Howard Kurtz was let go from the Daily Beast and Newsweek for his factually incorrect Jason Collins column last week, but was allowed to stay at CNN. In his first episode of Reliable Sources since the mistake, Kurtz spent 15 minutes of his show apologizing and taking heat from critics on journalism standards.
The longtime media critic got in hot water for his column that originally criticized Collins for not revealing that he was once engaged to a woman in his Sports Illustrated essay, in which Collins came out as gay. Of course, Collins mentioned his engagement in the essay and on Good Morning America. When alerted to his mistake, Collins edited the piece to still go after Collins for not making a bigger deal out of the engagement. The Daily Beast ended up retracting Kurtz’s column and they “parted ways.”
However, he did get to keep his CNN job and the network promised that he would apologize Sunday, which is exactly what he did.
“I apologize to readers, to viewers and, most importantly, to Jason Collins and his fiancee,” Kurtz said, reports Entertainment Weekly. “I hope this very candid response can help me earn back your trust over time. It is something I am very committed to doing.”
Kurtz admitted to a long list of “sloppy and inexcusable” journalistic errors, including not contacting Collins first. He also said that he read Collins’ essay too fast.
According to Politico, NPR’s David Folkenflik and Politico’s Dylan Byers, both media critics themselves, did not stop at just the Collins piece. They also questioned Kurtz about his relationship with Daily Download, a site he also contributes to.
“In a video where I discussed the issue I wrongly jokingly referred to something that shouldn’t have been joked about,” he said about a video he did for Daily Download. He also said that he has no financial stakes in that site and that he is paid as a freelancer. Daily Download also apologized for Kurtz’s Collins remarks.
Here is the complete segment from Sunday: