This week, viewers of Current TV’s Countdown have been treated to syndicated liberal radio powerhouse Bill Press filling the anchor chair for bronchitis-stricken Keith Olbermann. Contrary to this item at Huffington Post, Press will also host Countdown‘s Florida primary coverage Tuesday night, along with guest analyst Eliot Spitzer (Spitzer will then fill in as Countdown host Wednesday night). Olbermann’s absence may be providing viewers with a glimpse of Current’s future.

In the world of the microscopic news cycle, a year is a mighty long time. Think “dog years” on steroids. Over the course of the past year, in thousands (around 7,500 ) of articles and millions (between 3 and 4 million) of words, Mediaite has covered the ups and downs of that whizzing, ricocheting media world. In case you lost track in that sea of information, we’ve compiled a list of 2011 Media Winners and Losers that we hope will be the start  of a conversation, not the end of one. Here, in no particular order, are Mediaite’s 2011 Media Winners and Losers.

Can America’s problems be solved if only we had more cowboys? “Cowboy Libertarian” radio host Patrick Dorinson joined Fox & Friends hosts Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade live today from the cowboy stronghold (?) of San Francisco, where he helped the two distinguish between cowboy and city values, argued in favor of Rick Perry‘s Texas spirit, and decried an America where Eliot Spitzer could host a television show despite “cavorting with hookers.”

Last week’s horrific rampage in Norway by gunman Anders Behring Breivik was a huge story no matter what due to the scope of the tragedy involved, but it became that much bigger as soon as Breivik was labeled as an extreme right-wing “Christian fundamentalist.” Predictably, some took issue with that characterization, and just as predictably, Bill Maher tonight used the tragedy as a jumping-off point to take issue with something more – religion in general.

Well, Bill Maher‘s still not happy with President Barack Obama. In the same week he told Lawrence O’Donnell that he wasn’t sure what the president was thinking when it came to tackling the nation’s debt problem, he used the beginning of his panel debate on tonight’s Real Time to essentially say the same thing. Suffice to say, Maher believes Obama is letting the other party dictate the action…and that next November, it could cost him.

In an interview with Adweek‘s Brian Braiker, CNN managing editor Mark Whitaker describes his vision for the future of the news network. Simply put, it’s not just about breaking news, but it will probably look a lot like Anderson Cooper. “I think we’re in a day and age when you can have all the qualities of a great journalist but have a human side as well, and even a sense of humor. In many ways Anderson Cooper is the model that we increasingly are going to, not that everyone has to be Anderson Cooper.”

If it’s the buzz in media, you’d expect it to gain a mention on one of those weekend media criticism shows, like Fox’s Fox News Watch. As expected, the show spent considerable time on the question of media coverage of the Casey Anthony murder trial and verdict, asking “did the media convict Casey Anthony?” The show took up the issue of MSNBC’s Mark Halperin and his off-color comment about President Obama that got him suspended from the network, DSK, Vice President Joe Biden‘s new Twitter account, and the cancellation of the Eliot Spitzer-led CNN show, In the Arena. Pretty much sums up the media week–unless you count that massive media scandal in the U.K. that involves the most powerful media tycoon on Earth who just so happens to run the company that owns the Fox News Channel?

As the media learned earlier today, tonight was Eliot Spitzer‘s last night hosting his 8PM CNN show In the Arena, and in the final minutes of his program, Spitzer signed off with quite the apt quote from President Teddy Roosevelt: “the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena… who strives valiantly.”

At CNN, “outspoken” is out, and reporting is in. The network unveiled a new lineup Wednesday that will debut in the fall, moving Anderson Cooper to 8 p.m., bumping Eliot Spitzer and bringing in Erin Burnett. “The overall lineup is meant to underscore CNN’s commitment to quality journalism,” said CNN executive vice president Ken Jautz in an interview with Mediaite. In each hour of the new lineup, Jautz says, CNN will offer “first rate reporting” and a “wide range of opinions.”

Well whispers of Eliot Spitzer‘s demise as host of the 8pm show In the Arena have now been confirmed: CNN has officially cancelled the 8pm show while announcing a new prime time lineup in its place. Spitzer’s spot will be replaced by Anderson Cooper‘s AC 360 at 8pm, and his re-air will now move to 10pm. Also, Erin Burnett‘s new and yet-unnamed-program will move in to the 7pm slot, replacing John King USA which will now air at 6pm. Piers Morgan Tonight holds steady at 9pm. Press release after the jump.

CNN’s Howard Kurtz and Jeffrey Toobin joined Eliot Spitzer last night to discuss the media’s coverage of the Casey Anthony trial. Toobin suggested that despite most television commentators being hostile toward Anthony, her acquittal is evidence that the media’s influence isn’t so great as to impact the jury. Yet Kurtz was disturbed by a larger issue.

