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Howard Kurtz        

FOX News Host, Media Analyst, Best-Selling Author

Howard Kurtz is the host of "Media Buzz" on FOX News, where he critically examines the media's fairness and objectivity. He challenges journalists from various news organizations, including those at FOX News, on a wide range of topics from politics to technology, business, culture, and sports. Kurtz delves into the role of media in shaping public opinion and its implications on democracy. He has been hosting "Media Buzz" since its launch and has maintained the number one show in its Sunday time slot for over seven years. Before his tenure at FOX News, Kurtz hosted the CNN program "Reliable Sources" for 15 years, focusing on the accuracy and fairness of the media.

Kurtz's journalistic career spans several decades, during which he has held prominent positions such as the Washington bureau chief for both Newsweek and The Daily Beast. He began his media reporting career at The Washington Post in 1981, covering a variety of beats including urban affairs and the Justice Department, and later served as the newspaper's New York bureau chief. He wrote a popular column titled "Media Notes," which provided insights into the interactions between the press and public figures.

As an author, Kurtz has written several influential books on media dynamics. His works include "Reality Show: Inside the Last Great Television News War," "The Fortune Tellers: Inside Wall Street’s Game of Money, Media, and Manipulation," and "Spin Cycle: Inside the Clinton Propaganda Machine," which reached No. 2 on the New York Times best-seller list. His other books, "Hot Air: All Talk All the Time" and "Media Circus: The Trouble with America's Newspapers," have been critically acclaimed, with the latter being voted the best recent book about the media by the American Journalism Review in 1995. His latest book, "Media Madness: Donald Trump, the Press, and the War over the Truth," further establishes his expertise on media and political interactions.

Throughout his career, Kurtz has engaged in discussions with notable figures such as Jon Stewart, Whoopi Goldberg, George Clooney, and Barbara Walters, enhancing his reputation as a skilled and knowledgeable media analyst. He continues to contribute to the discourse on media through his daily columns and podcasts for Fox News, offering an insider’s perspective on the challenges facing journalism today, especially in the age of social media and digital news consumption.

Speech Topics


The New Age of Twittering

While others decry a Wild West environment where anyone can say anything, Howard Kurtz applauds the technology that empowers ordinary citizens and breaks the stranglehold of the establishment media. Journalists dismiss this movement at their peril, while consumers must learn to navigate this universe of insta-news and perpetual punditry by sorting facts from rumor and slander.

2014 Political Showdown

Howard Kurtz examines why President Obama's failures put the Democrats in a deep hole in the midterm elections. He scrutinizes the media coverage of both parties, the civil war between establishment Republicans and the Tea Party, and controversies surrounding such GOP figures as Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee. Kurtz also looks at why the President has flopped in his second term, how he lost the support of media liberals, the administration's crackdown on press access and its pushback against Fox News.

My Journey on Facebook and Twitter

In this presentation, Kurtz examines how he became active on Facebook and Twitter and wound up with over 30,000 Twitter followers. He discusses how these social networks, especially Twitter, have become an important source of breaking news; given more influence to ordinary folks to distribute and comment on news; how network anchors and other media hotshots are trying to tap into the culture and share more of themselves; and how it's also become a land mine that has ended some journalistic careers.

Why Liberals Now Hate the Press

After decades of conservative distrust, the media are now feeling the heat from disgusted liberals who see journalists as part of a corporate elite that abetted the Iraq war, coddled the Bush administration and are undermining the Obama White House. Kurtz explores the vitriolic atmosphere, the shortcomings of the press, and how some partisans on both sides are more interested in demonization than fairness.

The Collapse of the Mainstream Media

The old journalistic establishment is dying from a series of self-inflicted wounds: arrogance, inaccuracy, blandness and the failure to adapt to a digital revolution that is slowly strangling newspapers. A reporter who predicted that newspapers faced irrelevance in the early 1990s, Kurtz offers a cold-eyed analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the YouTube age and whether print publications can survive.

The New Age of Blogging and Twittering

While others decry a Wild West environment where anyone can say anything, Kurtz applauds the technology that empowers ordinary citizens and breaks the stranglehold of the establishment media. Journalists dismiss this movement at their peril, while consumers must learn to navigate this universe of insta-news and perpetual punditry by sorting facts from rumor and slander.

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Obama and Expectations

Washington has been paralyzed by two political parties beholden to big-money interests, their own extremes and a cable culture that amplifies inflammatory attacks. Kurtz examines how President Obama was swept into office on a wave of unrealistically high expectations, only to be stymied by the reality of Beltway gridlock, relentless partisanship and a fickle media. With an eye to the future, Kurtz looks at what lies ahead for a second Obama term in conjuction with a divided Congress and how today's news will affect all parties.

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