Kurtz’s Mistake of the Century

The Daily Beast Washington Bureau Chief Howard Kurtz takes a beating today as Gawker outs him for confusing a press secretary for a congressman. Gawker reports that Kurtz sat on the error for six weeks.

The Daily Beast editor apparently thought he was talking to Rep. Darrel Issa (R-Calif.), who does the distinctive Viper car alarm voice. But no, he was actually talking with Issa aide Kurt Bardella, who, by the way, sounds absolutely nothing like Issa.

Gawker writes: “That’s a pretty insane error. But even insane errors can and will happen to every reporter, if they keep at it long enough. The real question here: Bardella apparently told Kurtz of the error on Nov. 29. Today is January 12, of the following year. Why the delay? It’s hard to think of a real good reason a reporter would sit on a fairly major, embarrassing correction for well more than a month. We’ve emailed TDB’s spokesperson, and we’ll update if we get an explanation.”

See full story here. We’ll see, maybe Kurtz will discuss it on his CNN program, “Reliable Sources” in the final segment in which he critiques media for what they got wrong.

> Update: Bardella told FishbowlDC: “Clearly this was a mis-understanding that at the end of the day I believe was an honest mistake and it happened months ago so I think we should all just move on.”

> Update #2: Bardella gave Politico‘s Keach Hagey a different reaction quote. He said,  “I don’t go around masquerading as Darrell Issa.” (Which of course makes us think that Bardella already has next year’s Halloween costume in the bag.)

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