The Daily Download, the much-scrutinized project of media personalities Lauren Ashburn and Howard Kurtz that was shutdown in November 2013, still exists — at least on public TV in Arkansas.
A series of video reviews that Kurtz and Ashburn made for Maryland Public Television (MPT) have been airing on Jonesboro, Ark., public television throughout the month of January.
A representative of KTEJ, a public television station which is part of PBS-member Arkansas Educational Television Network, said they received "a new batch" of Daily Download videos from MPT in January and they use them as "filler" between programs.
The videos are described by MPT as "a series of video reviews that help consumers determine which websites and online tools for covering news and public affairs are effective and credible." They run 60 seconds.
Anusha Alikhan, a representative of the Knight Foundation, forwarded BuzzFeed to MPT. The Knight Foundation provided $230,000 to help support the launch of the Daily Download website.
MPT has not returned BuzzFeed's request for comment concerning whether the videos are still being produced or why KTEJ received a new "batch" of videos in January.
Kurtz was fired from his position as the Daily Beast Washington bureau chief in May after producing a video regarding out NBA player Jason Collins and amid questions about time Kurtz was spending on the Daily Download.
Kurtz joined the Fox News Channel in June of 2013, after his contract was not renewed at CNN. Ashburn joined him at Fox in August.
Gawker reported in early January that Kurtz had a much bigger financial ties with the Daily Download website than he had previously said and misled in a CNN interview when he said he had a "limited" and "freelance" role at the site.
