This Week's Kurtz Chat

Earlier today, Howard Kurtz held his weekly chat over at washingtonpost.com where he discussed such things as Dana Priest's popularity, Ann Coulter's CPAC "f-bomb," and Howie's love for readers. Some excerpts: Brooklyn, N.Y.: Hi -- can Dana Priest write your entire paper? Her articles are so inspiring because she acts like a real journalist. There are so many shameful examples of the current state of journalism and their fear of the Bush Administration. It's so amazing that she's not afraid and actually does her job on behalf. I'm amazed by her because my cousin was wounded on Thursday when his Kiowah helicopter made a hard landing in Kirkuk. He is now on his way to Walter Reed. Because of Dana's work, we are very hopeful that he was be treated properly. Howard Kurtz: I'm sorry to hear about your cousin. The reporting by Dana and Anne Hull touched a nerve for a number of reasons, but one is: no unnamed sources, no bureaucratic leaks, just plain, old-fashioned sitting with people and trying to evaluate their stories. How often does reporting like this quickly lead to the ouster of the general in charge and the Army secretary, as well as the congressional hearings which began today? ... Ann-ulment: I'm a conservative, and I can tell you that the grass roots is getting pretty tired of Ann Coulter. She's gone through a cycle of (1)can-you-believe-she-said-that giggles of delight, to (2)sticking up for her first real bonehead statements, because she's intelligent and witty, to (3) getting so tired of her attention-grabbing bonehead-on-purpose statements that she's just an embarrassment. So how does this stack up against what Bill Maher said about about how a dead Dick Cheney would save lives? Howard Kurtz: I'm not familiar with that Maher comment, or joke. But I do find the conservative criticism of Coulter's antigay slur to be very telling. Maybe lots of folks have gone through the stages you describe. ... Plano, Texas: USA Today's redesigned online presence now allows readers to comment on every article and have their comments featured in rotation on the masthead. All of this under the guise of "expanding our editorial mission." How long will it be before we have nothing but Wikinews? Yes, I know that "we" are Time's Person of the Year, but frankly I'm getting sick of us. Howard Kurtz: Well, I still love you. Enabling comments on stories (which The Washington Post already does) is good. This is the world we live in. And people who don't care about the masses weighing in can simply choose not to scroll through the comment section.

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This Week's Kurtz Chat

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