It’s extremely sad for those of us who truly liked Howard Kurtz’s writing and broadcasts to see the path he is taking — by design or accident. He is increasingly coming across as a classic “disgruntled” employee, taking potshots at people who freed him up to spend more time with his family (or other websites). First it was Kurtz versus The Daily Beast’s Tina Brown. Now he’s being widely condemned on Twitter for a report on the photos on the Facebook page of his former Washington Post editor’s daughter-in-law.
It sounds as if he’s moving swiftly to get on the same wavelength as some of the viewers who now see him on Fox News. But, more likely, it’s just that rather than find ISSUES to write about and things to comment about that don’t involve his former employers and editors, part of him simply can’t let it go.
The problem for Kurtz is increasingly many folks who admired it are going to let him go in terms of his credibility as a serious analyst.
But, then again, he has his new bosses at Fox News and colleagues such as Sean Hannity and direhard Fox News fans who’ll likely egg him on — as many of his former admirers egg him off.
PS: In answer to comments in advance: there are ZILLIONS of things to do Tweets, articles and commentaries on. It’s always wise to just move on from former employers and focus on those zillions of things to do Tweets, articles and commentaries on.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.