Atlantic Media exec Linda Douglass held a $30,400 per plate dinner for the Democratic National Committee at her home in Dupont Circle this evening.  Attended by POTUS, the fundraiser was expected to raise $1 million dollars for the DNC, according to pool reports.   Though some NJ staffers have expressed concern that she is so obviously partisan, Douglass does not have any apparent editorial influence over the organization.

Now the VP overseeing communications for National Journal and The Atlantic, Douglass was a journalist for ABC and CBS News before joining the Obama Administration for a year in 2009.

The offices of NJ, The Atlantic and Government Executive offices all lost power overnight. The sites, such as NJ, appear to be working. The Atlantic still has posts from Sunday Sept. 26. Staff was initially told to stay home for the time being and work from there.

Linda Douglass, Atlantic Media Company’s VP, Head of Corporate and Strategic Communications, assured that everything is working again. “It’s all up and running again,” she wrote in an e-mail five minutes ago.  “There was a power outage overnight but it all came on again at around 9:30.”

Douglass said the newsroom is bustling again. “Everyone seems to be here. As far as I can tell, the newsrooms are humming. Someone might have said that earlier this morning — maybe at around 8am or so — but people should know by now that the power has been up for more than an hour.”

Here it is – NYT‘s Jeremy Peters scoop on Politico’s hiring of The Atlantic‘s Michael Kinsley and MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough to be dueling columnists. Scarborough will stay with MSNBC; Kinsley is now at Politico.

For now, columns will appear once a week. That is expected to evolve into dueling coverage of larger events such as State of the Union.

In his piece, Peters discusses the brewing battleground between Politico Vs. The Atlantic Media Company’s NJ. NJ has recently lured less known reporters like Tim Alberta, Coral Davenport, who sources say was well-liked but not a good fit for Politico, and Josh Kraushaar away from Politico. Politico, too, has snagged talent away from NJ – first Rich Cohen and now, Kinsley. NJ recently landed a big hire in Fox News’s Major Garrett and other prominent D.C. names such as AP‘s Ron Fournier in June to be Editor-in-Chief and more recently, WSJ’s Susan Davis.

An excerpt from the NYT piece:

Mr. Scarborough, who will remain with MSNBC, said he did not intend to write a column so ideologically rigid it became predictable. Readers have tired of that model, he said. “There are some columns, even at the great papers, that I just skim because I know how they’re going to end even before I read the first sentence,” he said. “The last thing I’m going to do is get in an ideological corner and preach to the choir.”

Mr. Kinsley, who will leave The Atlantic, could not be reached for comment. His departure will be a blow to the Atlantic Media Company, which has been establishing a stable of journalistic talent in an effort to broaden its reach in Washington. The company owns National Journal, which has hired away journalists from places like The Wall Street Journal and Politico as it prepares to redesign its magazine and start a breaking news and political analysis Web site that will compete directly with Politico.

Linda Douglass, V.P., Head of Corporate and Strategic Communications for Atlantic Media Company, had this to say on Kinsley leaving The Atlantic: “Mike is a terrific talent and we wish him well.”

Linda Douglass, V.P. of Atlantic Media Company, sent out a memo this morning to NJ staff to share news of a new hire.

Emma Haberl joins NJ as an editorial booker. She comes to NJ from Fox News, where she was a producer. She’ll work with Douglass as well as Taylor West, the new communications director, who starts Monday. Haberl begins on Aug. 30.

See internal memo after the jump…

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NJ “The Hotline’s” Editor-in-Chief Amy Walter is moving to ABC News to become the Political Director. Details with ABC are still being finalized.

The move is a big one, but not surprising to the company, who has long known that Walter wants to do TV full time. She had been stepping away from her day-to-day role and was in talks about playing a different role within NJ.

NJ will soon announce a variety of new hires. “We’ve known for sometime that Amy wants to expand her television role,” said Linda Douglass, VP of Atlantic Media Company. “She’s very good at that. As you know, National Journal Group is in the midst of a nationwide talent search and we expect to have new Hotline leadership in place this summer. National Journal Group prides itself in providing great journalistic talent. We’re going through an exciting transformation and will develop many more high profile journalists and analysts as a result of this nationwide talent search that’s underway.”

Experience: Walter has been a political analyst for CNN, a contributor to The Newshour with Jim Lehrer (PBS). She has appeared on Face the Nation (CBS), MTP(NBC), Washington Journal (C-SPAN), Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO), and The Early Show (CBS).

Linda Douglass who left National Journal to join the Obama campaign and eventually the administration is returning to Atlantic Media.

Most recently President Obama’s chief health care spokeswoman, the ABC and CBS alum says she will take the role of vice president at the Atlantic. Kurtz has more here.

