Filed under: Journalism, Scandals, CNN, Washington Post, Howard Kurtz, Gawker
Maggie Shnayerson, a new Gawker associate editor, is alleging that the Washington Post’s media critic Howard Kurtz plagiarized portions of his new book, “Reality Show: Inside the Last Great Television News War.” In her analysis, she centers on an excerpt from the book that appeared on the Drudge Report on Sunday:
That excerpt recounts a discussion between Dan Rather and ‘60 Minutes’ executive producer Josh Howard that took place on the eve of the airing of the controversial piece that would end Rather’s career at the network. Kurtz’s story was treated as big news—but the substance, and some of the language as well, was no different from New York Press editor-in-chief David Blum’s 2004 book, “Tick… Tick… Tick..: The Long Life and Turbulent Times of 60 Minutes.”
The meat of the Drudge-worthy news from Kurtz was that Rather said he’d take his items to the Times. But Blum had published that in his book:
Kurtz writes, “The night before the story was tentatively scheduled to air, Rather was sitting at the anchor desk, with less than half an hour before the start of the Evening News.”
…Rather’s discussion with Howard was over prime-time promotion of the piece. Both Kurtz and Blum write that Howard told Rather the piece might not even run, considering it hadn’t been vetted by CBS lawyers, nor had a call been made to the White House for contact.
Kurtz writes, “That was not the answer Rather wanted to hear.”
Blum’s own follow-up sentence, written three years previous? “This wasn’t what Rather wanted to hear.”
Shnayerson’s charges, no doubt, are weighty, although, as she notes, she did once work for Blum at The Village Voice.
Still, Kurtz, who also hosts CNN’s Reliable Sources, has been compelled to defend his work:
“I’m told the Rather incident was in the paperback of Blum’s book, which I never saw,” Kurtz told Big Head DC via e-mail this morning. “Good for him for getting it first, but if anyone picked it up it escaped my notice. I got the information firsthand from Josh Howard. I’m a fanatic about giving credit, which is why my book is filled with footnotes.”
