Kurtz statement stunning

Caught a rerun of Glenn Beck’s recent interview with Howard Kurtz on CNN Headline News (LINK).

Beck was attempting to get Kurtz, a media critic with The Washington Post and host of CNN’s “Reliable Sources” to condemn statements made by MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, who, in my opinion, is not afraid to speak truth to power.

Olbermann had made comments in a Playboy interview that Rupert Murdoch and his Fox News were as dangerous to America as al Qaeda or the Ku Klux Klan.

I have absolutely no argument with that.

This exchange took place in a Beck segment on “media bias” and how it might be hurting our troops in Iraq. As Kurtz began to point out that others, like Beck himself and Bill O’Reilly, are paid for their “opinions,” Beck was spouting, “Hang on! Hang on!” “Bull crap!” and “That’s not true, Howard!” – and claiming, if you can believe this, that Olbermann masks his program as “news.”

Kurtz, whose own bias often bleeds through while discussing media bias, said he did not approve of Olbermann’s “over the top” remarks, adding Olbermann is “very talented” and his remarks were “beneath the kind of erudition I would expect from him.”

Kurtz’ next statement is absolutely stunning:

“I think the argument that I've heard Olbermann make in the past about Fox News - it's not an argument that I embrace - is that, because it poses as a news organization and puts out dangerous misinformation …”

Beck interjects, “But, that's what he's doing!

Kurtz continues, “ … and is a cheerleader for the Bush administration, that it's misinforming our society. But, you know what? They’re entitled to that.”

Here is a man who makes his living posing as a media watchdog saying Fox News is ENTITLED to be a cheerleader for Bush and misinform our society – while presenting itself as a “fair, balanced and unafraid” legitimate news outlet.

I never learned that in Journalism 101!

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A brief post follows.