{"id":304,"date":"2006-12-18T17:11:51","date_gmt":"2006-12-19T00:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=304"},"modified":"2006-12-18T19:42:42","modified_gmt":"2006-12-19T02:42:42","slug":"howard-kurtz-defends-his-own-kind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=304","title":{"rendered":"Howard Kurtz Defends His Own Kind"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his Media Talkback<\/a> online forum, Howard Kurtz takes questions from readers. Unfortunately, at least in this instance, he doesn’t actually answer them:<\/p>\n

Pennington, N.J.:<\/strong> Why do we keep having people who were wrong on Iraq giving advice on TV? MTP this week had a politician and two Times columnists who have been consistently wrong. Why not have Russ Feingold, Paul Krugman, and Bob Herbert who were and still are right.<\/span><\/p>\n

Howard Kurtz:<\/strong> If you banned pundits or politicians who were wrong about something from further TV appearances, the newscasts and talk shows would have a near-impossible time finding guests.<\/span><\/p>\n

Note to Howard:<\/strong> The questioner did not ask about or propose banning anyone from TV. This was a reasonble inquiry as to why there is such an abundance of bunglers being presented as experts. Your answer implies that it doesn’t matter if a pundit is a serial screw-up. Is it really too much to ask that TV commentators demonstrate an ability to correctly analyze the issues they are invited to discuss?<\/p>\n

Another questioner later asked much the same thing and Kurtz still didn’t comprehend, responding:<\/p>\n

Howard Kurtz:<\/strong> A majority of both houses of Congress went along with the president’s war resolution, and a majority of news organizations supported the war and the argument that Saddam had WMD. So you had an awful lot of people who were wrong. Some of the publications have run mea culpas, and some of the politicians — John Kerry and John Edwards leap to mind — have said they were wrong to support the war. But I don’t think anyone has completely been let off the hook. Both politicians and pundits have had to account for the stance they took in 2002 and 2003.<\/span><\/p>\n

Note to Howard:<\/strong> The fact that there were “an awful lot of people who were wrong”<\/em> only reinforces the need to identify the few who were right and to bring their superior analysis to the fore. Despite your assertion, I can’t think of a single pundit that has had to account for an erroneous stance, even though there were an awful lot of them. I am also unable to think of a single pundit that has been rewarded for having been correct. <\/p>\n

This illustrates one of the fundamental shortcomings of modern journalism, particularly the broadcast variety. The same faces are rotated throughout the TV schedule regardless of what they have to say or their credibility (or lack thereof). Once you’ve been admitted to the fraternity, you’re tenured and can rest assured that there is no professional lapse that will result in your removal. This creates an insular community that defends itself from outsiders and forgives its member’s failings. At the same time, it insures that diversity and dissent are dismissed, especially if it contradicts the established order.<\/p>\n

The question is really very simple, Howard. Shouldn’t those who are more frequently correct be invited back more often than the brain-dead, ideologically compromised, elite pundicrats that endlessly litter the television landscape? You know, all of your buddies?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his Media Talkback online forum, Howard Kurtz takes questions from readers. Unfortunately, at least in this instance, he doesn’t actually answer them: Pennington, N.J.: Why do we keep having people who were wrong on Iraq giving advice on TV? MTP this week had a politician and two Times columnists who have been consistently wrong. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-4U","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10515,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=10515","url_meta":{"origin":304,"position":0},"title":"Fox News Media Analyst, Howard Kurtz, Absolves Fox Of Its Sins","author":"Mark NC","date":"9\/6\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"When Howard Kurtz announced that he was leaving CNN to become a media analyst at Fox News, he said that... \"Fox wouldn\u2019t have hired me if it wasn\u2019t interested in my independent brand of media criticism. So, I\u2019m very comfortable that I\u2019ll have the freedom to criticize anyone I need\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29120,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=29120","url_meta":{"origin":304,"position":1},"title":"Fox News Scumbag Of The Week: Howard Kurtz, Trump Fluffer","author":"Mark NC","date":"7\/4\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"In a week that's seen various Fox News personnel take inane and\/or offensive positions on everything from the Supreme Court's decision on marriage equality (being the cause of floods in the capital) to the Charleston church massacre (being an attack on Christianity), a late entry to the contest sneaked in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fox News Howard Kurtz","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-kurtz-scumbag.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-kurtz-scumbag.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-kurtz-scumbag.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2804,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=2804","url_meta":{"origin":304,"position":2},"title":"NewsBusters: The Most Powerful Name In Stupid","author":"Mark NC","date":"9\/26\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"You know that you've reached new lows in stupidity when you make it necessary to defend CNN\/Washington Post media columnist Howard Kurtz. But Noel Sheppard, NewsBusters' Associate Editor, can hang his head in pride at having achieved just that feat. In an article \"analyzing\" a segment of Kurtz's Reliable Sources,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9965,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=9965","url_meta":{"origin":304,"position":3},"title":"Fox News Hires CNN’s Washed Out Media Analyst Howard Kurtz","author":"Mark NC","date":"6\/20\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Chalk up another acquisition by Fox News of an outcast from some other news network. As has been noted here at News Corpse, Fox \"seems to regard the discards of other networks as their richest vein of new talent.\" Today it was announced that Fox has scooped up CNN's media\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1477,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1477","url_meta":{"origin":304,"position":4},"title":"CNN’s Howard Kurtz On Glenn Beck, Fox News And Whores","author":"Mark NC","date":"11\/29\/2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Today on CNN's Reliable Sources, host Howard Kurtz raised an issue of obvious hypocrisy on the part of Fox News. The segment addressed an incident a couple of weeks ago when Rep. Alan Grayson referred to an aide to Fed chairman Ben Bernanke as a \"K Street whore.\" Fox News\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10747,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=10747","url_meta":{"origin":304,"position":5},"title":"To Fox News Lying Is Just “Providing Balance To The Rest Of The Mainstream Media”","author":"Mark NC","date":"10\/20\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week a major story broke about Sean Hannity interviewing three couples who claimed to have been harmed by the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare). However, an aide to the former governor of Montana contacted these alleged victims and published his account on Salon.com. 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