Most of what comes into American news from Syria are horrible tales of purges currently being undertaken by the draconian regime in power, in order to assure dictator Bashar al-Assad‘s immunity from the democratic movements across the Middle East. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, however, has brought back from Syria a different story, and on In the Arena last night, host Eliot Spitzer took the Congressman to task for fraternizing with a murderer.

In an interview with NPR, Fareed Zakaria says his network, CNN, ” is getting smarter…you can feel it in the stories,” under the leadership of Mark Whitaker, CNN’s managing editor and executive vice president. “You can feel it in the depth with which they’re covered, the kinds of people in terms of guests who are brought on air, the ways in which issues are discussed.”

Illinois’ Representative Joe Walsh sat down with In The Arena host Eliot Spitzer to discuss Barack Obama and, well. Let’s just say Walsh doesn’t need any help expressing himself.

Mark Halperin received universal criticism today after calling President Obama “kind of a d*ck” on Morning Joe today, and so far has found little sympathy for his comments from the media. On tonight’s In the Arena host Eliot Spitzer discussed his suspension with Mediaite founder Dan Abrams, who had no problem with Halperin’s sentiment but objected to the language: “there’s another way to say it.”

Depending on one’s view of Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, either Eliot Spitzer did a public service last night or committed another example of that often mentioned “mainstream liberal bias.” In his interview with Cain last night, Spitzer demanded specific answers from Cain on a bunch of issues, to which Cain uncomfortably and frequently responded “I am not going to let you pin me down on a specific.”

Former New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey says the passage of New York’s gay marriage bill Friday indicates politicians are lagging behind voters on the issue, in many cases as Americans accept and support members of their own family who’ve come out of the closet. You understand a nephew, a son, a father is gay, a mother. And that begins to make it very personal,” McGreevey told CNN’s Eliot Spitzer on In the Arena. “People understand — people have a personal connection with someone who is a member of the LGBT community and it profoundly changes the dynamic.

A few nights ago, Bill O’Reilly surprised some viewers by noting that he didn’t see the transgressions of Anthony Weiner as any worse than that of incumbent Senator David Vitter, and that the latter should resign. While the comment seemed consistent with his views on Weiner, Rachel Maddow last night took exception to his sudden calls for Sen. Vitter to vacate Congress, as he argued the exact opposite of that during the fall of Eliot Spitzer.

Anthony Weiner has finally stepped down from the only career that he has had in several decades, leaving many to wonder what he will now do to fill his time and support his new family. Eliot Spitzer, who knows a thing or two about rebounding after a sex scandal, weighed in on the matter tonight, and along with Mediaite founder Dan Abrams, concluded that the scandal could not keep him away from the political scene forever.

Kirsten Powers, a New York Postcolumnist and former flame of Rep. Anthony Weiner has a suggestion for the scandal-tarnished politico’s next job: “a show at CNN, maybe?” In an interview on Fox News, Powers argued Weiner’s “very good on television…he’s very smart” and then she delivered the backhand to Fox’s cable news rival: “CNN has shown they don’t have any problem with people who have had sex scandals have shows,” an obvious reference to CNN’s Eliot Spitzer.

Chris Matthews interviewed two guests about the ongoing Anthony Weiner controversy, yet the most interesting moment by far came when Matthews couldn’t hide his bewilderment as to why Eliot Spitzer, an up-close veteran of political sex scandals, was on television talking about Weiner. And Matthews seemed comically offended that Weiner’s only future career path might similarly be a job in television.

Looks like the Red Eye time machine was working overtime this week, as yet another Jay Leno joke from the future somehow ended up on the May 31st edition of the show. This time, Leno’s program made a joke about Anthony Weiner ending up hosting a CNN show a week after Greg Gutfeld did– and the resemblance after Leno seemed to have pulled a joke from Andy Levy two weeks ago certainly raises eyebrows.

The New York Post‘s Cindy Adams quotes New York mayor Michael Bloomberg explaining why nobody’s come forward to defend–or even support–Rep. Anthony Weiner. “Like Spitzer, he had no friends,” Adams quotes Bloomberg, who hosted a “Made in New York” party at Gracie Mansion. Bloomberg said Weiner should’ve “owned up right away” to his history of sexting and using social media to flirt–and more–with young women.

It’s been another day of Andrew Breitbart having to explain how, through no fault of his own, another nail just pierced Rep. Anthony Weiner‘s political coffin, and after releasing a statement earlier today explaining how he lost control of the one photo of Rep. Weiner he promised not to release, he appeared alongside host Eliot Spitzer to detail how the radio shock jocks breached his trust to publish the photo.

In an exclusive report in The Daily, Richard Johnson reports 30 Rock star Alec Baldwin–long an activist in Democratic politics and someone who’s toyed with a run for office–is now seriously considering a run for mayor of New York, now that Rep. Anthony Weiner “appears to have sexted himself out of the 2013 race,” writes Johnson.