Yesterday marked the end of Howard Kurtz’ tenure at the Washington Post and his The Daily Beast debut.

At the end of his final Media Notes, Kurtz writes, “I confess that I enjoyed David Carr’s New York Times line about my job switch prompting the most gasps since Dylan went electric in 1965. But that ain’t me, babe. While I would not have made such a leap even two years ago, it is an evolutionary move, not a revolutionary one, as we all grasp for ways to sustain and reinvent journalism.”

Kurtz will remain in the hosting reigns for CNN’s Reliable Sources, so this is more like when Dylan found out he could publish instantly on a blog rather than plugging into an amp. At Tina Brown’s Beast, which has now publicly announced an end to a proposed merger with Newsweek according to the Wall Street Journal, Kurtz will take on the newly minted Washington Bureau Chief role.

Fittingly Kurtz ran his first Beast article yesterday with a topic he has experience in: How The Media Blew The Midterms. The lede?

“The media narrative by now is set in concrete: The voters are teed off, rising up, mad as hell and ready to wreak havoc.”

Already Kurtz is out to flex his claws into something a bit more fierce–shall we say, “talons”–when it comes to his new home.
photo: NBC/Meet The Press

Howard Kurtz sheds the print skin at the Washington Post and joins up with Tina Brown’s The Daily Beast.

According to TV Newser, the long-time media columnist for the Post will become the Washingotn bureau chief for the online magazine built by the house of Brown and Barry Diller’s IAC. Kurtz will keep his show on CNN.

Kurtz has been the media reporter for the Post since 1990. He also famously updates on Facebook.

The clock started clicking the minute Rick Sanchez said “I think Jon Stewart’s a bigot.”

During the remainder of his September 30th interview on Stand Up! with Pete Dominick went downhill. From there the accusations became how Jon Stewart’s targets (“Everybody else who’s not like him”) represent bigotry to the control of Jews running major media organizations like CNN.

[TheWrap provides a full transcript here.]

By Friday night, Sanchez was let go from the company with the briefest response possible:

Rick Sanchez is no longer with the company. We thank Rick for his years of service and we wish him well.

No apology or word of the interview remained on Sanchez’ Twitter, which now is likely abandoned as the 145+ thousand followers will forget they ever followed the anchor who made new media his entire shtick. In fact, CNN’s only discussion of the event came during Howard Kurtz’ Reliable Sources yesterday according to TVNewser.

Of course far be it from Kurtz to not dig the knife in deeper by leading into his segment first with The Daily Show’s Sanchez reel and then asking whether Sanchez should’ve been “suspended…or tazed?”

Smooth, Howie. Smooth.

But now it’s Monday, no word about what will happen to Rick’s Twitter, which commands 140+ thousand followers who don’t seem to be dropping off–even after Friday’s announcement. So what happens when an influential Twitter personality just stops? Does it make a sound?

Last Thursday, eleven White House reporters sat down with President Obama for an off-the-record lunch. The President has talked off-the-record recently with commentators like MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and The Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson, so what makes it so newsworthy this time?

Is it because it took some digging to find out who the Lunching 11 were? The Upshot outed them last week (Associated Press, Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times, Politico, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and USA Today). Or is it because the New York Times has been so outspoken about refusing the White House invite?

Times reporter Peter Baker tells Howard Kurtz in the Washington Post these off-the-record sessions are “to be avoided if possible. It can too easily turn into a substitute for on-the-record….”

“We’re not trying to be haughty,” he adds, but “White House reporters get relatively few opportunities to talk to the president on the record.”

As reported by Politico’s Mike Allen, mere days ago White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs met with a delegation from the White House Correspondents’ Association, headed by Ed Chen, WHCA president and Bloomberg News White House correspondent.

Chen asked for the meeting “to clear the air because in my 10-plus years at the White House, rarely have I sensed such a level of anger, which is wide and deep, among members over White House practices and attitude toward the press.”

The two sides spoke on a number of issues including improved press access. Chen told Politico that he felt “very good about the collegial give and take.” Read the full interview from Politico.

President Obama’s

“President Obama hasn’t held a full-scale news conference since July. Instead, he answered a dozen people’s questions last week on YouTube, most of the easily finessed and — extra bonus! — no annoying follow-ups of the kind posed by real, live journalists.”

Watch the president’s YouTube interview below:

“It’s a source of great frustration here … It’s important for us to hold the president’s feet to the fire,” CBS White House correspondent Chip Reid told Kurtz.

Click here for the complete article.

Billy O'Reilly

Keith Olbermann

The so-called cease-fire between Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly and

MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann has ended … it may have been the shortest and least observed cease-fire in history.

According to a New York Times article, parent CEO’s Roger Ailes and Jeff Immelt got the pair to tone down their attacks. At least they had until the Times pointed it out, which has set off a new round of hostilities. Olbermann denied any deal to play nice and launched a new segment — “The Worst Persons in the World” — which was topped by O’Reilly and Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch.

O’Reilly, who refuses to mention Olbermann by name on his show, put Jeff Immelt and GE’s Securities and Exchange Commission fine back in his sights.

So, was there a cease-fire? Will there be another brokered peace? Howard Kurtz’s article in the Washington Post today cites Ailes as saying he could control his nutcases, but Immelt couldn’t control his.

Eva Longoria Parker and Rahm Emanuel

Howard Kurtz’s article in today’s WaPo says, “Perhaps no White House chief of staff in modern history has worked the media as aggressively and relentlessly as Emanuel. Drawing on his long-standing relationships with journalists, Emanuel serves up on-the-record quotes, background spin and the sort of capital gossip that lubricates relationships. The former Chicago congressman also seeks their take on events and floats possible administration tactics.”

Read the rest of the article here.

CNN Anchor Wolf Blitzer will attend the RTCA dinner

CBS, which is hosting a pre-party at the Convention Center, will have, among others, RNC Chairman Michael Steele; National Security Council member Samantha Powers; Dag Vega, the White House’s director of broadcast media and Lebanese Ambassador Antoine Chedid.

CNN, which took a full 15 tables, is hosting CIA Director Leon Panetta, U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan; White House Communications Director Anita Dunn and, as it usually does, a number of military folks, including Army Lt. General Francis Kearney.

There will be a full roster of CNN talent there, too, including Wolf Blitzer, Ed Henry, Suzanne Malveaux, Dan Lothian, Joe Johns, Heidi Collins, Brianna Keilar, Gloria Borger, Bill Schneider, Kate Bolduan, Barbara Starr, Chris Lawrence, Lisa Sylvester, Tom Foreman, Jim Acosta, Howard Kurtz and Jeffrey Toobin.