BuzzFeed founder Jonah Peretti was in our mediabistroTV studio today for an upcoming Media Beat interview and he shared his thoughts on Andrew Breitbart, who died Thursday morning. Peretti worked with Breitbart in launching The Huffington Post.

“It’s easy for internet commenters to say, you now, ‘It’s good he’s dead and look at all the damage he’s done,’” Peretti said. “But it’s harder when you’ve met someone to feel that way.”

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BigJournalism.com and Ben Howe are reporting that Andrew Breitbart has died. Because of Breitbart’s publicity-seeking tactics many questioned the news when it broke, but it appears to be true. Breitbart died of natural causes, according to BigJournalism:

Andrew passed away unexpectedly from natural causes shortly after midnight this morning in Los Angeles.

We have lost a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a dear friend, a patriot and a happy warrior.

Andrew lived boldly, so that we more timid souls would dare to live freely and fully, and fight for the fragile liberty he showed us how to love.

Whether or not he will resign, or be forced out for lack of ethical behavior, or lose his wife, Anthony Weiner is the major loser of the last couple of weeks. But at FishbowlNY, we’re as interested in the coverage of the story as we are in the story itself. Who is getting the scoops (and there seems to be many)? Who is falling behind? We’ve put together a list. Like the scandal itself, this list is a work in progress. We will update as things turn around.

WINNERS:

Andrew Breitbart and BigGovernment: Where do we begin? Breitbart broke the story of Weiner sending pictures to girl #1, Gennette Cordova, stood by it despite being accused of hacking himself, took over Weiner’s press-conference, received a public apology from Weiner, and got girl #2, Meagan Broussard, to share her story with him exclusively, as well as several pictures — including the infamous topless Weiner. This is Breitbart’s day in the sun. Not generally known for being a reliable source, this whole media circus has been Breitbart’s vindication, almost a game-changer. From his website:

BigGovernment.com publisher Andrew Breitbart was in New York for previously scheduled meetings and went to the presser as an observer… The press then asked Andrew to go to the podium to take some questions. It was surreal and awesome. According to FoxNews, a Weiner staff ran through the hotel halls screaming, “Breitbart’s here. Breitbart’s here.”

That pretty much sums it up.

RadarOnline.com: Seems to have full access to woman #3, Lisa Weiss, who made the sex scandal that much more salacious. RadarOnline is currently printing the entire transcript of her nine month long chat relationship with Weiner, for those who can’t get enough sordid details. We don’t recommend you read it, however, like we did. It made us unspeakably depressed.

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This is a great month to be a conservative pundit on the Web: Matt Drudge‘s protege Andrew Breitbart last week expanded his online empire with the launch of his already-controversial Big Journalism, trumpeting the new project by immediately attacking Gawker and Business Insider.

Now Tucker Carlson, the Fox News commentator who once donned the signature bow tie, has cut a swath of the Internet for his own with today’s launch of The Daily Caller, for which he has hired “demented genius” Jim Treacher to host the site’s blog, D.C. Trawler. (You might remember Treacher for his long-held dislike of Maureen Dowd.)

Also on hand is Matt Labash, writing an advice column, which Carlson presents this way <a href="http://dailycaller.com/letter-from-tucker/" in his opening letter:

“Not all of Matt’s advice falls within the bounds of ‘conventional,’ or even ‘legal.’ On the other hand, I’ve lived by it for 15 years and I feel great. So go ahead and ask Matt anything. I dare you.”

You hear that? Carlson dares you to ask his advice columnist for advice. Dangerous stuff. Then again, Carlson is also denying that his site will have a conservative bent, and he’s taken a somewhat friendly approach to his launch, inviting liberal blog mogul Arianna Huffington to pen an intro for The Daily Caller. In her post, Huffington says the duo has worked on several joint efforts that are “neither left nor right. It is populism at its best, appealing to the bedrock American values of community and competition.”

We would say the third “c” word missing from Arianna’s message is “capitalism,” but considering how much political writers are being paid to espouse their beliefs on media sites these days, she was probably exercising some prudence in its exclusion.

Read More: Tucker Carlson Launches The Daily Caller –WebNewser

Letter From Tucker — The Daily Caller, A welcome note from our friend and neighbor, Arianna –The Daily Caller

Previously: Breitbart Attacks Gawker’s Deal With Business Insider, Breitbart Debuts New Media Site BigJournalism.com

The Daily Show: Who said Jon Stewart took it easy on this administration? Last night he slammed Obama for breaking his promise of an “open government.” On C-Span.

MediaIte: Andrew Breitbart just launched his Big Journalism website yesterday, which is not at all why he’s suddenly prickly over Business Insider‘s very public content sharing deal with Gawker.

TVNewser: Rachel Maddow gives readers a glimpse of what her show would look like in 3-D.

Variety: Ben Silverman, NBC‘s former wunderkind, has teamed up with former “Arrested Development” stars Jason Batemen and Will Arnett to develop a digital production company called DumbDumb. We eagerly await the Web series!

FishbowlDC: Everyone’s favorite “Jersey Shore” character, Snooki, is auditioning for a job as the local weather girl.

All Things D: Google’s Eric Schmidt is having dinner with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tonight. Maybe to hash out a way for French President Nicolas Sarkozy not to tax citizens for using the search engine to buy products?

Just in case there weren’t already enough Web sites keeping tabs on the media and reporting on what they’re reporting on, Matt Drudge protege Andrew Breitbart has entered the fray with his new offering, BigJournalism.com.

The new site offers the right a place to voice opinions and concerns about the mainstream media — what they’ve missed, what they’re doing wrong and what they should be covering. During its first day in action, BigJournalism.com has even published a post by a White House insider, the Obamas’ dog Bo.

In his introduction to the latest in his new media empire, Breitbart lays out what BigJournalism.com will be:

“Big Journalism is staking the claim that media is now at war with one another: Big Media versus Small Media; Old Media versus New Media; Left Media Vs Right Media. You get the picture. The practice of journalism will never be the same, and not the New York Times‘s Pinch Sulzberger nor all the sniping children at Gawker and Media Matters can un-ring this bell — which, after all, tolls for them.

It seems for the first time in my life people who agree with my broad point of view are using the media to tell their truths, to go on the offensive, to act as checks and balances against entrenched media power. And to have a major effect…Even if you’re one of those awful, biased old-media types we seek to destroy, welcome to Big Journalism, where the spirit of free inquiry lives on.”

Sounds a little like Fox News for the Internet. And if Breitbart thinks that the thoughts and opinions on BigJournalism.com are missing from the current media conversation, he’s not alone: Tucker Carlson is launching a conservative site of his own, The Daily Caller, next week.

Read More: “You Are a Bad, Bad, Baed Journalist” –Big Journalism

Previously: Breitbart Sets His Sights On The MSM

Andrew Breitbart is a graduate of the Matt Drudge School for Journalism: the more sensational a headline, the better it works. And Breitbart employs this principle frequently on his Web sites BigHollywood.com, Breitbart.tv, Big Government.com, and the news aggregation site Breitbart.com.

But Breitbart is somewhat of an anomaly: he was not only editor of The Drudge Report, but also one of the head researchers to get The Huffington Post off its feet. And now he’s looking to add mainstream journalism to the laundry list of targets he plans on taking on with a totally new site.

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