Larry King is continuing to make the interview rounds in the wake of retiring from his CNN show, this time returning to CNN as a guest on Reliable Sources and providing some more serious news than merely discussing Viagra or showing off his dance moves. Howard Kurtz grills King about his famously “softball” interviewing style and gets some surprising responses.

Presumably the Juan Williams mania will die down enough this week that everyone can return to obsessing over Jon Stewart‘s Rally to Restore Sanity this Saturday. On Reliable Sources yesterday Time television critic (and friend of Mediaite Office Hours) James Poniewozik weighed in.

I think it’s fair to say this news caught most people by surprise. Longtime Washington Post media reporter Howie Kurtz is leaving the paper to join Tina Brown‘s Daily Beast as the site’s Washington Bureau Chief.

A long discussion on CNN’s Reliable Sources this morning about the firing of Rick Sanchez, whether or not CNN fired him for the right reasons, and what may have inspired Sanchez to say these things in the first place. Moreover, did Rick Sanchez realize “Jon Stewart is a comedian and does a satirical show?”

Greta Van Susteren is piping up in defense of Glenn Beck. Sort of. Seem Greta stumbled upon this headline on Vanity Fair yesterday — Fox on the Rocks: Glenn Beck Despised by Network President, Other Employees — and took umbrage with it.

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.

On Reliable Sources this morning Howard Kurtz took the Lower Manhattan mosque debate one step further and asked whether, since the opposition to the mosque centers on the insensitivity of the location, Glenn Beck should consider moving his 8/28 Restoring Honor rally at the Lincoln Memorial because it falls on the anniversary of Martin Luther King‘s ‘I Have A Dream Speech.’

Howard Kurtz hates shark week. Kidding! Howie Kurtz simply does not approve of either Steven Slater nor the adoring coverage he received at the hands of the media. Especially the latter.

Howie Kurtz at WaPo notes an interesting trend among GOP candidates for this November’s midterms elections: instead of explaining themselves and backing up their arguments with facts, they are avoiding unfriendly press. Does this sound familiar at all?

Earlier this week Mediaite celebrated its one year anniversary and it’s hard not to argue that the site has a lot to celebrate. In recognition of that our publisher Dan Abrams talked to Howie Kurtz on CNN’s Reliable Sources this morning about the site’s success, why Dan decided to start a media site at such a difficult time in the industry, and whether the push for ideological cable hosts is a good thing.

Rabbi Nesenoff, whose video interview with Helen Thomas ended her career last week, is still making the media rounds. Only this weekend he seems slightly less enthralled with all the media attention than he did seven days ago. Nesenoff told Howie Kurtz that he has received over 25,000 pieces of hate mail (some of which you can read on his website), but even worse he has been learning about the “hate media.” Get out the violins folks!

This post has nothing to do with Rand Paul, but wow, talk about a media “gotcha” moment. British tabloid News of the World has apparently caught Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson asking for approx. $750,000 from an undercover reporter in exchange for access to her ex-husband, the Queen’s second son, Prince Andrew, who is now a UK Special Representative for Trade and Investment. The kicker: they have it on tape via a hidden camera.

Predictably, a great many people (read: journalists) were less than thrilled to see the New York Times anoint Politico’s Mike Allen the most influential journalist in Washington. In his WaPo column today Howie Kurtz politely suggests it might be otherwise. Hmm.

Press Sec. Robert Gibbs Reliable Sources this morning where after a few quick nods to the SCOTUS selection process Howie Kurtz quickly turned the talk to Fox News. Is the White House softening in its approach to the ‘wrestling’ that goes on on Fox News? Gibbs’ remarks regarding the news network bordered on genteel compared to some of the criticism we’ve heard from the administration in the past (and from others outside it today).

David Frum continued his ‘Waterloo’ media rounds this weekend stopping by Reliable Sources to further discuss both his firing from AEI and his continuing takedown of the GOP’s decision-making throughout the health care process and its relationship with the GOP. It’s unhealthy relationship with Fox. Says Frum: “The Republicans originally thought that Fox works for us, and now we’re discovering we work for Fox.”

Does this finally make it official? In case you’ve missed the months of media coverage on Sarah Palin, the New York Times’ media columnist David Carr has weighed in on the matter and declared her “a one-woman national media empire.” Sound familiar?

I think it’s also hard to argue that the organization driving most of the national political stories is Politico. Considering the site has such powerful clout it was interesting to hear the founding editors John Harris and Jim VandeHei tell Howie Kurtz on this weekend’s Reliable Sources that they are basically dope suppliers to an audience of political junkies who thrive on the minutiae.

Howie Kurtz may think that the media-at-large owes Gov. David Paterson an apology but it looks like Gov. Paterson is currently only interested in directing all his ire at the New York Times. Might that have anything to do with this weekend’s campaign announcement?

On yesterday’s Reliable Sources Howie Kurtz highlighted the “egregious rumor-mongering” that followed Gov. David Paterson around these last two weeks. Cue a montage of website screen shots featuring breathless headlines — including Mediaite — to illustrate his point: the Internet is irresponsible, rumor-infested, and evil! To which we say: Oh please.

“Let the record show that I also had a really pleasant conversation with Roger Ailes at a Christmas party once, that I shook Bill O’Reilly’s hand at Terry McAuliffe’s book party, and that I’m 99 percent sure Glenn Beck passed me in a green Bentley once on the Merritt Parkway.” — Rachel Maddow. It doesn’t stop there.

Apparently, the surprise daytime visit President Obama paid to the White House briefing room last week was not nearly enough to quell complaints that by not giving a full presser to the White House press corps. Obama is trying to do an end run around the 4th Estate. Is Obama afraid of tough questions?

Is Arianna Huffington vs. Glenn Beck the new Keith Olbermann vs. Bill O’Reilly, or perhaps even the new Andrew Breitbart vs. Media Matters? Huffington is certainly taking advantage of every available opportunity to direct attention to what she describes as Beck’s “dangerous” language. But is she missing the point?

It looks like Glenn Beck isn’t the only one responding to the media’s personal critiques of his on air behavior. I missed this Monday, but turns out Jon Stewart (very briefly) responded to Howie Kurtz‘s speculation that Stewart was a secret neocon. Funny, funny stuff.

Back in 2008 plenty of people were concerned that Barack Obama’s election would be the end of political humor, particularly where Jon Stewart was concerned. Mostly because Obama was untouchable (ha!). However, Stewart has been taking such sharp aim at the President of late (or is it that Obama is just provided a bigger target?) that some people are speculating he may be…wait for it…a secret neocon!

Interesting little fact courtesy of Howie Kurtz this morning. Turns out the coverage of President Obama in 2009 was totally fair and balanced…if you look at it from the batting average perspective. Also, FOX likes Obama less than the other networks.