some way that escapes me?

edutcher said...

The "election" was stolen. And I think the day's going to come when I am vindicated in that view the same as I've been vindicated on the WMDs in Iraq.

If so, then Morris was right in his prognostication.

Matt Sablan said...

I think the biggest thing that threw people off was the lower turn out; nothing was stolen. We just expected less of a political depression in turn out.

Baron Zemo said...

Does this mean that Howie has a thing for Tina Brown's feet?

Sam L. said...

"Resists understanding" is a nice phrase.

Yes, it tells me that the one who says it resists any effort to understand something.

I'm thinking Kurtz had no powerful and influential friends to prevent him from being treated as a used Kleenex(TM).

test said...

edutcher said...
The "election" was stolen.


Saying whatever you think delegitmizes the other side regardless of its clear detachment from reality doesn't seem to work for garage either. It just makes him a ridiculous waste of space. Give it up.

Brian Brown said...

Matt said...
Meanwhile Drudge fell for an Onion like story about Mayor Bloomberg being denied pizza.


Um, and then what ______?

Matt Drudge isn't a media critic on CNN.

What is your point supposed to be?

Brian Brown said...

Do you think Howie Kurtz is sitting around thinking about how open minded and tolerant liberals are right about now?

Matt said...

Ann
A kick in that ass to a conservative?
Or
A kick in the ass to a conservative?

Anyway, a view that the Enlightenment = Holocaust is certainly trivial since it is merely an opinion. But the conservative 'logic' that leads to such an opinion is troubling because it denies the very real history that lead to the Holocaust. Notably anti-semitism, which didn't derive from the intellectual concepts advocated during the Age of Reason.

edutcher said...

Matthew Sablan said...

I think the biggest thing that threw people off was the lower turn out; nothing was stolen. We just expected less of a political depression in turn out.

But that would have worked against Choomie. They were very worried about that enthusiasm gap.

Marshal said...

The "election" was stolen.

Saying whatever you think delegitmizes the other side regardless of its clear detachment from reality doesn't seem to work for garage either. It just makes him a ridiculous waste of space. Give it up.


I don't give a damn about "delegitmizing the other side". they do that to themselves every day and have been doing so for 50 years.

My view on the "election" is my evaluation based on the available facts.

If you'd prefer, I can bring up all the times I've knocked down machine's regurgitation of the standard Lefty talking points - WMDs in Iraq, who's responsible for the '08 Crash rather than the election.

That's "delegitmizing the other side".

Either way, deal with it.

Brian Brown said...

Anyway, a view that the Enlightenment = Holocaust

That isn't what the woman said.

Why can't you people criticize what people actually say?

Joe Schmoe said...

When Dissent Becomes Heresy: The Howard Kurtz Story

Brian Brown said...

This is good:

“Well, I think it was the suggestion that he had attempted, in a way, to take the earth-shattering significance of the occasion — that we had here some pristine, gay trailblazer, and that Howie Kurtz had somehow attempted to muddy that picture, and so had taken away from this iconic gay moment that was so iconically gay in all its fabulous iconic gayness, that the president of the United States took time off from not doing anything about Syria, and not doing anything about Benghazi, and not doing anything about the Boston bombers, and not doing anything about anything else, to personally call this guy and congratulate him on his courage and heroism in becoming the first, if I understand it correctly, I think he’s the first American to proclaim himself openly gay,” Steyn added. “And that is a historic moment.”

test said...

edutcher said...
My view on the "election" is my evaluation based on the available facts.


Really? Why don't you point us to these available facts? Just to give you an idea you'd need to flip FL, OH, VA and NH. So there would have to be 430k fraudulent votes in those states.

CWJ said...

Shorter version of post: Dorothy throws water on wicked witch. Munchkins rejoice. Say they always knew witch was wicked. Hope Dorothy is satisfied with their loyalty.

damikesc said...

Anyway, a view that the Enlightenment = Holocaust is certainly trivial since it is merely an opinion.

Woe be it to me to question where the description Amanda Marcotte gave to the incident might not be, you know, entirely accurate or within a context. I'm sure the person only spoke for a sentence or two and left immediately.

Note: No link to a transcript of what was said...

YoungHegelian said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
YoungHegelian said...

And some stupid conservative woman said that the Age of Enlightenment and Reason lead to... The Holocaust.

The only thing that's different here is that it's a conservative bashing the Enlightenment from a Christian viewpoint, when generally it's the Lefties who do it.

Critiquing the Enlightenment and its hegemonic discourse of universal reason is all in a day's work for the Post-modern left (e.g. Foucault). The critique of the Enlightenment started during the Enlightenment with Rousseau, and through him there has always been a strain of anti-Enlightenment in the Left. It just was buried under the weight of Marxist ideology. But as Marxist rigor lessened, the old qualms from Rousseau have come to the fore.

