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The Onion‘s Twitter Feed Hijacked by Pro-Syria Hackers (The Wrap / Media Alley)
The Onion, America’s finest fake news organization, was the latest victim of cyber hacking on Monday when the Syrian Electronic Army took over its Twitter account to tweet a slew of anti-Israel messages. NYT / Bits A member of the Syrian Electronic Army who goes by the hacker handle “Th3 Pr0″ told The New York Times that the group aimed at The Onion because of a recent Onion parody post, purportedly written by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, titled: “Hi, In The Past 2 Years, You Have Allowed Me To Kill 70,000 People.” “The Onion is a satire news organization and quite often is more trusted to reflect the news than the corporate media is known to,” Th3 Pr0 wrote in an email. The Onion Following Monday’s incident in which the Syrian Electronic Army hacked into the Onion‘s Twitter account, sources at America’s Finest News Source confirmed that its Twitter password has been changed to OnionMan77 in order to prevent any future cyber-attacks. “We have taken the necessary measures to ensure this kind of thing never happens again,” said Onion IT specialist Nick Abersold. Read more

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Howard Kurtz Apologizes on CNN For Errors (Politico)
Howard Kurtz took to his Reliable Sources show on CNN on Sunday to apologize for his “inexcusable” erroneous report last week about NBA player Jason Collins and for a string of past mistakes that the media critic admitted he was sometimes too slow to correct. During Kurtz’s extraordinary 15-minute long confession of journalistic sins, he repeatedly said he’s learned a lesson and promised to double and triple-check all his facts in the future to win back the trust of readers and viewers. TVNewser NPR’s David Folkenflik and Politico‘s Dylan Byers grilled Kurtz about Collins as well as other mistakes from the past that Kurtz admitted he had sometimes waited too long to correct. It was riveting, powerful, and frequently uncomfortable to watch. The live interrogation on CNN was not Kurtz’ idea. HuffPost / The Backstory Kurtz claimed Sunday that Daily Download, a site founded by USA Today veteran Lauren Ashburn, has “always been a limited venture for me.” The Knight Foundation provided a $115,000 grant for the Daily Download project in December 2011, via Maryland Public Television, and provided a second $115,000 grant in November 2012. A Knight Foundation spokesman told HuffPost that Kurtz’s “involvement was a factor in our support for the Daily Download.” Daily Download / Lauren Ashburn In a regular Daily Download feature where Kurtz and I comment on the day’s media news, he made a mistake. And so did I. As founder and editor-in-chief, I am responsible for what goes on Daily Download. I am committed to being more vigilant to ensure our facts are correct and that we are more transparent if issues arise. Read more

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Daily Beast Drops Howard Kurtz (Politico / Dylan Byers on Media)
The Daily Beast is dropping Howard Kurtz, the veteran media critic who made headlines this week for his erroneous report about NBA star Jason Collins. “The Daily Beast and Howard Kurtz have parted company,” Tina Brown, the site’s editor-in-chief, said in a statement sent to Politico. The decision comes after Kurtz published a blog post that falsely asserted that Collins, who announced he was gay in an article for Sports Illustrated, had neglected to mention his previous engagement to a woman. In fact, Collins mentioned that engagement in the article and in a subsequent interview with ABC News. The Daily Beast retracted that post on Thursday morning. The Washington Post / Erik Wemple Following Brown’s announcement, Kurtz tweeted: “I’ve enjoyed my time at the Daily Beast but as we began to move in different directions, both sides agreed it was best to part company.” He added: “This was in the works for some time, but want to wish all my colleagues continued success with a terrific website.” TVNewser Kurtz joined the Daily Beast in October 2010, after leaving The Washington Post. His tenure at the Daily Beast includes some big interviews with the likes of Roger Ailes and Matt Lauer, but was also filled with controversy. We wrote about a ridiculous item he filed about TV coverage of the primaries, and he emailed a Daily Beast colleague to discourage her from writing about Anderson Cooper’s sexuality. He also was reluctant to give credit when others broke stories, and was loathe to correct errors, a number of which were in his big interview with Lauer. The Wrap / WaxWord Howard Kurtz and his weekly Reliable Sources media talk show are under review after his firing from the Daily Beast over erroneous reporting, a CNN spokeswoman told The Wrap on Thursday. “We are reviewing it,” the spokeswoman told The Wrap. Jeff Zucker, the new chieftain at CNN is “supportive” of Kurtz’s show, but the network is unhappy with the error and is reviewing it, the spokeswoman said. Another senior executive at Turner said that there was no planned change with the show, but that it would ultimately be Zucker’s decision. HuffPost / The Backstory Despite his claim that he is merely a contributor, there are rumors that Kurtz has a larger role in the Daily Download. According to one media executive who spoke to HuffPost on condition of anonymity, Kurtz characterized himself as a partner in the Daily Download during a conversation last year. Separately, a journalist who was approached by Kurtz to work at Daily Download told HuffPost that he presented the site as a start-up he was developing along with editor-in-chief Lauren Ashburn. Read more

The Daily Beast just dropped the axe on Howard Kurtz. Tina Brown tweeted, “The Daily Beast and Howard Kurtz have parted company. We wish him well.”

Kurtz has been under fire recently for an idiotic column he penned on Jason Collins. In the piece, Kurtz tried to “get” Collins by claiming that he “wasn’t telling the whole story” because Collins didn’t say in his coming out tale that he was engaged to a woman.

Except that Collins did. Which made Kurtz’s entire “slam” of Collins look absolutely horrible. It was so bad The Daily Beast issued a formal retraction of the column and apologized. And now the company has retracted Kurtz’s employment.

