About a month ago, Miles Smith, a weekend producer at WJLA, left his job. And Friday was Steve Friess‘s last day with Politico Pro. The couple is relocating to Ann Arbor, where Miles (pictured at far right) will return to school and Friess will resume his freelance writing career.

We’re thinking their respective office meetings in the last year made for interesting pillow talk. As is common knowledge, Robert Allbritton sold WJLA to Sinclair Broadcast Group.

See his heartfelt memo, including the revelation that he and his partner plan on becoming fathers. Read more

Are women on the rise at Politico? If you recall, in a recent interview with TNR, Executive Editor Jim VandeHei and Isaac Chotiner got in a verbal dust-up on the matter when Chotiner uttered the phrase “overt sexism” and suggested that Politico has a female problem. “I think women would find the premise deeply condescending,” VandeHei shot back at him, saying no one who presently works at Politico would make the charge. And the facts are what they are. Even if you argue this may just be for appearance sake, there are a lot of females in high-ranking roles.

In recent months Politico has been a steady procession of men out of leadership posts. With what looks to be a substantial overhaul of Politico management, the winners are all women. Tim Grieve, who had repeatedly been accused of treating women unfairly, is out and now at National Journal, where his new colleagues say he couldn’t be nicer; Craig Gordon, the highest ranking male outside of VandeHarris is gone as of today — he’s off to Bloomberg News, where he’ll be Deputy Managing Editor. Females in high-ranking roles at Politico include Susan Glasser, who they’ve hired to run a longform magazine project and one their newest hires, Denise Kerston Wells, who they snagged from Washingtonian, to be a senior editor for the longform project. Danielle Jones, meanwhile, is the highest ranking woman in editorial who beat out Gordon and Grieve for job, Kim Kingsley is the COO and Rachel Smolkin, who will take over for Gordon.

We asked Politico Editor-in-Chief John Harris if this has been a concerted effort combat the rap and put women in top roles and will report back if he replies.

See the extremely complimentary memo from Politico on Gordon as well as Bloomberg‘s announcement… Read more

It’s not often that God’s richest blessings are offered in a network news release. Then again this is the Christian Broadcasting Network.

Longtime news anchor Lee Webb is leaving at the end of the month.  Gordon Robertson, CBN’s CEO, announced the news today. Webb is leaving CBN to join Dr. R.C. Sproul and his organization, Ligonier Ministries in Sanford, Fla., where he has accepted the post of Vice President of Broadcasting. Replacing him is John Jessup, who has worked with CBN since 2003, where he has reported on Capitol Hill from the Washington, D.C. Bureau and filed stories for the 700 Club. With his promotion, the news segment will now be anchored live from Washington.

CBN’s Founder and Chairman, Pat Robertson, said in a release, “Lee Webb has brought grace and professionalism to every aspect of our news.  He is a consummate professional, a dedicated Christian and a wonderful family man.  We wish him God’s richest blessings in his new place of service.”

Some exciting news that should please Washington’s female journalists.

Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff will be co-anchors and and managing editors for the “PBS NewsHour.” The news was announced today at the Television Critics Association Press Tour. On Monday through Thursday, the women will co-anchor the news together. On Friday, Woodruff will fly solo as Ifill hosts “Washington Week.”

In other “PBS NewsHour” news, a release states that Hari Sreenivasan will be a senior correspondent. In addition, three correspondents have been given specific areas of content responsibility and will be contributing on a daily basis to both the broadcast and online operation. Jeffrey Brown was named Chief Correspondent for Arts, Culture, and Society. Ray Suarez was named Chief National Correspondent. And Margaret Warner was named Chief Foreign Correspondent.

A few weeks back Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Sarah Schaffer up and left her position at Capitol File Magazine. Today Niche Media announced that Capitol File magazine Associate Publisher, Heather Zahn, has been named Publisher of the luxury lifestyle publication.

“Zahn brings a decade of experience in marketing, sales and journalism to her new role as Publisher,” they write. “In her new role Zahn will oversee all business aspects of the magazine including the expansion of Capitol File in the region while leading the brand’s print and digital advertising sales and robust marketing and events platforms.”

Zahn joined the mag in 2012 as Associate Publisher. She has a boatload of sales experience in the Baltimore-New York region and holds a Masters in Arts and magazine journalism from NYU.

