Tina Brown, the editor in chief, said in a Twitter post that Mr. Kurtz had “parted company” with the two online news sites. She did not give a reason, but the announcement came as Mr. Kurtz has been embroiled in a controversy over a blog post he wrote about the basketball player Jason Collins.

Mr. Collins co-wrote a Sports Illustrated article that was published on Monday in which he acknowledged that he was gay. In a post earlier this week, Mr. Kurtz lambasted Mr. Collins for not admitting in the article that he had once been engaged to be married.

But Mr. Collins had written about his engagement to a woman. The error made it appear as if Mr. Kurtz had not read the material, and he became the target of gleeful bashing on Twitter. The Daily Beast retracted the article on Thursday.

Mr. Kurtz, one of the most prominent media critics in the country, particularly from his time at The Washington Post, also came under scrutiny for the time he was spending on other ventures. On Wednesday, the Huffington Post columnist Michael Calderone wrote about Mr. Kurtz’s writing for and promoting an unaffiliated Web site called The Daily Download.

“This is not a reaction to the Jason Collins story or the Daily Download situation,” said a staff member at The Daily Beast, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the organization wanted Ms. Brown’s statement to be its only public comment.

“It’s been apparent for some time that Howie has a lot of other irons in the fire,” the staff member said.

In a Twitter message posted about an hour after his exit was reported, Mr. Kurtz wrote: “I’ve enjoyed my time at the Daily Beast but as we began to move in different directions, both sides agreed it was best to part company.”

He added in another message, “This was in the works for some time, but want to wish all my colleagues continued success with a terrific website.”

A spokeswoman for CNN did not respond to a request for comment about whether Mr. Kurtz would continue to host “Reliable Sources,” the channel’s Sunday media review show. Mr. Kurtz has led the show for over a decade.

Brian Stelter contributed reporting.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/03/business/media/howard-kurtz-leaves-daily-beast-after-column-is-retracted.html?partner=rss&emc=rss