CNN's Howard Kurtz Hosts Show Trial Against Himself Over Collins Error

CNN Reliable Sources host Howard Kurtz, who this week parted ways with Tina Brown’s Daily Beast, featured a full-on show trial of himself. The journalistic mea culpa came after Kurtz made the mistake of writing a column about NBA player Jason Collins’ coming out that featured the cardinal error of stating that Collins had not been totally truthful about his long-time relationship with a woman. Collins had in fact mentioned in Sports Illustrated that he had been engaged to a woman.

“I apologize to readers, viewers … and Jason Collins,” said Kurtz on air. Dylan Byers of Politico and David Folkenflik of NPR handled the grilling. Kurtz said, “It was a mistake that I made and it was sloppy and inexcusable.”

Then Byers grilled Kurtz on his history of errors, including falsely claiming he had interviewed Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) when he had actually interviewed an aide, attributed a quote to Nancy Pelosi she hadn’t said, and gone after Fox News’ Greta Van Susteran for supposedly questioning Hillary Clinton’s health, when Van Susteran was defending Hillary. Byers finally asked, “If you were looking at yourself, what would you say about that journalist’s credibility?” Kurtz punted on the question, finally saying he “would like it to be viewed in the full context o my career.”