Howard Kurtz‘s apology, delivered on live national television Sunday, has been received as any dramatic apology would be. Some people are buying it. Some aren’t.

On his CNN media news program “Reliable Sources,” Kurtz offered his side of the story on what led to the mea culpa in the first place: Deadline pressure and his own lack of due diligence were to blame for his erroneous report last week that NBA player Jason Collins, who had just come out as gay, didn’t disclose that Collins his prior engagement to a woman. Collins had, in fact, been open about the engagement, mentioning it in a column for Sports Illustrated.

On Friday we questioned whether Kurtz would cover his own ass by covering his own ass on the show. He did. And for the occasion, CNN brought in NPR’s David Folkenflik and Politico‘s Dylan Byers to probe him.

There was plenty of in-house love for Kurtz. In a separate segment on the show, attorney Lisa Bloom was on to discuss coverage of the Jodi Arias case. Before offering her legal analysis, she said she would take a second to “go off script.” She praised Kurtz for “raising the bar” for journalistic accountability (while rattling off her own media resume).

“Kudos to Howard Kurtz,” tweeted Kurtz’s CNN colleague Piers Morgan. “He took his Jason Collins-clanger on the chin today like a Mike Tyson right hook.”

The compliments also poured in from elsewhere. FNC anchor Greta Van Susteren wrote on her Gretawire blog that everyone should “stop slapping Howie Kurtz.”

“Not one of us is perfect.  We all make mistakes,” Van Susteren wrote. At the start of the year, Kurtz had to offer a separate apology for wrongly attributing a quote to Van Susteren about then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

At TVNewser, our sister site, Gail Shister wrote after the apology that she hopes CNN head Jeff Zucker will continue to support Kurtz.

On the other side of the fence… Read more

Partisan passions were predictably on high Wednesday after a gun control bill was shot down in the Senate by a majority of Republicans and a few Democrats. The right, gleeful. The left, indignant.

“Thank you NRA,” tweeted Town Hall Editor Katie Pavlich. Mediaite‘s liberal columnist Tommy Christopher inserted himself into the debate, saying, “Yeah, thanks for the next dead children. And the previous.” What followed was a back and forth that rivals one of the famous Piers Morgan-Dana Loesch shootouts.

“Really Christopher? You’re still pulling the ‘you want dead children’ card?” replied Pavlich. “Grow up.”

Christopher argued that background checks on gun buyers and limits on gun magazines are reasonable forms of regulation on firearms. He continued to say that Second Amendment enthusiasts were insensitive to children killed by guns.

“Nice, keep playing that card,” Pavlich said again. “And just for your information, my ‘high capacity’ magazine is standard protection against bad guys, like [Jared] Loughner.” Loughner was sentenced to life in prison after shooting up a political rally in Arizona in 2011.

“I’d respect you more if you just admitted that your reloading convenience is more valuable than saving one kid,” Christopher replied.

It was a downward spiral from there. Read more

Emily Miller, senior opinion editor for TWT, appeared on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360″ Thursday to debate the need for more federal regulations on guns. Miller is a gun enthusiast and TWT‘s resident expert on all things gun related.

Her segment with Cooper and Democratic Strategist Cornell Belcher was relatively tame, save for a few interruptions and exasperated sighs here and there.

During one of the livelier moments, Cooper, who argued at length for gun control, explained his impartiality. “The thing I don’t understand– and I asked the NRA this and I don’t take a position on this,” he said, “I’m not– it’s not my job. I’m not Piers Morgan here…” Miller jumped in here to say “Thank God.”

Morgan, whose own CNN program airs after Cooper’s (a re-run of 360 airs again after Morgan’s show), has been one of the most outspoken and aggressive TV personalities to call for more gun control since the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary school.

Full video of Miller on “360″ here.

Of all the crazy denials that rolled in over Twitter this weekend, this one takes the cake — or the fruit — depending how you want to look at it. But in retrospect, maybe when “fastcatmiles” (a.k.a. Connor Thompson of the U.K.) asked CNN’s Piers Morgan the following question he should have left well enough alone.

@piersmorgan why u not reply to me pears?

— Connor Thompson (@fastcatmiles) March 25, 2013

To which “Pears” actually replied: “Because I’m not a fruit.”

But that’s not the worst of it. Read more

The TV world can be so cold. When you’re out, you’re out. And sometimes sooner than you might expect.

There are 17 days left on Roland Martin‘s CNN contract. But the powers that be appear to be shutting it down early. With his contract ending April 6, some producers have been informed not to book him, FishbowlDC has learned. We knew something was awry when we noticed Martin hadn’t tweeted his usual #bringthefunk alert on Twitter that he’d be appearing on Erin Burnette’s “Out Front,” which he hasn’t done in a month. On Wednesday he tweeted that he did Canadian TV. The Canadians can find time to bring Martin’s funk, but not CNN?

