Media Watchdog Poynter Jabs Howie Kurtz For Touting Ratings Supremacy Over Brian Stelter
Tom Jones, the senior media writer for journalism watchdog Poynter, weighed in on the demise of CNN’s Reliable Sources on Monday and took a subtle, but hard-hitting jab at Howard Kurtz – the former host of Reliable Sources who now hosts a media show at Fox News.
Kurtz over the weekend covered the announcement that CNN’s new president, Chris Licht, canceled Reliable Sources — laying off the entire staff, including longtime host and media reporter Brian Stelter.
“Chris Licht, the new president of CNN, made clear when he took over in the spring that he wanted less extreme partisanship for the network, a return to its roots, and that makes sense,” Kurtz said on his Sunday media show MediaBuzz.
“The problem is: after six years of bitterly anti-Trump and relentlessly anti-Fox programming, CNN had surrendered that reputation, and it had plenty of company in the business,” Kurtz added before taking a jab at Stelter’s ratings.
Jones quoted Kurtz’s remarks in his analysis:
When you have two media shows going head-to-head and the one with less than half the ratings gets taken off the air, that might be considered part of the story. (‘Reliable Sources’) had been my show. I helped build that franchise, and I was very proud of being fair to conservatives, liberals, independents and everyone else. It was a different era at CNN.
Fairness is the brand I brought here. Not everyone wants balance, they just want you to be on their team. But I believe we’ve shown there’s a loyal audience that grades fairness over partisanship. So now, there’s only one media analysis program on national television, and you’re watching it.
Jones, who is a frequent critic of Fox News, then offered his take on Kurtz’s program. “As a media observer, I also tune in regularly to MediaBuzz. I rarely quote it in my newsletter. There’s a reason for that,” Jones concluded.
Stelter hosted the final episode of Reliable Sources on Sunday and commented on how rare it is for a network to allow a departing host a final live episode to opine as they please. Stelter thanked Licht and offered only kind words for CNN, but did appear to take one subtle dig at the more non-ideological direction Licht is reportedly looking to take the network.
“I know it’s not partisan to stand up for decency and democracy and dialogue. It’s not partisan to stand up to demagogues. It’s required. It’s patriotic,” Stelter said, adding:
We must make sure we don’t give platforms to those who are lying to our faces. But we also must make sure we are representing the full spectrum of debate and representing what’s going on in this country and the world.