NationalJournal.com Editor Tim Grieve is out with a memo this morning announcing brand new hires. Looks like they swiped two reporters from his former Politico stomping grounds. They include Patrick Reis (who he calls, ahem, hilarious), who he worked with at Politico Pro and Vivyan Tran, who will be their new digital editor.

“In one fell swoop, we’ve just hired a big collection of the best young journalists in Washington,” writes Grieve. “I could spend hours writing superlatives about this team, but let me get straight to the bold-faced names because they truly speak for themselves.” (Yes, please keep Summer Superlatives to us.)

See the rest of the rundown… Read more

After The Atlantic formally divulged the news Sunday evening, Bloomberg Media Group waited until just after midnight to send out its release making news of Justin Smith becoming CEO official. Unlike Atlantic Publisher David Bradly‘s memo, Bloomberg does not compare Smith and Mary Poppins. In fact, the quote about him is decidedly more dry.

See the release… Read more

Atlantic Media President Justin Smith is moving to Bloomberg Media to be its Chief Executive Officer. The announcement came Sunday night in a memo to staff. Rather than appoint a new successor, they will continue without “independent” of any reporting structure. He was with the company for six years. In a seriously lengthy and thoughtful farewell note, Publisher David Bradley, amid a plethora of compliments, compares him to Mary Poppins.

From David Bradley’s memo to staff sent tonight, July 28:

“Justin led The Atlantic for two years and then Atlantic Media for an additional four. In one sense, my time with Justin reminds me of the time I spent with the Atlantic’s late editor, Michael Kelly—the everyday, dialed-up to intensity. After six years, and speechless, any of us might ask, “Wow, what was that about?”

“In my frame, Atlantic Media was earning its doctoral degree in modern media from one of modern media’s master practitioners. What Justin believed, he taught, and, as with Michael again, Justin’s beliefs were fierce: That the revolution underway in media is more radical than we—the industry—appreciate. That the contest between legacy and insurgent players is mortal, with advantage to the insurgents. That surviving legacy properties will have had to learn the disciplines of the insurgents—and that they can. That velocity is first among the virtues. That the speed of change is unprecedented. That ideas have their season but not more. From search to social media to native advertising to the next advantage. And, that Atlantic Media could and would and has leapt to the frontier.

“…Justin will leave us a changed—and much better—media company. That begins with his—and now my—Atlantic Media leadership team. Scott, Bruce, Tim, Jean Ellen, Kat, Zazie, Michael, Tom, Emily. As with Justin, I have complete confidence in this group. More generally, and as to “extreme talent” across the board, I think Atlantic Media is at its record high-water mark. After reflection, I’ve decided that, rather than appoint a Justin successor, we will let the current leadership continue independent of any reporting structure—save to me—and grow to fill the empty spaces Justin’s departure leaves behind. In fact, I found this an easy call.”

See the full version of the deeply emotional memo of appreciation… Read more

TPM Editor Josh Marshall announces a few new hires today. They include Daniel Strauss from The Hill and Dylan Scott from Governing Magazine.

Congrats to both.

See the announcement…It’s thankfully short and sweet. Read more

National Journal‘s Josh Kraushaar will grab the torch of Editor-in-Chief of “The Hotline,” while Reid Wilson moves over to WaPo to head up a new online destination called GovBeat. The news was announced today and is already splattered around the Twitterverse.

“We’re thrilled that Josh has agreed to take the helm of Hotline,” said NJ Editor Charles Green. “He’s everything you’d want in an editor in chief: He commands the respect of politics junkies as one of the smartest political analysts in town; he knows the Hotline operation backwards and forwards; and he’s a digital innovator who will help Hotline evolve in its role as the premier political tip sheet in Washington.”

Kraushaar was managing editor for politics at NJ. Before that, he worked at Politico.

“It’s a tremendous honor to step in as the next editor-in-chief of the Hotline, and follow in the footsteps of the greats who have led the publication over the years – Doug Bailey, Chuck Todd, Amy Walter and my friend and longtime colleague Reid Wilson,” said Kraushaar. “At a time when it’s hard to separate the buzz from substance in political coverage, Hotline’s brand of authoritative aggregation and analysis continues to stand out from the pack. I am excited about the opportunity to cover the 2014 midterms and the 2016 presidential election with a talented team of Hotliners and expect big things in the months ahead.”

As Green wrote in a memo to NJ staff, “We wish Reid nothing but the best in his new job. He’s been a wonderful colleague and talented leader during his tenure at Hotline. We look forward to reading his work in the years to come.”

Wilson has been in the role of editor-in-chief since 2010.