Howard Kurtz Biography

Howard Kurtz is an American journalist and author who hosts Fox News Channel’s Media Buzz program, the successor to Fox News Watch. He was also a former media writer for The Washington Post and the Daily Beast’s Washington bureau chief. Alan has published five books on the media. In 2013, he left CNN to join Fox News Channel.

Howard Kurtz Age

Kurtz is 68 years old as of 2021. He was born Howard Alan Kurtz on August 1, 1953, in Brooklyn, New York, the United States of America. He celebrates his birthday on August 1 every year.

Howard Kurtz Height

Kurtz stands at a height of 5 feet 9 in (1.75 meters).

Howard Kurtz Family

Kurtz was born in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Sheepshead Bay to a Jewish family. He is the son of homemaker Marcia and clothing executive, Leonard Kurtz.

Howard Kurtz Wife

Howard is happily married to Sheri Annis, a media consultant and political commentator who served as a campaign spokesperson for Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The two got married in May 2003 and they together have a son. Sheri has also worked on various conservative political initiatives, they include California’s Proposition 227 and Proposition 209. He was previously married to Mary Tallmer with whom he has two children.

Howard Kurtz Net Worth

Kurtz has an estimated net worth ranging from $1 Million – $5 Million which he has earned through his career as a journalist and author.

Howard Kurtz Salary

His salary at The Daily Beast was reported to be $600,000 a year.

Howard Kurtz Education

Kurtz studied at the University of Buffalo (SUNY). While in college, he also worked on a student newspaper, the Spectrum, eventually becoming its editor his senior year. He later attended the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University.

Howard Kurtz Career

He went to work for the Record in New Jersey after graduating from college. Kurtz later relocated to Washington, DC, to work as a reporter for syndicated columnist Jack Anderson. He then left Anderson to work for the Washington Star, a midday newspaper.

When the newspaper folded in 1981, Bob Woodward, the Metro editor at the time, hired him at The Washington Post. He has also written for publications such as The New Republic, The Washington Monthly, and New York magazine.

Howard began working for The Washington Post in 1981 and left in 2010, after 29 years. He worked as a national affairs correspondent, the New York bureau chief, and the deputy national editor there. Between 1990 and 2010, Kurtz worked for The Washington Post, where he covered the news media.

Howard Kurtz CNN

From 1998 to 2013, he hosted the weekly CNN program Reliable Sources, a cable television program that investigates the standards, performance, and biases of the media. He then led the investigation into the media’s fairness and objectivity by questioning journalists from major news organizations, including CNN. Reliable Sources debuted in 1992 as a one-hour special discussing the media’s coverage of the Persian Gulf War.

Howard Kurtz Fox News

On June 20, 2013, Howard left CNN to host a weekend media program for Fox News Channel and to write a column for FoxNews.com. His Media Buzz program took the place of Fox News Watch, which was hosted by Jon Scott.

Howard Kurtz The Daily Beast

In October 2010, Kurtz announced his departure from The Daily Beast, an online publication. Until 2013, he worked as the website’s Washington bureau chief, writing about media and politics. Kurtz’s annual salary at The Daily Beast was reported to be $600,000.

On May 2, 2013, the site’s editor-in-chief Tina Brown announced that Kurtz and The Daily Beast had “parted company.” This occurred following a controversy in which Alan incorrectly accused NBA player Jason Collins of failing to acknowledge a former heterosexual engagement when he came out as gay, but he stated the split was mutual and had been “in the works for some time.”

According to sources within the Daily Beast newsroom, Howard’s departure became unavoidable once he began writing for and promoting a lesser-known media website called Daily Download. Tina later stated on Twitter that she fired Kurtz due to “serial inaccuracy.”

Howard Kurtz Political Affiliation – Is Howard Kurtz A Democrat?

Howard has publicly stated that he does not have a political affiliation. Fellow media critics and pundits have discussed his political leanings, multiple employers, and possible biases as a high-profile media critic and analyst. In his writing, he has expressed both liberal and conservative viewpoints.

Journalist Mickey Kaus wrote in The New Republic, reporting on and partially quoting a letter by journalist Charles Kaiser, that Kurtz “has large, non-technical conflicts of interest because he free-lances and takes money ‘from the people he writes about, from Time Warner to Condé Nast.”

Kurtz has a seemingly conflicting interest in co-hosting CNN’s Reliable Sources, for which he receives monetary compensation as well as national renown.” He’s been chastised for his apparent support for syndicated radio host Don Imus. Bill O’Reilly, a former Fox News commentator, has chastised Howard for criticizing Fox News.

The network also covered a story about the US Justice Department’s prosecution of members of the New Black Panther Party for allegations of voter intimidation during the 2008 US Presidential Election. Bill chastised network news outlets, particularly CBS News talk show host Bob Schieffer, for failing to question Attorney General Eric Holder about the story.

When discussing the topic of Reliable Sources, Howard stated that Fox News was “pushing” the story. Bill disputed Kurtz’s claim that Fox pushed the story, claiming that Howard’s newspaper, The Washington Post, had its own ombudsman, Andrew Alexander, say that the newspaper regretted not pursuing the story sooner due to its newsworthiness.

Howard Kurtz Books

• 2018 – Media Madness
• 2017 – Reality Show: Inside the Last Great Television News War
• 2000 – The fortune tellers
• 1998 – Spin Cycle: Inside the Clinton Propaganda Machine
• 1996 – Hot Air: All Talk, All the Time
• 1993 – Media Circus: The Trouble with America’s Newspapers
• 1993 – Reinventing the Newspaper: Essays

The table below answers some of the frequently asked questions about Howard Kurtz.