Report: Daily Beast Drops Howard Kurtz

The Politico quotes a press release from Tina Brown:

“The Daily Beast and Howard Kurtz have parted company. Under the direction of our newly named political director John Avlon we have added new momentum and authority to our Washington bureau with columnists such as Jon Favreau, Joshua Dubois and Stuart Stevens joining our outstanding DC team of Eleanor Clift, Daniel Klaidman, Michael Tomasky, Eli Lake, David Frum and Michelle Cottle – giving us one of the best politics teams in the business which was instrumental in this week’s Webby win for Best News site.”

Mediaite spots the proximate cause of Kurtz’s dismissal:

According to Tina Brown, Newsweek/Daily Beast’s editor in chief, her publication has decided to end their relationship with Howard Kurtz after he mistakenly claimed that NBC center Jason Collins, who recently came out as gay, had failed to disclose that he was previously engaged to be married to a woman.

Kurtz’s “See no liberal bias” liberal mindset can be maddening, but swapping him for John “everyone on the right is a crazy wingnut” Avlon doesn’t exactly seem like a fair trade. Still, for the first time in its long existence, Kurtz’s CNN show will be required viewing this week, to see if he comments on the move.

Update: Now is the time when Twitchy juxtaposes:

Click to enlarge.

Update: Will CNN be next to drop Kurtz? “Don’t be surprised if CNN acts next against Kurtz,” John Nolte of Big Journalism tweets. “His brand as a media analyst is now in shambles.”  I don’t know — as with Roger Ailes sweeping up Juan Williams after his run-in with the PC thoughtpolice at NPR, I bet Ailes would hire Kurtz pretty quickly, which may slow or block CNN from issuing an exit visa to Kurtz.