Howard Kurtz (surprise!) defends CNN

It's a truism in the newspaper business that you can't accept favors or freelance work from any institution you cover -- period. It can be a firing offense. Unless you're a star. Or maybe just unless you're Howard Kurtz, the Washington Post's media critic, who is allowed to work for CNN, hosting a weekend show on the media at the same time he covers the cable-news network.

Over the past few days, CNN has been taking a beating for what has been described as half-hearted coverage of the unrest in Iran. In an online chat at Washingtonpost.com, Kurtz -- here in his guise as the Post's media reporter and critic -- defends CNN:

I know Twitter folks have been all over CNN for not providing more coverage on Saturday. I'm sure CNN could have done more, rather than run some taped programming, perhaps by taking the CNN International feed in the U.S. But it seemed to me that CNN did more than the other cable networks, with regular reports by Christiane Amanpour from Tehran, and especially on Sunday, when it ran many hours of live coverage.

Gosh. What are the odds that he'd come down on that side of the debate?

I'm not naive: stars get special treatment in every profession. But journalists make such self-righteous noises about objectivity and conflicts of interest that this kind of ethics-rule-flouting is exceptionally embarrassing.

If Kurtz's role as an employee (or contract worker) for CNN doesn't affect his Post writing, as Post management contends, then that principle should apply across the board to all Post reporters, no? On the other hand, if this sort of freelance work is inherently corrupting, then that rule should also apply to stars. My pragmatic solution: just admit there's a "star exception" and dial down the self-righteousness in other contexts.

PS Yes, I know Mickey Kaus owns the story of Kurtz and his conflict of interest, but Kurtz has been able to deflect Kaus precisely because of his Ahab-like obsession. And, as it happens, Kaus is correct. And this particular case, Kurtz explicitly defending CNN in the Post, is just too deliciously absurd not to highlight.

Via Romenesko