Howard Kurtz Joins the Daily Beast
The New York Times reports:
Howard Kurtz, a three-decade veteran of The Washington Post who came to embody insider Washington media reporting with his weekly column and CNN television show, is leaving The Post for Tina Brown’s news and commentary Web site, The Daily Beast.
It was a twist few in the media world saw coming, with Mr. Kurtz’s pride in his ink-stained heritage and Ms. Brown’s ambitions of upending the old media hierarchy. But Mr. Kurtz said the time had come to move on.
“After a lifetime in newspapers, I’m ready for the challenge of fast-paced online journalism,” Mr. Kurtz said in a statement posted on The Daily Beast.
His new position will be Washington bureau chief. Ms. Brown said he would lead The Daily Beast’s political and campaign reporting and write frequently on media and politics and their intersection.
Ms. Brown called his hiring an early birthday present for The Daily Beast, which turns 2 years old on Wednesday.
The move lends a visible and established name to The Daily Beast’s roster of younger bloggers. The Huffington Post’s recent hiring of Howard Fineman, the veteran former Newsweek correspondent, was a similar step: bringing in a seasoned political correspondent to a senior position in an organization that relies heavily on journalists who are early in their career.
Mr. Kurtz’s decampment was all the more surprising considering his reluctant embrace of the type of journalism that online news outlets like The Daily Beast often practice.
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