And it's safe to say Kurtz would agree with that statement, although it's somewhat more difficult to quantify his feelings towards Touby herself. The article, which ostensibly starts out praising Touby for her early networking efforts and her dedication towards creating an entire community for aspiring journalists (a point reiterated by enthusiastic protege/supporter Rachel Sklar) quickly gains momentum by quoting Touby's dissatisfied former underlings (like Jesse Oxfeld, who describes her as "overbearing") and emphasizing her increasing focus on profits and the gossipy and cliquish nature of her blogs.

So what's Kurtz's underlying point? Is he suggesting that Touby has lost her focus, that the journalistic utopia she once envisioned has instead yielded a celebrity media circus? That her ideal of an all-inclusive community (built on "warmth and camaraderie") has become as cliquish and cutthroat as any other? If so, then I'd be the first to agree. Although I'd also be hard-pressed to hold just one person responsible, whether it's the founder of Mediabistro or the founding editor of Gawker.

But then again, I don't have an ax to grind.

After all, in addition to interviewing enterprising media folks like Touby, Kurtz is still dealing with the backlash from reports that he recently passed off a colleague's scoop as his own by neglecting to credit New York Press editor David Blum with a "scoop" that he "glanced" at—then reproduced without proper citation. All in all, a juicy story – and one that was, coincidentally, originated and perpetuated by those pesky media sites Kurtz has conceivably come to resent.

Ultimately, if Kurtz is taking a subtle stand against our media-obsessed culture, he's certainly not without merit. But neither is he without motivation. Because if there's anyone who's witnessed firsthand the double-edged sword of media celebrity, it's Howard Kurtz.**

Hell, that maybe-plagiarism story was huge. And it arrived just in the inopportune nick of time to cast an ugly shadow over Kurtz's book launch. Even TVNewser and FishbowlDC (two of Mediabistro's premiere media gossip blogs) wrote about it. Of course, then again, they only cover stories of interest to "those who work at a particular company or are related to someone who does."

Right, Howard?

* Presumably due to some combination of Howard Kurtz and an overabundance of Daytime Sudafed.
**Or Jon Friedman.