NBC’s Meet the Press: National Security Advisor James Jones, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Newark, NJ Mayor Cory Booker and a roundtable with NYT‘s David Brooks, CNBC’s Erin Burnett and Newsweek‘s Jon Meacham

CBS’ Face the Nation: National Security Advisor James Jones, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

ABC’s This Week: Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and a roundtable with ABC’s Sam Donaldson, ABC contributor and former Bush strategist Matthew Dowd, WSJ‘s Peggy Noonan, ABC’s Cokie Roberts and Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haas

Fox News Sunday: National Security Advisor James Jones, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Walter Reed Army Medical Center Commander Maj. Gen. Carla Hawley-Bowland and a panel with Fox News contributors WSJ Paul Gigot, NPR’s Mara Liasson and Weekly Standard‘s Stephen Hayes and WaPo‘s Ceci Connolly

CNN’s State of the Union: Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, Republican pollster Bill McInturff and Democratic pollster Peter Hart, Democratic strategist CNN’s Donna Brazile, former White House counselor and former RNC chairman Ed Gillespie, “The Battle for America 2008″ author Dan Balz and Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA)

CNN’s Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz: Time’s Mark Halperin, “Why You’re Wrong About the Right” author S.E. Cupp, Air America and the Daily Beast’s Ana Marie Cox and White House Office of Health Reform communications director Linda Douglass

CNN’s GPS with Fareed Zakaria: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

NBC’s The Chris Matthews Show: CNBC’s Trish Regan, New York Mag‘s John Heilemann, Time‘s Richard Stengel, WaPo‘s Kathleen Parker

Washington Week with Gwen Ifill and National Journal: CNBC and NYT‘s John Harwood, NYT‘s Peter Baker and ABC’s Martha Raddatz

Bloomberg’s Political Capital with Al Hunt: Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL)

Will update as we learn them.

The White House debuted this video earlier today to respond to a Drudge posting that claimed to show President Obama explaining how his health care reform plans eventually would eliminate private insurance, the AP reports.

“Facts Are Stubborn Things” was created by the White House’s new media office, headed up by Macon Phillips. It runs about three minutes and features Linda Douglass, now the White House Office of Health Reform’s communications director, but who was also a network news correspondent.

Douglas says the site is “taking sentences and phrases out of context, and they’re cobbling them together to leave a very false impression.”

What we almost missed today…

• In light of CNN’s Sasha Johnson‘s move to the Department of Transportation, WaPo’s Ed O’Keefe takes a look at those journos who have gone before her, including Jay Carney, Linda Douglass and Peter Gosselin.

• Talk show host Maury Povich was in DC today for an event on teenage pregnancy at the National Press Club. It was there Povich told Politico’s Patrick Gavin that he’d invite John Edwards and onetime mistress Rielle Hunter on his show for a paternity test. “We’d even do the testing for free,” said Povich.

Good morning FishbowlDC!

Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line.

Its day 86 covering the Obama administration and week 11 for us. Also Tax Day. What we know and what we’re reading this Wednesday morning…

NEWSPAPERS | TV | ONLINE | MAGAZINES | NEWS NOTES | JOBS | REVOLVING DOOR

NEWSPAPERS

FishbowlNY: You may have noticed New York Times editor Andy Rosenthal is in the ‘Talk to the Times’ hot seat this week. Romenesko picked up this little gem of a question: “I find it a bit peculiar that the two women columnists, Maureen Dowd and Gail Collins, are satirical and humorous. I adore their writing, and generally think they are spot on, but it is almost like you cannot get a “serious” woman columnist. Do you agree?”

Says Rosenthal: “O.K., so I admit. I’m answering this because it’s a slow, hanging ball… I would be the last person alive to suggest that Maureen Dowd and Gail Collins are not serious columnists. They are indeed, very serious.”

The Chicago Tribune plans to cut another 20 percent from its newsroom staff in an effort to save money.

NYT: Newspaper publishers will start to report first-quarter results this week, but people who follow the industry and have had a glimpse of the 2009 numbers say it is clear that once again, even the most pessimistic predictions were not dark enough.

TV

TVNewser reported first yesterday that John Moody, the executive VP of news editorial for Fox News Channel, is leaving the network for a position with FNC parent company News Corp. Senior VP of news Michael Clemente will now oversee daily editorial duties.

The Baltimore Sun’s David Zurawik thinks NBC’s David Gregory needs to liven up Meet the Press and pronto… “As one of the first critics to say David Gregory looked like he was going to be okay as the successor to Tim Russert, I have to acknowledge being disappointed in what I saw Sunday from the new host. Simply put, there was little energy and virtually no passion. And that is the opposite of what made Russert so compelling to watch.”

WaPo’s Lisa de Moraes: When pirates kidnapped the news cycle and held it hostage for nearly a week, Viacom was not discouraged by the fact that none of its TV networks had a real news operation. Its Spike TV network announced it had ordered up a reality series pilot in which the U.S. Navy hunts down pirates.

Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich has made a deal to star in NBC’s upcoming summer reality show I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here, the network confirms. “Rod Blagojevich will be a participant on the show pending the court’s approval,” said NBC in a statement.

ONLINE

Three longtime media executives, including CourtTV founder Steve Brill, are building an automated system to allow newspapers and magazines to charge for online access, including an “all you can read” subscription called Journalism Online that would allow access to multiple publications.

MAGAZINES

FishbowlLA: Michael Speier, Executive Editor of Variety, has been laid off. More cuts are expected to come at Variety throughout. The parent company of the publication, Reed Business Information, is laying off 7% of their staff.

Time Inc. CEO Ann Moore said yesterday that the company’s dramatic restructuring last fall — during which roughly 600 staffers at the mega-publisher were laid off — has proven to be an unmitigated success.

NEWS NOTES

Spotted at Monday’s season opener at Nationals Stadium by Reliable Source: George Will, Al Hunt, Luke Russert and James Carville. “It’s different… A little sad,” Carville commented on missing his friend Tim Russert at the games.

HAT TIPS: Mediabistro, Romenesko

JOBS and REVOLVING DOOR after the jump…

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