Is Woodward Dethroned?

With some surprises and some far-fetched ideas, Marketwatch’s Jon Friedman gives his picks for who’s in and who’s out in 2006.

In some places Friedman is a little stale (didn’t Gawker.com replace Page Six a while back?), obvious (adios Howard Stern of course), and perhaps off the mark (MSNBC is “in” and Fox is “out”?) but nonetheless fun. Is Frank Rich really the new Maureen Dowd? Is the Huffington Post the Newsweek of the internet age?

Most intriguing from a Washington perspective is his first prediction:

Who’s in: James Risen
Who’s out: Bob Woodward

There’s a new sheriff in town in Washington’s investigative reporting circles and his name is … Risen. He co-wrote (with Eric Lichtblau) the New York Times’ electrifying stories about the White House’s hidden program to spy on Americans in the name of fighting terrorism. It’s the kind of bombshell that the Washington Post’s Woodward is accustomed to publishing. Plus, Woodward is still smarting over his fall from grace in 2005, when he was scooped on the Deep Throat disclosure and, even worse, explaining miserably why he didn’t divulge that he knew Valerie Plame Wilson was a CIA agent. The fame of Risen will be assured when his new book, “State of War,” becomes a bestseller. The publisher is rush-releasing it, a surefire sign that it expects a big success.

Risen’s new book, State of War, out this week has some blockbuster parts for sure, although some of the bigger blockbusters might still be coming–like that the wiretaps might have included journalists like CNN’s alluring Christiane Amanpour.

Of course, rare is the reporter made by a single story. We’ll have to see Risen’s second act….

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