Reliable Sources is a weekly show on the cable/satellite news network CNN that focuses on analysis of the American news media. It was initially created to cover the media's coverage of the Persian Gulf War, but has since also covered the media's coverage of the Valerie Plame affair, the Iraq War, the outing of Mark Felt as Deep Throat, and many other events and internal media stories. The show debuted in 1992. Until 2009, it was broadcast as a stand-alone program, but on January 18, 2009,Reliable Sources became a segment during CNN's new Sunday morning political program State of the Union with John King, although it remained hosted by Kurtz and retained its timeslot. In January 2010, after John King left the show, Reliable Sources was re-spun off as its own show, moving back one hour in the process.
Reliable Sources reviews the coverage of the news stories of the past week by the media, in addition to news about the news media behind the scenes, all with a constantly changing group of online, print, and broadcast journalists. The segments also feature some one-on-one interviews with journalists taking part in a news event or covering a story, such as Bob Woodruff after his return to ABC News in February 2007 after his severe injuries in Iraq on January 29, 2006. Bernard Kalb was the founding host. Howard Kurtz had been host of the program for 15 years before leaving CNN to join Fox News Channel on July 1, 2013, where he became host of Media Buzz, which airs opposite Reliable Sources on Sunday mornings and serves as its direct competition. After Kurtz's departure, Reliable Sources used a rotating roster of guest hosts until December 8, 2013, when former New York Times reporter Brian Stelter became the program's permanent host. Since its debut, Reliable Sources has been based at CNN's bureau in Washington, D.C. The show is slated to move to the network's studios at Time Warner Center inNew York City on or around the week of September 21, 2014.
