Howard Kurtz Quotations

McCain has always been a conservative, anti-abortion, pro-military Republican who took more moderate positions on a few key issues. If he runs, he could well win the White House, shutting out the Democrats for the third straight election. And that is rallying the pundits of the left.

Nobody wanted to be out there with a prediction that turned out to be wrong,

Newspapers are trying to use their own Web sites to provide 24-hour coverage, even though the old dinosaur, ink-on-paper version only comes out once a day.

Bush used a version of the same technique: 'I heard somebody say, well, maybe so-and-so is not patriotic because they disagree with my position. I totally reject that thought.' Somebody? So-and-so? Who could he be referring to?

There are numerous images of the World Trade Center attacks in these ads and that is already drawing questions about exploitation of 9/11, ... Reliable Sources.

I think the chances of (ABC) succeeding are pretty decent.

We're all very anxious to have more of a conversation with readers, and that's way overdue. But no one has quite figured out how to handle the waves of obscene, nasty and intensely personal attacks that seem to be an element in this new era of Web feedback.

You have the hints of nods and winks -- 'If you sign with us, we'll make things happen at other parts of the company.'

The delay in the public ceremony -- a private funeral had been held for family and close friends -- allowed the initial shock to wear off, making the event as much a celebration of Jennings' life as a mourning of his death.

The paper clearly took a hit in terms of some very talented people.

But journalists rarely venture into impoverished neighborhoods these days, except for quick-hit features,

To take a step like this -- to out someone associated with the CIA when it's clear that the motives of those providing the information were to get even with her husband, who is an outspoken critic of Iraq policy -- it's hard for me to understand what the argument is on the other side, why this information was so important that it needed to be published,

Boy, this impeachment thing really is getting him.

Even by the standards of modern media excess, there has never been anything quite like the way the press is embracing, extolling and flat-out promoting this retired general who has never sought public office.

It would be an absolute coup for ABC to steal Letterman, ... Reliable Sources.

These conventions are staged for television, but it's not very good television, and most people are watching more interesting programs. I think a lot of people are going to form their impressions on how the party did by front-page headlines, by the pictures on the front page, by some of the analysis. By what's in the paper.

It's kind of like letting people inside the newsroom. They can see the raw process. They can see the judgments that different networks make -- some being cautious, some being not so cautious, and they can make up their own minds about who's right, who's wrong and what remains to be seen.

But if this is the tip of the iceberg, in other words, if there are more moments in debates or other interviews, where he seems not to have a grasp, sure, that could be a major problem, ... But that will depend on whether this sort of thing ... resonates with voters. It may not, this may be a media flap, it may be a one-day story.

But I don't know how much sympathy there is out there for newspapers when there are companies laying off 10,000 people a pop.

There are some Trump detractors who feel like it's the media's job to stop Trump.

How, then, has Obama been saddled with an image of being long on inspiration and short on details? The answer is that journalists are not accustomed to covering a candidate who moves crowds the way Obama does, who uses speech cadences and rhythm like Martin Luther King Jr. without making his talk explicitly about race. Sen. Clinton already owned the policy-wonk slot, so by default, Obama was cast as the poetic one.

In this age of Twitter and Snark every misstep gets posted online in twelve seconds.

The dismissive notion that conservatives leak to outlets on the right for ideological reasons ignores the fact that liberals often do the same thing with news organizations that are either left-of-center or likely to be sympathetic to the message being peddled.

Journalism seems to have recovered its reason for being.

It's a brave new world.