Newsweek columnist and CNN “Reliable Sources” host Howard Kurtz had a big “EXCLUSIVE” today about NBC News and MSNBC.com:
EXCLUSIVE: NBC plans to buy back remaining half of MSNBC.com from Microsoft, rebrand as NBCNews.com tinyurl.com/7ujrxjr
— HowardKurtz (@HowardKurtz) July 11, 2012
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There is just one little problem: news of the buyback was broken by AdWeek‘s Mike Shields, and news of the NBCNews.com re-brand was broken by me, both back in May. Politico’s Dylan Byers also reported the news last month.
Kurtz, who regularly excoriates reporters who engage in dishonest journalism on his CNN program, defended his reporting on Twitter:
Obviously there’s been reporting that NBC-Microsoft divorce might happen, but the news is it actually *is* happening, employes to be moved
— HowardKurtz (@HowardKurtz) July 11, 2012
Well, if there was “obviously” reporting already, then why wouldn’t he reference those reports, or link to them in his story?
Instead Kurtz cited anonymous sources, and wrote his story as though he was the first person anywhere to report such news. In addition, he does not report that employees are moving as he claims in his tweet, just that they will be moved assuming a deal is done.
The statement NBC gave to Kurtz is essentially identical to what it told me in May, confirming that the two sides were talking, but that there was no deal yet.
Regular readers may recall that in March, Kurtz wrote an item lamenting the lack of political coverage on TV news, an article that indicated that Kurtz clearly doesn’t watch much TV news.