"Why does the Washington Post allow Howard Kurtz to host a media-affairs show on CNN?" It's a question I've been asked many times -- and frequently by CNNers. Now, in a must-read Washingtonian article by FishBowlDC's Garrett Graff, we have an answer. Graff's story about Kurtz -- the first-ever in-depth profile of the WP media writer -- includes this quote from WP executive editor Leonard Downie Jr.:

"Any media reporter is going to be different from all other reporters in that they work for a media organization, so whether or not he's working for CNN, he's already working for the Washington Post. You're going to have to cover someone who pays you. Howie has demonstrated in the way that he covers this newspaper that he has no conflict covering an employer...When we agreed to let him go work for CNN, I expected that he'd be able to treat that employer as a reporter in the same way that he treats the Washington Post -- and he has."

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