This year — full of flux and uncertainty about where the media is heading — has resulted in a vast number of job changes and departures across all matter of media companies and publications. In almost every field of journalism, big names have either been fired, promoted, retired, or simply moved on to more lucrative positions. Here, we take a look back at the biggest industry shakeups of 2009.

The Biggest Move in Magazines: Stephen Adler leaving BusinessWeek.
When editor Stephen Adler announced his departure from BusinessWeek this October following the magazine’s sale to Bloomberg LP, he wasn’t just making a statement, he was starting a trend. Soon he was followed by some of his former colleagues, like John Byrne and BusinessWeek‘s president Keith Fox, who decided to stay with magazine’s original parent, McGraw-Hill. (Not to mention all of those who involuntarily left the pub not long after.) It takes a lot of chutzpah to up and quit your editor gig in the middle of this turbulent media landscape, it takes even more to get your coworkers to come with you. Fortunately for Adler, he’s already landed another gig at Thomson Reuters.

Runners Up: Time.com managing editor Josh Tyrangiel comes on board as editor at Businessweek; Marie Claire‘s publisher Susan Plagemann joins Vogue; Nancy Berger Cardone of shuttered Gourmet takes Plagemann’s spot at Marie Claire; Janice Min leaves Us Weekly; Mariette DiChristina becomes Scientific American‘s first female editor-in-chief.

More after the jump

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• Fox News‘ holiday cards are back! And as always, taking swipes at their competitors during this festive season. -FishbowlDC

• An even better holiday card, though, is the one where you ask your friends for a job while wishing them a Merry Christmas. -MediaJobsDaily

• Charlie Gibson was honored by ABC last night for his dedicated news hosting over the last 35 years. -TVNewser

• Billy Dee Williams is hawking commemorative Tiger Woods plates for a Jimmy Kimmel sketch. We would totally buy these for Christmas, if they were real. -AgencySpy

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TVNewser: Charlie Gibson will sign off from “World News” on December 18.

Politico: Layoffs hit USA TODAY as the national paper looks to cut 26 staffers.

New York Post: A judge overseeing Reader’s Digest Association‘s bankruptcy proceedings has set a final hearing date for January 15.

PaidContent: Arianna Huffington and Rupert Murdoch were among the media leaders who spoke before the FTC today. Huffington used her time before the commission to fight back against Murdoch and his harsh words for Google and news aggregators like The Huffington Post. “We link to The Wall Street Journal daily. We have never had a single complaint,” she said. “We drive a lot of traffic to them and they like it.”

Folio: The National Geographic Society is looking to sell its Adventure spinoff magazine.

Right now, the public memorial for Walter Cronkite is just getting started at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center.

TVNewser editors Chris and Kevin are on the scene and Tweeting from the event. So far, they’ve spotted NBC News‘ Steve Capus chatting with Rick Kaplan of CBS, Liz Smith sitting next to former Foxnews.com columnist Roger Friedman along with news anchors Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters, Charlie Gibson and Dan Rather.

Cronkite’s longtime home CBS will is streaming live coverage of the service on CBSnews.com and TVNewser will have a full report on the memorial later today.

Will you be tuning it to the Web-cast?

TVNewser: Gathering For The Walter Cronkite Memorial Service

TVNewser: Walter Cronkite‘s funeral was today, and here’s a peek at some of the people in attendance. The crowd included Bob Schieffer, Les Moonves, Katie Couric, Connie Chung, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, Brian Williams, Barbara Walters, Charlie Gibson, Tom Brokaw, Andy Rooney, Dan Rather and Meredith Vieira.

FishbowlDC: A run-down of who was called on to ask questions at the president’s press conference last night.

Chicago Tribune: The Chicago Tribune asked the bankruptcy court to allow millions of dollars in bonus payments to more than 700 employees.

Folio: National Geographic magazine is planning to publish a special edition “Your Shot” issue featuring photos submitted by readers.