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Howard Kurtz Under Fire For Erroneous Report About NBA Player Jason Collins Coming Out (Mediaite)
Arguably the biggest news this week has been basketball player Jason Collins coming out as the first openly gay player in major U.S. sports, but media critic Howard Kurtz thinks Collins has been quiet about one part of his past: his engagement to a woman after dating her for eight years. Kurtz stated quite clearly in a Daily Beast post Wednesday that Collins “left out” this detail about his life, but it turns out that was not exactly the case. Gawker On Wednesday Kurtz found — for two different outlets — a dark shadow in the sunny coverage of NBA player Jason Collins’ decision to come out as gay: Collins was at one point engaged to a woman. “He didn’t tell the whole story,” Kurtz burbles in a Daily Download video. Kurtz continues: “If you leave out the fact that you dated this woman for eight years and that you were engaged to be married, then you have not told the whole story and I think this really muddies the whole plotline.” Kurtz wrote the same argument for the Daily Beast, that Collins “left one little part out.” Except Collins didn’t leave the detail out. It’s right at the beginning of the eighth paragraph of his long Sports Illustrated piece. NY Mag / Daily Intelligencer Alerted to this glaring oversight, Kurtz quickly tweaked the text of his column to make it factually accurate. “He left one little part” was changed to “he downplayed one detail.” “Turns out it was an edited story” became “He mentioned the engagement to Sports Illustrated, but didn’t dwell on it.” A correction was belatedly affixed to the story long after the changes had been made. BuzzFeed Kurtz: “I regret the mistake I made in writing about Jason Collins’ essay, and I hope I wasn’t insensitive in discussing it. He did a courageous thing by taking this step, but once he put it out for public discussion, it seems fair to raise questions about the account of his former fiancee, who granted several interviews. Obviously Collins or any other gay person can come out in any way they choose, or not come out at all. I don’t think my analysis was out of bounds, but that’s for others to judge.” HuffPost / The Backstory Kurtz has been regularly contributing to, and heavily promoting, a lesser-known media website with no financial ties to his full-time employer. The site, Daily Download, is a regular fixture in Kurtz’s Twitter feed and a place where he increasingly posts his takes on the state of media affairs. But no one is sure why, exactly, he’s so involved with this particular piece of Internet real estate. Read more

• TVSpy: Here is yet another reason why copy editors should never be undervalued.
• FishbowlDC: Howard Kurtz cracked “The Curious Case of Greg Kelly” almost as fast as a 10-year-old would.
• SocialTimes: The Yellow Pages, a product that wasn’t even that useful during its prime, refuses to die.

• FishbowlLA: Herman Cain is going to appear on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” tonight, so set your DVRs if you’re not going to be around to watch it.
• FishbowlDC: Ben Smith faced off against Howard Kurtz in a Twitter showdown that was about as boring as you’d expect it to be.
• PRNewser: Justin Bieber is going to prove that he is not that baby’s daddy, but sadly, it won’t be happening on “Maury.”

Whether or not he will resign, or be forced out for lack of ethical behavior, or lose his wife, Anthony Weiner is the major loser of the last couple of weeks. But at FishbowlNY, we’re as interested in the coverage of the story as we are in the story itself. Who is getting the scoops (and there seems to be many)? Who is falling behind? We’ve put together a list. Like the scandal itself, this list is a work in progress. We will update as things turn around.

WINNERS:

Andrew Breitbart and BigGovernment: Where do we begin? Breitbart broke the story of Weiner sending pictures to girl #1, Gennette Cordova, stood by it despite being accused of hacking himself, took over Weiner’s press-conference, received a public apology from Weiner, and got girl #2, Meagan Broussard, to share her story with him exclusively, as well as several pictures — including the infamous topless Weiner. This is Breitbart’s day in the sun. Not generally known for being a reliable source, this whole media circus has been Breitbart’s vindication, almost a game-changer. From his website:

BigGovernment.com publisher Andrew Breitbart was in New York for previously scheduled meetings and went to the presser as an observer… The press then asked Andrew to go to the podium to take some questions. It was surreal and awesome. According to FoxNews, a Weiner staff ran through the hotel halls screaming, “Breitbart’s here. Breitbart’s here.”

That pretty much sums it up.

RadarOnline.com: Seems to have full access to woman #3, Lisa Weiss, who made the sex scandal that much more salacious. RadarOnline is currently printing the entire transcript of her nine month long chat relationship with Weiner, for those who can’t get enough sordid details. We don’t recommend you read it, however, like we did. It made us unspeakably depressed.

Read more

It was nearly a year ago when Peter Lauria left his media reporter post at the New York Post for a job at The Daily Beast.  Now it appears as though Lauria is on his way out from and is negotiating his severance package with The Daily Beast.  Lauria has not published a story for The Daily Beast since Jan. 25 and, according to his former Post colleague Keith Kelly, calls to his office phone has been answered by newest Beast hire Nick Somers.

Sources close to the situation claim that Lauria has not been getting along with top editors including Daily Beast editor-in-chief Tina Brown.  Some believe Brown was upset with Lauria after he garnered a great deal of publicity and an interview on NBC’s Today Show for his story on Viacom owner Sumner Redstone’s obsession with the all-girl band the Electric Barbarellas.  Lauria seemed to have lost his way at The Daily Beast when Brown hired a horde of media reporters following the merger with Newsweek.  Notable additions to the department were Somers and Howard Kurtz who came aboard as DC bureau chief.

Another day, another addition to Tina Brown’s Newsweek/Daily Beast team.  After luring style writer Robin Givhan and art critic Blake Gopnik away from The Washington Post yesterday, Brown has added New Republic senior editor Michelle Cottle to her “NewsBeast” operation.  Cottle spent over a decade at TNR and will serve as a Washington reporter at Newsweek/Daily Beast.  She will report to Daily Beast bureau chief Howard Kurtz.