Howard Kurtz is leaving the Washington Post for the Daily Beast, where he will be DC bureau chief. “GOING DIGITAL,” as Kurtz tweeted earlier today.
Among early reactions on Twitter: “Huge blow for WaPo” (CNN’s Ed Henry). “WOW! Loss to media beat” (Jeff Jarvis). “This is huge! Good move, Howie” (Dan Kennedy). “Huge news” (Garance Franke-Ruta).
And then, this from killjoy voice of reason(?), TBD.com’s Kevin Robillard:
Fellow journos, Howard Kurtz leaving WaPo is not “huge” news. BREAKING: Guy leaves company for higher-ranking position at other company
Tell that to Commentary‘s John Podhoretz, who tweeted this:
Very rarely can one actually say a job switch is the end of an era. But truly, Howie Kurtz leaving the Post is.
Or, it could be. An opportunity for the Post. (A CJR colleague is working on a piece exploring that). Or not. Maybe the Post would prefer that readers hardly notice a byline change. (In which case, um, Jon Friedman?)
Also on Twitter: Dave Weigel suggests Michael Calderone should be the new Kurtz (to re-tweets of approval). Matthew Cooper suggests Gabriel Sherman. And our own Dean Starkman got a vote. (We’re hoping to keep him, though.)
UPDATE: Man, it’s all men, these Twittered-about Kurtz replacements. Washingtonian’s suggestions, too. So…. Rachel Sklar? (Sort of like a trade?)
Liz Cox Barrett is a writer at CJR.