Time/All Things Digital: It’s a big news day for Jon Stewart. A Time online poll found Stewart was the most trusted newscaster in America, but a segment from his show making fun of President Barack Obama‘s opening pitch of the MLB All Star game has been blocked by the league.

Today on the Menu we are joined by ABC”s Rick Klein. Klein, who will be a headline speaker at the upcoming TVNewser Summit, is a major part of all the new media elements at ABC. He authors the ABC’s The Note blog, is a co-anchor of “Politics Live” on ABC News NOW,” and contributes to several other ABCNews.com’s Web shows.

“I think there’s a realization at ABC that it’s not enough to talk to people as we have in the past…you have to go to people the way they want to receive information…whatever the next big thing is.”

“This is a time of grand experimentation in journalism — this is something I tell up-and-coming journalists all the time — this is an exciting time to be a journalist despite all the financial problems.”

Klein also talks about the World News Webcast, which he says is skewed to a younger audience, “Charlie Gibson is one of the hippest men I know!” As well as his recent embrace of Twitter. You can listen to the past podcasts at BlogTalkRadio.com/mediabistro and call in at 646-929-0321.

BriWi isn’t the only one who can charm the late night crowd! Charlie Gibson held his own on Jimmy Kimmel last night as Lil Wayne‘s “warm-up act” (even if he couldn’t quite match Wayne’s prowess at Scrabble). Fun times, though perhaps slightly too much information on the virginity front.

TVNewser has taken a closer look at Steve Coll‘s column today in the New Yorker and finds it “short of facts and long on attacks.”

The New Yorker‘s Steve Coll spends a column today blasting ABC News over a variety of issues relating to Charlie Gibson‘s interview with Gov. Sarah Palin. But the overriding theme — that ABC attempted to turn the interview into an entertainment event — appears factually incorrect.

Apparently the decision to air the interview in three parts wasn’t just a ratings ploy, it was ABC’s way of turning “the material as fast as we can. There’s a real overriding public interest in hearing from Gov. Palin.” Uh huh. Also, there was no collaboration between ABC and the McCain camp. Also, ABC is not happy with Coll’s column. Of course, tomorrow this could all just be conversation for the soup kitchen line-up. Stay tuned!

It was the television we’ve all been waiting for &#151 at least for the last seven days. Parts one and two of Sarah Palin‘s interview with Charlie Gibson aired last night, and as you might imagine a lot of people had a lot to say about the Alaskan governor’s introduction to the press, and, you know, the fact she needed to have the Bush Doctrine explained to her by a very professorial looking Gibson (did anyone else get a My Fair Lady flash during that segment?). After the jump we take a quick look at the early reactions, and Joan Walsh isn’t pulling any punches.

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So much Palin! We’re going to do a round-up:

She will meet the press! Looks like ABC’s Charlie Gibson has landed the first interview with the Sarah Palin, to take place at the end of this week in Alaska. Perhaps he promised to be deferential?

Speaking of the deferential thing. Does anyone else find this appalling? Talk about four more years of Bush. There is an inherent (reverse?) sexism in this, also — as if Palin expects the media to open the door for her and stand when she enters the room.

Not even US Weekly is immune to the bias charge. Per the NYT: The celebrity magazine…drew criticism from readers for the cover. A record number of commenters on the Us magazine Web site — more than 6,600, at last count — weighed in, most focusing on the magazine’s perceived bias. Many contrasted the cover of Ms. Palin with a June cover, “Why Barack Loves Her,” featuring Barack and Michelle Obama. “Barack and Michelle in an embrace and a fluff article on their marriage … only to be followed by a picture of our possible future VP with her newborn baby and an insulting and untrue title to the magazine cover?”

Also, things are so bad the Times‘s public editor Clark Hoyt is weighing-in: “In our instant-news and celebrity- obsessed culture, Palin went from Sarah Who to conservative rock star in less than a week. In less than two months, she could be elected vice president to serve under the oldest president, at 72, ever elected to a first term, and one with a history of recurring melanoma. Intense, independent scrutiny by The Times and the rest of the news media of Palin’s background, character and record was inevitable and right.”