This is beyond absurd.

Today, Howie Kurtz, the Washington Post’s media critic, has decided to out Murray Waas of the National Journal. What sort of dirt does Mr. Kurtz have on Mr. Waas? What deep dark secret does Kurtz feel compelled to expose? Why, that Murray Waas is a cancer survivor, that’s what:

For a reporter whose specialty is digging out secrets, Murray Waas has been keeping one about himself for a long time.

He was once diagnosed with an advanced form of cancer and told he had little chance of survival. More recently, he had to fight off a recurrence and his subsequent bankruptcy from medical bills. […]

…Did Waas’s near-death experience, and subsequent complications, affect his journalism? How could such a searing experience not change your outlook on work and life?

Waas, who works for the National Journal and has drawn attention lately for several scoops in the CIA leak investigation, sued George Washington University Medical Center for failing to diagnose his cancer, winning a $650,000 judgment. But over the years he has persuaded other reporters to steer clear of his medical history on grounds that it was private — an interesting stance for a journalist who asks probing questions for a living.

Oh my Gawd! Murray Waas had CANCER!!! Shout it to the roof tops! And he went bankrupt because of it. And he sued his doctors for failing to diagnose his cancer. And won $650,000! And he has discouraged other journalists from writing about his private medical history!

My Gawd, what a slime ball this Mr. Waas is, to want to keep his private life private. Why, we just know that it had to have some major impact on his reporting! It explains everything about why Mr. Waas has been such a diligent reporter of the CIA leak case involving the outing of Valerie Wilson!

To borrow a phrase, “Not Exactly.”

(cont.)

To be blunt, this is ludicrous. Waas’ past medical condition has nothing to do with his reporting. And it’s no crime to be a cancer survivor, nor to sue your doctor for malpractice.

Waas pursued his reporting of the CIA leak case because he is a good reporter, period. He thoroughly investigated a story which no one else in the media bothered to pursue with half as much professionalism, partly because so many of our big time elite media organizations and their reporters were hopelessly compromised because they were part of the story. TIME magazine, the New York Times, NBC, the Washington Post: all had reporters who were involved in the leaks by Rove, Libby and Cheney.

Thank God we had Murray Waas around. He actually took the outing of a covert CIA operative by the Bush administration, and the resulting cover-up by those same Bush officials, seriously. And this is his reward from his peers at the elite news organization: to have his personal business spread across the pages of the Washington Post, as if he were some low life criminal. To have Howard Kurtz, hypocrite extraordinaire, opine about how all this “messy personal history” involving cancer and ” his near death experience” may have effected his journalism? Mr. Kurtz, this is frankly despicable.

I doubt it will do any good, but let’s bombard Mr. Kurtz and the Post’s ombudsman, Deborah Howell, with emails, and WaPo with letters to the editor suggesting he give us the lowdown on his personal life and asking him to speculate on how that may have affected his journalism. Certainly it hasn’t done so for the better.

Washington Post writers and editors can be contacted by regular mail at:

Managing Editor
and Howard Kurtz
The Washington Post
1150 15th Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20071

Email Kurtz here: LINK.

Email for Deborah Howell, Wapo ombudsman:
ombudsman@washpost.com or call her at 202-334-7582.

The e-mail address for letters to the editor is letters@washpost.com.