Let’s get this straight. That semi-usual appearance he had on Thursdays during Carol Costello‘s slot? Gone. It’s been three weeks since he appeared on her program and months since he appeared on “The Situation Room.” He was also non-existent during CNN Inauguration coverage in January. A final appearance on his close friend, Soledad O’Brien‘s program, which ends next week? That appears to be a dead end proposition, too.

Martin’s fierce Twittering following is not pleased. “I’m certainly going to miss you on CNN,” wrote Pasadena, Calif. resident Carolee Reed. “I cant believe that the two people who always kept it real are leaving.” (Person number two being O’Brien, she explains.) Ebony Shamberger, a UNC J-School student, was dumfounded. “Leaving CNN on April 6 — what?” she wrote in response to Reed.

Martin isn’t the only one being given the shaft. Read more

Talk radio host and CNN contributor Dana Loesch continued her effort to get sparring partner and CNN colleague Piers Morgan to joyride in a military tank with her.

“I tried to get him to ride in a tank with me,” she told FishbowlDC at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md. “I love Piers. He and I joke. We go to war on air but we get along off air.”

Loesch has had heated battles with Piers on his CNN show over gun control regulation. Even so, she asked him in late January over Twitter to go “joy riding” in a tank. He declined.

“A smaller one, so it’ll be cozy,” Loesch said of the tank. Read more

We don’t want to overestimate the effects of sequestration, but CNN’s Piers Morgan has been voted Britain’s third favorite nude celebrity. The survey was conducted by the online game site Wink Bingo.

When was Morgan seen nude? In a 2009 fast food promo, wherein he posed a la former Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) wearing only a chunky gold necklace, a rug to cover his English meat and sex appeal fit for a Burger King.

And just this morning singer Justin Bieber snapped a photo of himself lying in a strikingly similar pose. Where was he? London! Bieber reportedly passed out during a concert and was rushed to a nearby hospital. Once he came to, he did what any ignorant 19-year-old dummy would do. Upload an image of his bony body to Instagram.

Today, we pair Morgan and Bieber: British brothers, at least for today.

“Who is that guy?” tweeted Business Insider‘s Brett LoGiurato late Monday night. “He’s not an actual human being, is he?” added New York magazine’s Stefan Becket.

Many reporters, editors and producers have had at least one experience with Rudolf, whose bio indicates that he lives in Chicago. He regularly tweets at news figures, typically in the evening and with arbitrary capital letters punctuating his tweets.

Just last night, Rudolf tweeted at:

• The Daily Caller Editor-in-Chief Tucker Carlson (“Do you like Appearing on ‘Red Eye’ with Greg Gutfeld on ‘Fox News Channel’? Is the Story involving NJ Sen Menendez not true?”)
• BuzzFeed‘s Dorsey Shaw (“Your Replying to my tweets, now. Want to Chat about Political TV Cable News & Issues in the Media?”)
• CNN Contributor Ana Navarro (“Do you enjoy being a CNN Political Contributor? Will Rodman be a Special Envoy to N. Korea with his connection to the Leader?”)
• MSNBC’s S.E. Cupp (“What’s it like being the Conservative on MSNBC’s ‘The Cycle’ with Liberals/Progressives Weekday Afternoons discussing Politics/Media”)
• Mediaite‘s Tommy Christopher (“Any Interesting Posts or Stories I should Read at ‘Mediaite.com’ Web Site this Monday?”)
• D.C. Bureau Chief for BuzzFeed John Stanton (“Describe what it’s like being the DC Bureau Chief of Buzzfeed.com?”)
• Piers Morgan Tonight E.P. Jonathan Wald (“You have got me Curious, Jonathan! Very Interesting Forum about HBO’s ‘The Newsroom’ last night with P. Morgan Moderating.”

Rudolf also sends out tweets soliciting potential chat buddies, though to no one in particular. A typical one goes: Read more

Old habits do die hard.

Zeke Miller announced yesterday on Twitter that after 14 months, it was his last day reporting for BuzzFeed. “I’m taking a much-needed and delayed post-campaign break over the next few days,” he said.

It came as somewhat of a surprise that he was leaving BuzzFeed, where he became a star reporter in the presidential election. But it was even more of a surprise that he’d be taking a “break.” He sends out tweets faster than the time it takes Piers Morgan to snap a selfie at the… well, anywhere.

One wonders what Twitter would be like without Miller rapidly sending out quotes from White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. Or bits of President Obama‘s schedule as they come into his email. Read more

Moving on, we have CNN’s Piers Morgan and E!’s Chelsea Handler, who has been known to turn up at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The pair argues about anything under the sun. Their thought process seems to be the dirtier the better. So here’s what their daughter might look should they fall into an unexpectedly romantic situation. We’ll call her “Mean Mary.”