“I'll be a virgin for you and lay my body down

cause I know more tricks than a rodeo clown"

 -Julie Brown (from the movie Medusa: Dare to Be Truthful)

Howard Kurtz

  During the interview, Beck said he was not a journalist but more like a “rodeo clown.”

  Reliable Sources examines the media and does it well. Beck was questioned about some of his outlandish statements. It was also a chance for the network to showcase Beck, who appears on CNN Headline News, an affiliate of CNN.

Danielle Morgan

  Kurtz did a decent job questioning Beck, but the segment was a waste of time. Beck was treated too much like a serious journalist and not enough like a self-described “rodeo clown”.

  I watch Reliable Sources to learn about journalism. If I want to watch rodeo clowns, I’ll watch the rodeo.

  It made me wonder if another Kurtz, Ken Kurtz, would have booked a guest like Beck.

  The Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame is naming Ken Kurtz as a member next month. It is an overdue honor for one of Kentucky’s best newsmen.

  Ken was the long-time news director at WKYT television in Lexington.  Although he has “retired” from journalism for several years, someone forgot to tell Ken. He is still one of the best newshounds in Kentucky. A  man who has the inside scoop. His enthusiasm for news-gathering and for life is contagious.

 Yet even when expressing disagreement, he is still tolerant of others’ viewpoints and is never personal or mean.

  That is what separates him from the Glenn Beck’s of the world. To grab attention, Beck pushes the envelope on how obnoxious he can be.

   Being outrageous is a quicker path to fame and glory than serious journalism. Ann Coulter is making more money than the people who win Pulitzer prizes. Beck probably is too.

  I wonder if the Ken Kurtz news model can survive.

  Ken’s broadcasts were first in the ratings and usually by a wide margin. He built his broadcasts on local talent, hard news and pleasant on-camera personalities. If you meet the reporters that Ken hired, like Barbara Bailey or Bill Bryant, they are just as nice off air as they appear on air. They are also serious journalists.

  I’ve never heard Barb and Bill refer to themselves as rodeo clowns.

  A Ken Kurtz news broadcast  was a newscast, not an opinion show.

  A true television newscast is getting hard to find.  CNN Headline News used to be  my first choice, but I quit watching it when they started featuring “commentators”  like Beck and Nancy Grace.

  For the sake of ratings, many stations forgo political coverage and focus on sex, blood and drugs. Because it works,   that trend will increase in the future.

  I frequently watch WYMT’s newscasts from Hazard on my computer. You can tell that Neil Middleton, the news director, was trained by Ken Kurtz.  Neil’s broadcasts have friendly, home-grown reporters who do serious news.  There may be a day when Middleton sends his angelic news anchor Danielle Morgan (daughter of a Leslie County preacher) to pose as an undercover street hooker, but it hasn’t happened yet.

  I hope it never does.

  I know that being edgy sells. My most outrageous columns are the ones people remember, and they are also the ones that get tons of hate mail.

  I don’t write to get ratings; I write  because I am mad and want politicians to do something.

  There is a line between true outrage and being a rodeo clown. I don’t want rodeo clowns in the news business.

  I don’t think Howard Kurtz does either. He ought to bring the other Kurtz on his show.

  Instead of learning how to be an obnoxious jerk like Beck, we could learn how to be a Hall-of-Famer.

 The news business would be better off all around.

  Don McNay is Chairman of McNay Settlement Group, where we hope Glenn Beck never comes to visit.  You can write to him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or read other things he has written at www.donmcnay.com.  His award-winning column is syndicated on the CNHI News Service, and he is on the Board of Directors for the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.