Mediaite has learned that Fox News White House correspondent Major Garrett is leaving the network effective September 3rd to return to his roots in print journalism. White House correspondents Wendell Goler and Mike Emanuel will assume joint coverage of the WH beat for Fox News. The highly respected White House reporter weathered numerous battles between FNC and the White House and maintained the highest standard of journalism during his tenure. Full press release after the jump.

President Barack Obama is scheduling a trip to the Gulf of Mexico to check on the seemingly endless ordeal that is the BP oil disaster (remember that?)– a trip that, depending on what the President does down there, could have many political and, for the people of the Gulf, cultural repercussions. The event the White House Press Corps want to see the most? The President, in his swimwear, flopping around in the water.

It has been a little over two months since Helen Thomas‘ whirlwind retirement, and while the final days of her career were filled with controversy, she remains a historic figure in journalism. That’s why I suggested, several months ago, that the nameplate from her front row center seat be enshrined on a plaque, either in the briefing room or at the WHCA.

Following today’s presentation of a Super Bowl Jersey, by the New Orleans Saints to President Obama, several Saints players delivered a rare treat to the normally vending-machine-fed White House Press Corps: A sample of some seafood from the BP-ravaged Gulf of Mexico. Aside from feeding the faces of some grateful White House reporters, the demonstration helped to show that Gulf seafood is bouncing back, and to hopefully move some cookbooks for a good cause.

Yesterday, CNN’s Rick Sanchez lamented the fact that Fox News got a front row seat, because “don’t you have to be a news organization to get that seat?” It was unclear what Sanchez’s goal was with those comments, but whatever he intended, they garnered him the illustrious “Pinhead” award on tonight’s O’Reilly Factor, and the worst attempt at “not gloating” on TV in some time.

Last night, an excited Bill O’Reilly did some daydreaming aloud on The Factor about “tying up” Fox News’ White House correspondent Major Garrett up and rotating use of his front-row White House Press Corps seat with Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck. With some in the media squirming in their seats about the possibility of a Beck/Hannity shouting match in the briefing room, O’Reilly’s executive producer felt the need to speak out today to clarify.

The big news in today’s White House press briefing was Gibbs’ official apology to former USDA employee Shirley Sherrod, coming off the heels of the release of a complete speech of which an excerpt was used to brand her a racist and subsequently cost her her job. But in probing for the reason why this story unfolded this way, one reporter wrankled Robert Gibbs into asking why the media covers departures in the Obama administration at all.

In the wake of Helen Thomas‘ untimely retirement, immediate speculation on who would get her front row-center seat quickly turned into (non-gleeful) consensus that it would be Fox News. This didn’t sit very well with liberal media watchdog Media Matters. Ironically, though, their faint damnation of Fox News Chief White House Correspondent Major Garrett actually undercuts their larger point about Fox News.

Since the abrupt retirement of Helen Thomas earlier this week, the White house Press Corps is now without its unofficial Dean. Since Helen was the most senior of all White House correspondents, her departure has left Audio-Video News’ Connie Lawn and World Net Daily‘s Les Kinsolving as the 1st and 2nd most senior members of the corps, respectively. While neither has designs on the deanship, they each had a lot to say about Helen’s departure, and the current state of the White House briefings.

On last night’s Daily Show, host Jon Stewart (or as I like to call him, “Respectable #37“) eviscerated the White House Press Corps over what he calls “jockeying” for Helen Thomas‘ front row seat, the Biden BBQ Brouhaha, and the quality of their questions. While the bit was hilarious (I especially loved the reference to whammy-rific game show “Press Your Luck“), I would like to point out a few things.

Although it just happened Monday, it seems like ages since Helen Thomas abruptly retired following a firestorm over comments she made about the Middle East. While speculation began immediately over who would end up in Helen’s front row center seat in the briefing room, a clear consensus among White House reporters has taken shape: looks like Fox News’ Major Garrett might be the big winner

Hearst Newspapers columnist and trailblazing White House correspondent Helen Thomas has retired today, a swift conclusion to a story that only broke on Friday, quick even by the standards of today’s microscopic news cycle. Along the way, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin tried to leech onto the story by tweeting that Helen’s “press pals condone racist rant,” referencing comments Helen made at the White House on May 27th. I was in the White House briefing room today, and I can tell you that Palin’s tweet couldn’t be further from the truth.

