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Howard Kurtz Profile

Anchor and media analyst Howard Kurtz has had a varied career. The former CNN and Washington Post reporter, currently serves as host of Fox News Channel’s MediaBuzz, and is highly known for his in-depth looks at bias and shortcomings of journalists and media organizations.

Kurtz has received multiple awards for his work in media, including the National Press Club Award for Media Criticism in conjunction with his work on CNN’s weekly media criticism program, Reliable Sources, which he hosted from 1998 to 2013. Kurtz explored the standards, performance, and biases of the media, questioning journalists of top news organizations, including those at CNN.

Prior to that, Kurtz spent 29 years at The Washington Post in various capacities. Hired by Bob Woodward in 1981, he served as a Justice Department and congressional reporter, New York bureau chief and deputy national editor. In 1990, he became the paper’s media reporter and wrote the weekly Media Notes column, one of the most widely read media columns in the country.

Kurtz is an outspoken proponent of incorporating social media into journalism, stressing that platforms such as Facebook and Twitter serve as important channels for communication and interaction with readers.

  • View Extended/Alternate Bio
      • Howard Kurtz was the Washington Bureau Chief of

    The Daily Beast

      • where he led the website’s reporting in the capital and on the campaign trail. He was also the host of CNN’s

    Reliable Sources

      • , the weekly program that won a National Press Club award for media criticism and has appeared on programs from

    60 Minutes

      • to

    Good Morning America

      • to

    Nightline

      • . He also worked as a reporter and columnist for

    The Washington Post

      • where he wrote the daily Media Notes blog for the paper’s website.

    Kurtz is the author of five books, most recently Reality Show: Inside the Last Great Television News War. His book Spin Cycle: Inside the Clinton Propaganda Machine was No. 2 on The New York Times best seller list, and Media Circus has been a college textbook for more than a decade. Kurtz has also covered the Justice Department and Congress for The Post and served as the paper’s New York bureau chief. He has written for such magazines as Vanity Fair, The New Republic and New York.

Howard Kurtz Speaking Videos

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Howard Kurtz's Speech Descriptions

For more than two decades, no one has analyzed or challenged media bias like Howard Kurtz. With over 30 years in the field, the renowned journalist is unmatched when it comes to openly and objectively discussing the inner workings of the industry that influences our perception, understanding, and opinion of the events unfolding around us. Kurtz delivers informative and interactive programs touching upon issues such as the rise of social media in the news world, the evolution and future of journalism, and how the press’s portrayal of different figures and issues shapes real world outcomes.

    Political Showdown
    Howard Kurtz examines the polarized coverage of the 2016 campaign, from Hillary Clinton’s animus toward the press to Republican candidates accusing journalists of gotcha questions to the circus atmosphere surrounding Donald Drumpf. He looks at how bias, superficiality and sensationalism with an insider’s eye based on his anchor role at Fox News (sparring with the likes of Bill O'Reilly and Megyn Kelly) and past experience at CNN, The Washington Post and The Daily Beast. From the growing power of Twitter to the shrinking sound bites of the evening news, Kurtz illuminates how the Obama administration’s war on the press has emboldened today’s candidates to try to neutralize a news business suffering from its own credibility crisis.


    The New Age of Blogging and Twittering


    While others decry a Wild West environment where anyone can say anything, Kurtz applauds the technology that empowers ordinary citizens and breaks the stranglehold of the establishment media. Journalists dismiss this movement at their peril, while consumers must learn to navigate this universe of insta-news and perpetual punditry by sorting facts from rumor and slander.


    The Collapse of the Mainstream Media

    The old journalistic establishment is dying from a series of self-inflicted wounds: arrogance, inaccuracy, blandness and the failure to adapt to a digital revolution that is slowly strangling newspapers. A reporter who predicted that newspapers faced irrelevance in the early 1990s, Kurtz offers a cold-eyed analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the YouTube age and whether print publications can survive.


    Why Liberals Now Hate the Press


    After decades of conservative distrust, the media are now feeling the heat from disgusted liberals who see journalists as part of a corporate elite that abetted the Iraq war, coddled the Bush administration and are undermining the Obama White House. Kurtz explores the vitriolic atmosphere, the shortcomings of the press, and how some partisans on both sides are more interested in demonization than fairness.


    My Journey on Facebook and Twitter


    In this presentation, Kurtz examines how he became active on Facebook and Twitter and wound up with over 300,000 Twitter followers. He discusses how these social networks, especially Twitter, have become an important source of breaking news; given more influence to ordinary folks to distribute and comment on news; how network anchors and other media hotshots are trying to tap into the culture and share more of themselves; and how it′s also become a land mine that has ended some journalistic careers.

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