Our sister site FishbowlNY brings news that former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau, who happened to be one of the highest paid communications guys around until he left the White House to pursue his Hollywood screenwriting dreams, will also write a bi-weekly column for The Daily Beast.

Unlike another Obama speechwriter named Jon (Lovett), who left to co-create the flailing NBC sitcom 1600 Penn, Favreau will be a real-life journalist! Here’s Beast publisher Tina Brown‘s note:

I am thrilled to announce that President Obama’s former director of speechwriting Jon Favreau is joining The Daily Beast as a bi-weekly columnist. It’s wonderful to have his combination of writing talent and sophisticated insight as commentary on the political scene.

Says Jon, “I’m excited to join the talented variety of writers and political observers who contribute to The Daily Beast, and hope I can add a new perspective from time to time based on the experiences I’ve had over the last several years.”

Please join me in welcoming him to The Daily Beast!

Best,
Tina

In Industry Insider News, one of the New York media world’s biggest PR names has announced a major career change. Maurie Perl has a long history performing public relations work for some of the publishing industry’s best-regarded titles including Vanity Fair and The New Yorker.

Women’s Wear Daily goes so far as to call her “Condé Nast’s most powerful gatekeeper”; she spent more than two decades at the company performing PR duties for such names as David Remnick and Tina Brown and mentoring much of the industry’s younger talent. Before joining Condé Nast she worked at ABC News alongside Barbara Walters and others.

Brown says “She’s more than a publicist. She’s a consiglieri. No one can see all the angles like her”. Tough to find greater words of praise for anyone in the business.

Earlier this week an internal email revealed that Perl would be leaving as a result of Condé Nast’s decision to hire the Rubenstein agency for all media relations concerns. This move comes about because the company looks to further establish itself in “the scripted TV and feature films arenas”. Robert Green, executive producer of Huffington Post Live, will be the company’s new senior vice president.

No word on next steps for Perl, who has “no intention of retiring.”

Today, Newsweek editor-in-chief Tina Brown and CEO Baba Shetty announced that the magazine will fold its print operation after 80 years. In other news, if you want a video tour around their office you should check out our exclusive Newsweek/Daily Beast edition of “Cubes.”

Now get your big-picture questions ready: Is this the end of print? Is this the end of responsible journalism? Is this the end of Tina Brown’s obnoxious and gimmicky covers? (For the record, that’s no, no and a very hopeful yes.)

Yeah, OK. It’s not like nobody saw this coming. Here are the most important parts of the appropriately self-righteous statement:

“After 80 years in print, the newsmagazine adopts an all-digital format.

We are announcing this morning an important development at Newsweek and The Daily Beast. Newsweek will transition to an all-digital format in early 2013…

Meanwhile, Newsweek will expand its rapidly growing tablet and online presence, as well as its successful global partnerships and events business.

Newsweek Global, as the all-digital publication will be named, will be a single, worldwide edition…

…our business has been increasingly affected by the challenging print advertising environment, while Newsweek’s online and e-reader content has built a rapidly growing audience…By year’s end, tablet users in the United States alone are expected to exceed 70 million, up from 13 million just two years ago…

In our judgment, we have reached a tipping point at which we can most efficiently and effectively reach our readers in all-digital format…

We are transitioning Newsweek, not saying goodbye to it. We remain committed to Newsweek and to the journalism that it represents…

Newsweek is produced by a gifted and tireless team of professionals who have been offering brilliant work consistently throughout a tough period of ownership transition and media disruption. Regrettably we anticipate staff reductions…

Exiting print is an extremely difficult moment for all of us who love the romance of print and the unique weekly camaraderie of those hectic hours before the close on Friday night. But as we head for the 80th anniversary of Newsweek next year we must sustain the journalism that gives the magazine its purpose—and embrace the all-digital future.”

You got the point across. Good job. However, Brad Phillips (aka Mr. Media Training) noticed something missing from the statement—something that we think is extremely important.

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Greg Kelly is back on the air at Good Day New York after authorities decided not to prosecute the anchor following an investigation of rape allegations. The district attorney’s office declared, “the facts established during our investigation do not fit the definition of sexual assault crimes.” Meanwhile, the New York Post is taking heat for publishing photos of the accuser.

GigaOm published a post about its decision to purchase paidContent. Click here to read paidContent’s take on it. The acquisition is getting the thumbs up.

Tina Brown sent around a memo this week announcing big changes on the Newsweek/The Daily Beast masthead.

The Huffington Post media reporter Michael Calderone looks at the impact of Twitter on coverage of the GOP race.

An investor group has purchased Heart & Soul magazine.

CNBC has a new SVP, Jim Ackerman, who has a background in VH1 reality shows.

More of this week’s media moves after the jump.

