Howard Chats

Earlier today, Howard Kurtz held his weekly online chat where he covered such issues as NBC's decision to broadcast the tape of Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung Hui, the credibility of bloggers, and his own work ethic. Some excerpts: Bethesda, Md.: Was the outcry of the showing of NBC of the footage enough to make a news organization not do it again? Is there any possibility of lawsuits against NBC by any victims or families? Howard Kurtz: There's no possibility of a lawsuit. What law would NBC be accused of violating. NBC didn't even seek out this material, which arrived in its mailroom, but regardless, there's no legal question involved. You can't even say NBC jeopardized an investigation, since Cho was already dead and the Virginia State Police did not ask the network to withhold the material. As for the outcry, I am sure that any network in a similar situation would take it into account, not necessarily to deep-six such material, but to use it very sparingly. ... Rochester, N.Y.: Brian Williams recently complained (of bloggers): "All of my life, developing credentials to cover my field of work, and now I'm up against a guy named Vinny in an efficiency apartment." Am I the only one who finds that stunningly arrogant? What has Mr. Williams ever done to make us trust and respect him? What I know about him is: he's never broken a major story (we're not talking about Dana Priest or Bob Woodward here), he likes Rush Limbaugh, he's an employee of General Electric, and he never questioned the reports about WMD. Why shouldn't I trust Vinny as much as him? Howard Kurtz: Brian Williams is actually an avid consumer of blogs and writes a daily one himself. I think he was being a little tongue-in-cheek. But he also has made the serious point that while journalists, for all their flaws, pursue this as a profession, there's a pretty wide variation in the quality of blogs. ... Madison, Wis.: Howard, I am in awe of your productivity -- your books, TV show, daily column, weekly chat. What's your secret? Do you have a staff? Howard Kurtz: I have no staff (except of course for the excellent producers I work with at CNN; you can't put on a TV show by yourself). This is essentially a one-man operation you're looking at. Which makes it hard to blame someone else when something goes wrong. ... Reston, Va.: I'd like to echo Wisconsin. You are the Bo Jackson of covering the media through the use of multimedia. One request: Please don't start referring to yourself in the third person. Howard Kurtz: Howard Kurtz appreciates your comments and will do his best to live up to your expectations. He now has other commitments and is signing off.

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Howard Chats

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