Daily Howler - May 18, 2005

KURTZ TO THE RESCUE! Howard Kurtz profiles Newsweek’s Mark Whitaker. And boss-man has never seemed brighter

KURTZ TO THE RESCUE: Kurtz to the rescue! We couldn’t help chuckling as Howard Kurtz profiled Mark Whitaker in today’s Post. Newsweek, of course, is owned by the Post—and Whitaker, Newsweek’s man-in-charge, has never looked better than he does in this timely portrait. For us, the gushing peaked when Kurtz allowed Howard Fineman to spout about boss-man’s brilliance:

KURTZ (5/18/05): Newsweek has won four National Magazine Awards during Whitaker's tenure, ranging from coverage of 9/11 to the Iraq war to the 2004 election, and staffers describe the man as a fount of ideas. Fineman says Whitaker ordered him to do a "Bush and God" cover story in 2003 based on his past coverage of the president and religious conservatives. "He put two and two together in a way I hadn't thought of," Fineman says.