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CNN Host Fired From His Online Job for ‘Sloppy Reporting’ on Jason Collins Story

May 2, 2013  •  Post A Comment

A media critic and reporter who hosts a CNN show was fired today from his other job over what’s being called “sloppy reporting on pro basketball player Jason Collins’ coming out,” Deadline.com reports.

Howard Kurtz, who hosts “Reliable Sources” on CNN, got the boot from his reporting job with the Daily Beast, the piece reports.

Daily Beast Editor-in-Chief Tina Brown tweeted: “@TheDailyBeast & @HowardKurtz have parted company… We wish him well.”

“At issue was that Kurtz reported wrongly that Collins hadn’t made public he was once engaged to a woman — when he had,” Deadline reports. “This didn’t seem to rise to the level of a firing offense.”

But it may have just been the last straw. Kurtz reportedly tweeted: “This was in the works for some time… But as we began to move in different directions, both sides agreed it was best to part company.”

Kurtz was the longtime media critic for The Washington Post until taking a buyout in 2010, the report notes. It adds: “He has done double duty [with] the CNN media show since 1988. In the past Kurtz has come in for criticism for writing about CNN and hosting the show.”

Kurtz’s job at CNN is reportedly safe at this time, the piece notes.

howard-kurtz.jpgHoward Kurtz

2 Comments

  1. Excellent News!….and clearly still no hope for CNN waking up.

  2. Kurtz erred by disobeying the preferred reading of the story, i.e., Collins showed bravery. Kurtz’s reporting thus did not fit the template, a mortal sin in major news organization that seek to shape opinion rather than report events. The media do not want much made of possible martial engagements or how how Collins lied to some woman for 8 years. That might diminish Collins’ so-called bravery.

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