According to New York Times reporter Brian Stelter, late-night host Stephen Colbert announced on his program that he is transfersing his super PAC to Jon Stewart.

The New York Times‘ Brian Stelter has been at the tip of the spear in covering the mysterious rift between Countdown host Keith Olbermann and Current TV. Yesterday, the website WhatsTrending.com reported “Keith Olbermann And Brian Stelter Duke It Out On Twitter,” but what really happened was Olbermann pushed back at Stelter’s latest reporting, and Stelter ignored him. Among the charges leveled by Olbermann is that Stelter “threatened” him.

The plot of the bewildering, apparently one-sided dispute between Countdown host Keith Olbermann and Current TV is thinning as it thickens. A source at the network tells Mediaite that, despite the ominous Hollywood Reporter story that “lawyers” are discussing the dustup over Current’s Iowa Caucus coverage, Olbermann’s attorneys have not been in touch with the network on that matter. The source also says that the network has invited Olbermann to anchor Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary coverage, but has not gotten a response.

Keith Olbermann has been manning the fort over at Current TV as its chief news officer since his departure from MSNBC last year, and yet at least one New York Times reporter noticed that, for his prominent position, he appears noticeably absent during the network’s campaign coverage. Brian Stelter went on a quest to find Olbermann outside of his time slot and found little answers, other than off-the-record tensions between Olbermann and the network’s administration.

The headline quote is not actually part of the text of Brian Stelter‘s eye-opening report on Fox News’ surprise hit The Five, but a description of the atmosphere from the inimitable Bob Beckel. He, along with producers and other co-hosts, spoke to Stelter in this week’s New York Times report that exposes several surprises about the show– the hosts were told they were trying out for a weekend hosting gig, for one– and tries to get to the bottom of its success.

On Friday, the New York Post‘s Page Six column suggested that Christiane Amanpour was about to step down as host of This Week. The column reported that Amanpour would return to CNN, the network she left last year to join ABC.

Major changes at the top of Gawker’s masthead are afoot for the next year, as Editor in Chief Remy Stern announced today that he would be leaving the site. Stepping into his shoes will be longtime Deadspin editor in chief AJ Daulerio. The New York Times reports that changes take place at the end of the year, though Stern called today his last day on the job.

As part of our one-part series Project: In Vino, Mediaite set out to capture media elites, gathered to fête Hardball host Chris Matthews‘ Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero, in their alcohol-lubricated natural habitat, and maybe to drink some of it ourselves. With the aid of a hidden camera, I ventured to MSNBC’s book party Tuesday night to tear the lid off of this den of open bars and Wagyu beef hors d’oeuvres.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, which devastated much of the Northeast (though not exactly where predicted), the media woke up to a debate on whether the entire threat was more bark than bite. On tonight’s program, Piers Morgan and a panel that included New York Times reporter Brian Stelter and meteorologist Chad Meyers challenged Washington Times reporter Joseph Curl to defend his claim that the devastation wasn’t enough against damage statistics.

Trying to follow coverage of Hurricane Irene? Wonder what hurricanes are like for people who’ve never experienced ‘em before? Then consider following The New York Times‘ Brian Stelter — media guy-turned-storm chaser (for the time being) — as he livetweets the hurricane, along with pictures and video footage.

The hiring of Al Sharpton as host over at MSNBC has raised many an eyebrow given his past as businessman, activist, and host. But at Fox News, it appears to be inspiring nothing but ridicule. On today’s Fox News Watch, the panel discussed what could have possibly convinced MSNBC to hire him (the answers included “quid pro quo” and “ideology”), but ended on this anticlimactic note: “Why does anybody listen to Al Sharpton?”

The New York Times media reporter Brian Stelter will write a book, tentatively titled The Top of the Morning, “about TODAY, Good Morning America and the other morning shows that collectively set the nation’s breakfast table every day,” Stelter writes this morning on his personal website.

Who: Gay Talese, David Carr, Andrew Rossi, moderated by Bill Keller
What: “Page One: Inside The New York Times”
Where: Times Center
When: June 14, 2011
Thumbs: Way Up

Director Andrew Rossi‘s upcoming film Page One: Inside The New York Times (opening June 17th in New York, and nationally July 1) documents a year in the life of the Gray Lady, but also sets the table for what may either be the print media’s suffocation within, or emergence from, the chrysalis of the brave new media world. Rossi spoke with Mediaite about his film, its de facto star (Times Media reporter David Carr), and what it all means for journalism.

The New York Times‘ Brian Stelter recently visited tornado-ravaged Joplin, Missouri. He live-Tweeted much of his visit and, now, has assembled his thoughts together in a Tumblr post.

As first reported by Mediaite, Morning Joe executive producer Chris Licht has agreed to leave MSNBC for CBS News, where he will become vice president of programming for the news division, according to The New York Times.

According to the Times‘ Brian Stelter, the hiring of Licht is intended to be a boost to a news division that trails its competition:

The New York Times is reporting that Christina Norman, head of the four-month old Oprah Winfrey Network, has been dismissed. As Brian Stelter reports, “Peter Liguori, the chief operating officer for Discovery Communications, will take over the channel on an interim basis. Mr. Ligouri’s appointment is effective immediately and will likely last into the fall, if not longer.”

In an interview with The Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz, NY Times Executive Editor Bill Keller defended the NY Times ability to cover Fox News objectively, despite comments he made that were critical of the cable news network and the people that regularly watch Fox News. Speaking specifically about his media reporters, Keller claimed “they are professionally indifferent to that fact that Fox maintains a stable of commentators who make a good living bashing the Times.” But did Keller compromise the editorial objectivity of his staff and paper by openly attacking an entity so often in the news?

Man, Keith Olbermann is gonna be so jealous. In an incredibly complimentary article in The New York Times, Bill Carter and Brian Stelter compare Jon Stewart to Edward R. Murrow over his passionate work in getting the 9/11 First Responders Bill passed. The piece doesn’t soft-sell it either. It’s entitled “In ‘Daily Show’ Role on 9/11 Bill, Echoes of Murrow.”

After a New York Post column last week that claimed a fed up Kathleen Parker “stormed off” the set of CNN’s ratings-challenged Parker Spitzer, Parker tells The New York Times‘ Brian Stelter there has indeed been “some editorial and political tension.”

NBC Nightly News may be about to make one of the strangest pitches in the history of network news: If you don’t watch, maybe you’d like to DVR us?

With the fight between Fox and Cablevision quickly approaching tomorrow night’s midnight deadline, is binding arbitration the answer to the growing annoyance of feuds between TV networks and cable companies? Congressmen Steve Israel and Peter King of New York think so, and they might be the right.

The New York Times‘ Media Decoder blog raised an interesting possibility today – MSNBC.com, the NBC/Microsoft co-owned news site, may be re-branding itself as…something else, in an attempt to distance itself from the cable news channel of the same name.

It appears that the terrible ratings finally caught up with him. Brian Stelter at the NY Times reports that beleagured president of CNN Jon Klein is out of his current position, replaced by Ken Jautz, who is currently heading up HLN. CNN’s Worldwide Chief sent a memo to CNN’s staff this morning indicating that Klein was leaving with “our respect and friendship” without specifying the reason why he was out, though certainly CNN’s declining ratings were at issue.

Howard Fineman is the latest big name to depart Newsweek since the Washington Post Company sold it and editor Jon Meacham departed. Brian Stelter at the NYT broke the news this afternoon.