It’s been almost exactly two years since Howard Kurtz’s last profile of (MS)NBC’s Chuck Todd. Back in May 2008, Kurtz reported that the “goateed” “”Chuckie T,’ as his colleagues call him” kept a “relentless” schedule, as a “most improbable TV star.” May 2010 finds “‘Chuckie T,’ as he’s sometimes [still] called” (still) “with a goatee,” keeping an “exhausting” schedule and (still) not “look[ing] or sound[ing] like a classic television correspondent,” according to Kurtz.
Why are we reading Kurtz on Todd again? Well, since Kurtz’s last Todd profile, Todd has added to his workload at NBC: he is now —in addition to being NBC’s political director and MSNBC’s First Read blogger— a “prolific Twitterer,” NBC’s chief White House correspondent (“he and [Savannah] Guthrie share the beat,” Kurtz notes) and co-anchor (with Guthrie) of the MSNBC show The Daily Rundown.
Why not profile Guthrie instead? She had one of the more memorable quotes in the piece (“We’re trying to bring news back to cable,” Guthrie says. She shoots a glance at a publicist: “Am I allowed to say that?”) Not to mention a memorable outfit, according to Kurtz (“Moments later Guthrie, wearing a ruffled white blouse and thigh-high boots…”) Except that, as Guthrie tweeted this morning— she’s a “Twitterer,” just like Todd — she doesn’t “own or wear thigh high boots.”
I was equally dismayed that all the focus of Kurtz's piece was on the over-publicized, way too media savvy Chuck Todd, like Savvanah Guthrie was chopped liver. You don't see many women today wearing thigh-high boots -- which seemed like a sexist way to describe her. Good for you for writing this. Alicia Shepard
#1 Posted by Alicia Shepard, CJR on Wed 26 May 2010 at 12:20 PM
Alicia,
Thanks for your input.
I checked -- no boots-related correction on this piece at the Post.
#2 Posted by Liz Cox Barrett, CJR on Wed 26 May 2010 at 04:10 PM