Howard Kurtz Read the Jason Collins Story 'Too Fast'
Howard Kurtz used his CNN show Reliable Sources to explain why and how that debacle of a Daily Beast article where he accused Jason Collins of being dishonest happened. He said he "carelessly" missed the most important detail he framed his story on during his apology.
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Before being grilled by Politico's media reporter Dylan Byers and NPR's David Folkenflik, Kurtz took a moment to address the issue of his Collins piece and subsequent firing from the Daily Beast. "I read [the Sports Illustrated essay by Jason Collins] too fast and carelessly missed that Jason Collins said he was engaged previously to a woman and then wrote and commented that he was wrong to keep that from readers, when I was in fact the one who was wrong," Kurtz said in his mea culpa. "My logic about what happened between Jason Collins and his former fiancee and what was and wasn't disclosed, in hindsight, well I was wrong to even raise that issue," he added.
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Kurtz said he also regretted not contacting Collins to request a comment, and that he regretted not retracting the article immediately once it was pointed out that the whole premise was wrong. "I apologize to readers and viewers and most importantly to Jason Collins and to his ex-fiancee. I hope this very candid response will earn your trust back over time. It is something that I am committed to doing," he said.
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Later in the show, Kurtz faced tough but ultimately unremarkable questions from Byers and Folkenflik about whether or not he should continue as the host of CNN's media criticism show. For better or worse, regardless of what they think, he will. CNN's standing behind him through all of this. Kurtz said his "amicable divorce" with the Beast was simply "unfortunate timing," that had been in the works for some time.
