Veteran media reporter Howard Kurtz is joining the Fox News Channel on Monday, July 1, to serve as the anchor for a new version of the “Fox News Watch” Saturday program that has looked at media issues.
“I’m excited to be bringing my independent brand of media criticism to Fox News,” Kurtz stated in an article in the New York Times. “The chance to create a revamped program and establish a strong online presence was too good to pass up. I hope to add a new dimension to Fox’s coverage and have some fun while diving into the passionate debates about the press and politics.”
Michael Clemente, executive vice president of news for the channel, announced that the former reporter for the Washington Post newspaper, the Cable News Network and the Daily Beast website will also serve as an on-air analyst for a variety of programs throughout the week.
In addition, Kurtz will write a regular column on FoxNews.com, in which he'll discuss social media news, industry trends and breakthroughs, and looking at how media are used in politics.
While making the anouncement, Clemente sated:
Howie is the most accomplished media reporter in the country. He's also a master of social media trends, information good and bad, and a veteran political reporter. Altogether, he will add even greater depth to a very accomplished team of reporters and anchors.
Kurtz has had a lengthy and occasionally rocky career. He joined the staff of the Washington Post in 1981 after being hired by Bob Woodward, and he left the newspaper 29 years later in October of 2010 after serving in such posts as a national affairs correspondent, Washington, D.C., bureau chief and media reporter.
While still working at the Post, the analyst became the host of “Reliable Sources" -- CNN's Sunday media criticism program -- from 1998 until Monday, when Kurtz stated:
I want to thank CNN for giving me such a prime opportunity over the years and was tempted to continue.
In October of 2010, he joined the staff of the Daily Beast news and opinion website until early May, when he was fired after writing an article the staff said “contained several errors, resulting in a misleading characterization” of National Basketball Association player Jason Collins, in which Kurtz accused the center for the Washington Wizards of not being forthcoming about the sportsman's fiancée.
Kurtz's arrival means that Jon Scott, the weekly program's current anchor who won an Emmy for his writing on NBC’s “Dateline,” will move to the specials unit, where he will serve as an anchor.
