Reliable Putzes

According to a transcript of the CNN program Reliable Sources, Howie Kurtz spent as much time today on Deborah Norville reporting an Onion gag as straight news as he did on Jack Kelley's Pulitizer-nominated lies in USA Today.

Nine-tenths of the show was conversation was an interview with Jayson Blair, who is flogging his book. Why lead with the interview when the Kelley story is current news? And why does the Putz say that USA Today has "its own Jayson Blair problem," as if Blair is the only writer caught lying? Why not call it a Mike Barnicle problem, or a Sue Schmidt problem? Or, more accurately, a Jack Kelley problem?