So, the Po-Mo lefties don't say the Enlightenment caused the Holocaust, but they do say it causes racism, sexism, homophobia, and western imperialism.

Oh, and by the way, speaking of blaming the Holocaust on the Enlightenment, remember that scene in Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man where he reaches down and grabs a handful of soil at Auschwitz and then proceeds to blame the Holocaust on Hegel! I sure as hell do....

Oh, but it's those stupid Christians again, eh?

edutcher said...

Marshal said...

My view on the "election" is my evaluation based on the available facts.

Really? Why don't you point us to these available facts? Just to give you an idea you'd need to flip FL, OH, VA and NH. So there would have to be 430k fraudulent votes in those states.


There's about 4 or 5 months' worth of my citing facts on the matter in the back posts.

Feel free to look.

But, yes, only a handful of votes in a handful of states. Did you know 300,000 OH votes weren't even counted on election night? How about the various poll workers caught flipping votes? Then, of course, there are the "voters" bused in from out of state and the voting machines that flipped every tenth Romney vote to Obama.

Nothing to see, move along....

But, you might want to ask yourself, is your objection that they wouldn't do it or couldn't do it?

And you can get as exercised as you want. That's your business.

machine said...

"Morris was right."


...said no one....ever.

machine said...

...but el douche...


machine said...

...and he fell for the Onion story about WMDs in Iraq...

Mission Accomplished!

edutcher said...

machine said...

Morris was right.

...said no one....ever.


They did after the '10 elections.

And I do believe they will again.

...and he fell for the Onion story about WMDs in Iraq...

Mission Accomplished!


You mean the story where I beat the mindless automaton's ass with the WikiLeaks scandal showing they were there, the one where the 2-in-C of Saddam's air force agreed they'd been moved by the Russkies into Syria, or the one where the Canucks had bought all of Saddam's old yellowcake?

That story?

ya burnt?

PS Anybody who thinks the current Administration incapable of pulling a Chavez in this country ought to reflect on the fact we now know there were 2 ready reaction forces that could have gone to Benghazi, but Barry and Friends just sat there and let 4 men die.

Another story where I whipped the mindless automaton's ass.

test said...

edutcher said...

There's about 4 or 5 months' worth of my citing facts on the matter in the back posts.

I recall six months of claims it was stolen, zero links to evidence supporting those claims.

But, yes, only a handful of votes in a handful of states.

The 430k figure has already been cut down to those states.

Did you know 300,000 OH votes weren't even counted on election night?

So they were counted the next day? Make a claim that matters.

How about the various poll workers caught flipping votes? Then, of course, there are the "voters" bused in from out of state

A few poll workers and activists were caught. There's no doubt some fraud ocurred. None of this is evidence of fraud sufficiently large to change the outcome.

and the voting machines that flipped every tenth Romney vote to Obama.

Sure this hapenned, it's just that no one followed up.

I thought you were just making this claim to piss people off, but I see I gave you too much credit.

machine said...

fyi, InfoWars and Newsmax are not legitimate sources of information...

campy said...

We have always been at war with Howard Kurtz.

edutcher said...

machine said...

fyi, InfoWars and Newsmax are not legitimate sources of information...

A Who says I got anything there?

B Who died and made the mindless automaton Minister of Information?

(village idiot, we know...)

edutcher said...

Marshal said...

There's about 4 or 5 months' worth of my citing facts on the matter in the back posts.

I recall six months of claims it was stolen, zero links to evidence supporting those claims.


They're there, you must be blind or incredibly lazy.

Or in the tank.

But, yes, only a handful of votes in a handful of states.

The 430k figure has already been cut down to those states.


All well and good. Just proves my point.

Did you know 300,000 OH votes weren't even counted on election night?

So they were counted the next day? Make a claim that matters.


Try several weeks. And not counting them that night matters. Look up the election of 1980.

How about the various poll workers caught flipping votes? Then, of course, there are the "voters" bused in from out of state

A few poll workers and activists were caught. There's no doubt some fraud ocurred. None of this is evidence of fraud sufficiently large to change the outcome.


In and of itself, but it all adds to the picture.

and the voting machines that flipped every tenth Romney vote to Obama.

Sure this hapenned, it's just that no one followed up.


Well, who cares then?

My God, your rebuttal is as lame as some phony folksy's - ignore anything you can't answer and say the rest doesn't matter.

ed said...

@ SteveR

"@rhardin Don't forget to take some Chai Tea to your Tai Chi. "

And if you go out later for some dim sum and your waiter's name is Juan ask before tipping with yuan.

Ann Althouse said...

@matt

The ass

Not that ass

Sorry

MayBee said...

And yet The Daily Beast was happy to highlight Kurtz's Obama- explaining articles. They almost always had a featured link on the page I was visiting (Megan McArdle).