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Newsweek has done it again. It’s getting a lot of attention today for a cover photo that seems to have bypassed the editing process.

This week, Rep. Michele Bachmann is front and center with a wide-eyed, crazed expression and the headline “Queen of Rage.” Of course, her supporters have jumped to her defense with accusations of bias from the left. And the image, naturally, raises questions about sexism.

But Business Insider has it right when it says the cover distracts from important issues more than anything. And we wonder whether Newsweek’s cover image shenanigans aren’t going to do more harm than good to the magazine. Tina Brown is trying to raise the magazine’s profile, but she and the editorial team shouldn’t actively damage its credibility in the process.

The cover of Newsweek featuring a revived Princess Diana walking with the new Duchess Kate Middleton had many creeped out and asking whether it’s in “poor taste.” There was also talk of zombies, low-quality journalism, and even lower-quality Photoshopping.

Nonetheless, Tina Brown stands by the cover and the story, calling it “intriguing” and “very effective.” In an appearance on Morning Joe, she focused on the debate that the image (and others that were featured, including Di holding an iPhone) touched off rather than the ultimate appropriateness of the feature.

Mediaite interprets it as: “Sure, some people are saying they hate it but, hey, at least they’re saying the name Newsweek, right?”

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Brian Morrissey, digital editor for Adweek, made waves last week when it was announced he’d be leaving the trade publication after more than six years to join Digiday, an upstart trade media and events company as editor-in-chief.

In some ways, the move is a trade media equivalent of what we’ve seen in the last year with well-known journalists such as the Washington Post‘s Howard Kurtz, who left the newspaper to join Tina Brown at the Daily Beast.

PRNewser spoke with Morrissey this week for his first interview since the announcement.

We’ll start with the question many folks are probably interested in: why did you make the move?

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The New York Post is reporting that the media outlet resulting from the merger of Newsweek and The Daily Beast will unveil in April. Tina Brown (left), The Daily Beast EIC, has brought on two former Time magazine journalists as interim leaders at Newsweek while prepares for the April launch.

Steve Koepp, a former Time editor, and Arthur Hochstein, that magazine’s former art director, joined the Newsweek staff this week.

The merger has been plagued by delays. Many magazine staff members, including EIC Jon Meacham, have left.

Four PR people crashed the New York Observer Power 150 List this year, a ranking dominated by extremely rich and powerful people in finance and politics, topped off with a healthy mix of media moguls and editors from all sides of the MSM wars including Anna Wintour, Henry Blodget, Tina Brown, Arianna Huffington, David Remnick, Nick Denton, Scott Dadich, (responsible for WIRED‘s app), and Dennis Crowley (Foursquare super Mayor)

The “purely subjective, data-free ranking” includes:

Howard Rubenstein (#17)–Founder of Rubenstein Communications, and godfather of New York PR

Steve Rubenstein (#78)–The “fresh-faced heir apparent” to the empire, credited as a force behind the restoration of the High Line

Peggy Siegel (#86)–Called the city’s “most notorious publicist” by the chatty, salmon-colored newspaper

Richard Edelman (#133)–Davos regular, and President and CEO of independent megafirm Edelman Public Relations.  We’re sure he’s enjoying his characterization as “one of the truly good guys in an industry not known for them.”

Also notable is the inclusion of MDC Partners Chairman Miles Nadal at #94.  Nadal joins the list for acquiring a string of interesting small and midsize marketing, social media and PR firms to bolt on to his growing advertising conglomerate.

Left to right: Pat Mitchell, President and CEO, The Paley Center for Media; Debora Spar, President, Barnard College; Tina Brown, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, The Daily Beast; Lauren Zalaznick, President, NBCU Women & Lifestyle Entertainment Networks; Mark Addicks, Chief Marketing Officer, General Mills; Kim Brink, Executive Director, Advertising and Sales Promotion, Cadillac; Donna Speciale, President of Investment and Activation, MediaVest USA.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and NBC Universal president and CEO Jeff Zucker (who just confirmed that he will be leaving the company) kicked off this morning’s Women@NBCU annual Power of the Purse breakfast with a brief chat about the purchasing power of women and the increased effort marketers should be making to reach them.

“The power of the purse is so self-evident,” she said. However, to get women to purchase your products, you need to communicate with them.

“PR has always been two-way,” she continued. All relationships are doomed “when one side doesn’t feel they’re being communicated with.”

The conversation was followed by a panel discussion moderated by Pat Mitchell, president of the Paley Center for Media.  She was joined on stage by a panel that included Tina Brown, founder and editor-in-chief at The Daily Beast; Donna Speciale, president of investment and activation at Mediavest; and Mark Addicks, CMO of General Mills. Additional comments and video after the jump. Read more