Fox News’ Howard Kurtz: I Hate What Journalism Is Becoming

“It's not easy to keep a television program at number one for 10 years,” said Howard Kurtz, whose show Media Buzz marked its 10th anniversary on Fox News last weekend. “You have to be able to rock and roll.”

Over the last ten years, Kurtz has hosted his show from a rooftop—and from his own basement for a year and a half during the depths of the pandemic, according to Forbes. It was “a great commute,” Kurtz said, but he’s glad to be back in the studio. “We have managed to build up a loyal audience that cares about fairness and journalism,” Kurtz told me. “I love journalism. But I hate when it's becoming, which is a combat sport, in which more extreme views are rewarded.”

In an era of hyper-partisanship, where working for CNN or MSNBC or Fox News is seen by some as an indication of a person’s politics, Kurtz says he remains a straight shooter—and that’s been key to his success. “People get that I’m not pushing an agenda,” he said. “I’m trying my best every week, to be fair, to all guests at all points of view. And I guess in some quarters, that's still a valued commodity.”

When Kurtz left CNN for Fox in 2013, he walked away from Reliable Sources, which was something of an institution at CNN, for the relative unknown of launching a new show on Fox. Last year, after years of struggling to compete with Kurtz’s Media Buzz, Reliable Sources was canceled after 30 years. “I was a little sad to see that franchise disappear,” Kurtz said. “I devoted a good chunk of my life to it.”

“You know, a lot of partisans have a hard time grasping this, but I'm the same guy, you know, an ink-stained wretch who came up through newspapers, whether I'm working at CNN, or Fox,” Kurtz said.

“Things weren't quite so polarized when I made the switch in 2013, but a lot of people who dislike Fox don't watch it, or don't watch my show because I am taking the same approach to media and political issues which includes, at times, you know, having to report about negative developments at first CNN and Fox so the idea that I changed teams is just flat wrong.”

“I actually have more freedom at Fox than I had at CNN,” Kurtz said. “Because CNN has a bigger bureaucracy. I pick topics and the guests and I don’t necessarily tell top executives what I’m doing.”