transition to Fox a little easier during his final show on CNN. Nothing like carrying a little water for your new employer on your way out the door.

My initial reaction to this segment was that it could be summed up with two questions that Kurtz was basically asking, as he and his guests opined over the media coverage of the recent Supreme court rulings on DOMA and Prop 8. He just didn't put them this bluntly:

1) Why isn't everyone being nicer to those poor put upon bigots who are angry about these rulings and giving them more air time?

2) How dare those gay journalists celebrate the gay marriage ruling?

Media Matters did a much better job here of describing Kurtz's final appearance on Reliable Sources: Before Moving To Fox, Howard Kurtz Praises Its "Call For Balance" In Marriage Equality Commentary:

In his final edition of CNN's Reliable Sources before moving to host a media criticism show on Fox News, Howard Kurtz praised Fox's "call for balance" in covering the Supreme Court's rulings on marriage equality, which he contrasted with the rest of the media "rooting for" equality.

Kurtz's new Fox News program will replace Fox News Watch, the network's media criticism show which followed a regular pattern of attacking the "liberal bias" of the press while praising Fox coverage and ignoring stories that reflected badly on Fox or its parent company. Kurtz himself has at times been harshly critical of Fox, while maintaining a close relationship with its president Roger Ailes and defending the network from allegations of bias.

Kurtz opened his final CNN show by stating that when "the Supreme Court issued a pair of rulings boosting same-sex marriage, the only real question was how far the media would go in treating it as a victory." He questioned whether journalists are "being fair to the other side of this emotional debate." Later in the segment, he called the media's tone "strikingly upbeat" and questioned whether they were "rooting for what was framed as a victory for gay rights," airing clips from ABC, CNN, and MSNBC to make his point.

But there was outlet that came in for Kurtz's praise: Fox News. Kurtz said that on his new employer's airwaves, "there were few outright denunciations of the rulings, but there was a call for balance," airing a clip of Fox News' Laura Ingraham saying that she wanted to make sure that "both sides can be heard without people who believe in traditional marriage being branded as intolerant or anti-gay." Read on...