With the news that Helen Thomas is officially retired, the question becomes: who gets her prime briefing room real estate?

Let’s put it to a poll!

Well this isn’t likely to turn out well for White House Press Corps legend Helen Thomas The senior correspondent to Hearst newspapers was interviewed on camera by Rabbi David Nessenoff of Rabbilive.com (during the Jewish Heritage reception at the White House) and let lose some commentary that is sure to make many wonder if seasoned Thomas might be losing it. Thomas has since issued an apology, which can be read below.

Yesterday the White House press corps cameras captured a rodent of some sort, scampering across steps just beneath the lectern where President Obama was speaking. The visual quickly made its way through the viral news cycle of the Internet, and was viewed by some as a perfect symbol: a rat scampering away during a speech on financial reform. During a lighter moment (of an otherwise contentious press briefing) White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked about what kind of rodent it was, claiming “its a rat.”

Anyone who doubts the toughness of the White House Press Corps needs to watch this. At today’s White House briefing, Robert Gibbs took a barrage of questions regarding the administration’s involvement in the response to the BP Oil Spill. Gibbs maintained that, while BP is responsible for the cost and direction of the recovery effort, the government has exercised strong oversight.

News broke recently that a new biography of Rush Limbaugh is coming out and includes a funny story of President Obama turning down an offer to play golf with Limbaugh, saying that the conservative radio host could “go play with himself.” Limbaugh has since responded, comedically claiming “now wait a second, they’re confusing me with Bill Clinton.” Well Mediaite’s own member of the White House Press Corps tried to get to the bottom of this, as you can see in the following exchange:

I’m not sure this is what the White House Press Corps had in mind when they called for President Obama to engage with them more. Nevertheless, this is what they got recently. During a trip to Industrial Support Inc., a manufacturing services company in Buffalo, N.Y. on Thursday, Obama called upon New York Times reporter Sheryl Stolberg to demonstrate for the class press corps, how the hovercraft that was being shown to him worked: “Sheryl, you’re pretty small, you can fit on this thing.”

I think that a far more productive use of everyone’s time would be for the President to conduct one briefing a month, unannounced and on a day chosen at random, from Gibb’s podium in the Brady Briefing Room. This would result in a much freer exchange, a more diverse roster of questioners, and more relevant, spontaneous questions.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was surprised today by an out-of-left-field birther question from a Fox News reporter. Despite what this sounds like, Fox News’ Wendell Goler was following up a question about the White House’s take on racial profiling with an interesting notion: have the birthers made Muslim-American outreach awkward for President Obama?

During the press briefing today ABC Radio’s Ann Compton asked Gibbs whether, following Sunday’s report of his meeting with White House Press Corps representatives to smooth over tense relations, he planned to makes changes with the way he, or the White House, dealt with the press, and whether he, himself, is “unhappy with the way he deals with the press.” The answer is no. Gibbs is not unhappy with the way he deals with the press.

The Washington Post did a lengthy profile on Robert Gibbs, from which the Huffington Post gleaned a list of the six biggest press corps complaints about Gibbs. There are some fair criticisms, some of which have been echoed on the record here at Mediaite, but much of the criticism of Gibbs is simply built into the divergent roles of Press Secretary and reporter.

During today’s White House press briefing, NPR’s Mara Liasson asked about Senator Mitch McConnell‘s “blasting the White House for jamming down the bill” just after he had met with President Obama. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs used an odd metaphor to dismiss complaints that the administration wasn’t willing to work with the GOP, saying “Republicans have made it to church” but “very few to the altar.” And some wonder why critics of this administration claim a messiah complex.

When I first saw Lloyd Grove‘s version of the now-annual effort to autopsy the White House press corps, I rolled my eyes in agreement with Glynnis MacNicol.

Then, I noticed that not one of the 3 C-Spans, nor any other news outlet, carried yesterday’s briefing. Heh, neat coincidence. No biggie. The timing’s a little weird, but these things happen.

Still, before this gains any more traction, allow me to make the case for the press corps to the writer of next year’s “Press Corpse” piece, and anyone else who’s interested.

The White House banned journalists from coming to the signing of a much-negotiated executive order on abortion yesterday, and, as expected, not everyone in the Press Corps were happy to hear that. Yet the voices shouting “what about transparency?” weren’t coming from the usual suspects–Robert Gibbs was explaining himself this morning to reporters from the AP, CNN, and MSNBC’s Chuck Todd.