From Politico:
On the eve of Tina Brown’s The Daily Beast’s turning two years old, Brown took to the site’s pages Tuesday to announce some big news: Howard Kurtz is joining the Beast as Washington bureau chief.
Funny, Kurtz was on Imus yesterday morning and, unless we missed it, didn’t breathe a word about it. In fact, he said this:
Kurtz’s other employer, The Washington Post, is still publishing everyday, but, like the rest of the newspaper world, is struggling to stay current amidst technological advances. Many veteran print reporters are jumping ship to online outlets like the Huffington Post.
“I’m old-fashioned enough to think that newspapers, particularly the best ones, will continue in some form,” Kurtz said. “I like turning the pages. I know young people think that sounds like something out of the stone age.”
Maybe he didn’t really mean it. Or maybe he got tired of living in the Stone Age. Wonder when he’ll be invited back on the show.
Press release follows:
New York, Oct. 5, 2010
The Daily Beast today announces that Howard Kurtz will join as Washington Bureau Chief. In this new role, Kurtz will oversee the two-year-old site’s coverage of Washington and will report and write regularly on politics, media, and the intersection of the two.
Kurtz, who won renown as a media and investigative reporter for The Washington Post, writes a must-read weekly media column and daily blog for the Post. He will continue to host the weekly CNN media program Reliable Sources — the longest-running media show on television. He is the author of five books, including The New York Times bestseller “Spin Cycle: Inside the Clinton Propaganda Machine.” A 29-year veteran of The Washington Post, Kurtz previously covered Congress and the Justice Department and has also served as the paper’s New York bureau chief. He is a winner of the National Press Club Award for Media Criticism.
Tina Brown, editor in chief of The Daily Beast, said, “I have great respect for Howard as a journalist and newsbreaker, but I admire him most of all for his understanding of media and politics as the story of our era. He is that rare reporter with a metabolism that outpaces the frenetic subjects he covers. I am excited that he will be a driving force in The Daily Beast’s coverage of this upcoming midterm election and for many election cycles to come.”
Of his new role at The Daily Beast, Kurtz said, “I’ve wanted to work with Tina Brown forever — well, for a long time — and I’m incredibly impressed by the energy and creativity of The Daily Beast staff. After a lifetime in newspapers, I’m ready for the challenge of fast-paced online journalism.”
Daily Beast Executive Editor Edward Felsenthal said, “Howard is a top-tier news-breaker and reporter who, even in print, operates at an Internet pace. He brings to The Daily Beast a fabulous range that spans from the White House to Jon Stewart and George Clooney.”
With its fresh, arresting look, groundbreaking scoops and award-winning commentary, The Daily Beast has emerged as one of the country’s most popular, influential news sites. Exactly two years old tomorrow, the site boasts an average of 4.5 million unique users and over 50 million page views each month, and was recently selected as one of Time magazine’s top 5 news websites of 2010.