CNN’s new president Jeff Zucker continues to shake things up at the channel, particularly when it comes to the network’s political contributors. The latest news is that longtime contributor Roland Martin will be leaving the channel when his contract expires in early April.

.@emarceg yes, last day at @cnn is April 6.

— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) March 19, 2013

Martin has been a regular on CNN since 2007, and also hosts “Washington Watch” on African American network TV One. FishbowlDC first reported that Martin’s tenure at the channel might be short lived back in January. He follows Erick Erickson, Mary Matalin and James Carville out the door at the channel.

Less surprising than the departure of Mary Matalin and James Carville from CNN is the news that Erick Erickson is also moving on. On RedState.com the conservative pundit writes about what he’ll miss:

When I told my 7 year old I had decided to leave, she laid on the sofa for an hour crying that she’d never see Anderson Cooper again. She’s never actually met Anderson Cooper. But I have and I’ll miss him and his team and I’ll miss Wolf and his team, and all the other terrific people I’ve worked with these last three years. I deeply regret never working up the courage to pull on Wolf’s beard.

For all those liberals who lost money thinking Keith Olbermann would outlast me at Current TV, well, sorry.

What a day at CNN.

CNN confirms that political contributors James Carville and Mary Matalin are leaving the channel.  TVNewser has also confirmed that Erick Erickson will be leaving CNN and joining Fox News as a contributor.

The moves follow executive VP and managing editor Mark Whitaker‘s announcement this morning that he would be leaving the company, and the addition of Chris Cuomo to a new morning program.

Our sister blog FishbowlDC first had the scoop.

Carville and Matalin have been political contributors and hosts at CNN for the better part of 20 years, while Erickson joined the channel in March of 2010. The network still has a slew of political contributors, including Paul Begala, Ari Fleischer and Donna Brazile, though the impact had by the DC power couple cannot be overstated.

FishbowlDC caught up with CNN contributor and RedState.com editor Erick Erickson this afternoon after he spotted a black panther roaming his Macon, GA neighborhood early this morning:

Erickson said he awoke at 4 a.m. to what he thought was a woman screaming — he thought he was dreaming. He later learned that this is the sound the animal makes. “I went outside and I didn’t know what it was,” he continued. “The dog was agitated. It was this aerodynamically designed animal. I was absolutely scared to death. So was the dog!”

There’s been some outrage on political blogs about the following tweet sent out by CNN political reporter Peter Hamby:

Wisconsin officially a battleground: President Barack Obama going to Milwaukee next weekend > donate.barackobama.com/page/contribut…

— Peter Hamby (@PeterHambyCNN) September 13, 2012

At issue: Hamby links to a donation page for President Obama’s reelection campaign, a page which also notes that the campaign is planning an event in Wisconsin. Some online pundits argued that this one tweet proved that Hamby (and the media as a whole) is in the tank for President Obama.

There is just one problem: Hamby was breaking news, namely that the Obama campaign decided that Wisconsin was now in play politically. The camaign made no announcement of its Wisconsin push, only releasing information on the donation page. The AP published a story at about the same time Hamby did, also based on the event on the campaign website.

CNN contributor Erick Erickson defended Hamby on his blog RedState, and on Twitter:

Folks, @peterhambycnn is not in the tank for Obama. He tweeted a link in which Obama admits suddenly WI is in play.That’s news. — Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) September 17, 2012

Hamby himself took to Twitter to explain:
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The death of Andrew Breitbart, at the age of 43, came as a shock in TV newsrooms across the country. Breitbart, who suffered from heart problems, collapsed while walking in his Brentwood, CA neighborhood. He was pronounced dead just after Midnight.

Over the last few years, despite his disdain for the mainstream media, Breitbart had become a regular on cable news, taking a conservative stand, defending his latest scoop or just taking part in the conversation. His last national appearance was Tuesday night with Piers Morgan following results of the Arizona and Michigan primaries. “I’ve cleaned up and got my hair into an aerodynamic fashion for you,” Breitbart joked with Morgan.

FNC reported Breitbart’s death at 9:33amET and began a conversation for the next half hour with several of their anchors and contributors including Sean Hannity: “He had a level of courage that is really almost unmatched today in media;” Greg Gutfeld: “He is leaving a powerful legacy. He will be a legend.” Tucker Carlson: “I talked to him last night, seemed totally exuberant as he always does.” And Monica Crowley: “I have known very few people in my life who lived life to the hilt the way Andrew Breitbart did.”

CNN reported the news at 9:34am. CNN conservative contributor Erick Erickson phoned in at 10:19. “He really is like a super nova who has gone dark,” said Erickson. Another CNN contributor, Dana Loesh phoned in at 10:40. Loesch is the editor of Breitbart’s Big Journalism site. “Once you got to know him… to know him was to like him. Regardless of what you thought about his politics.”

MSNBC reported the breaking news at 9:41. Breitbart’s politics did not align with the political leanings of MSNBC, which may be why he always seemed to relish his appearances with anchors including Martin Bashir and Dylan Ratigan, and, when he was with MSNBC, David Shuster. Because of their contentious nature, those interviews often made headlines.

Breitbart, who was prolific on Twitter, sent his last Tweet at 11:26 PT, about 40 minutes before he was pronounced dead at UCLA Medical Center. It was a response to a blogger in Louisiana: “I called you a putz cause I thought you were being intentionally disingenuous. If not I apologize.”

All four major broadcast networks, along with the cable news channels, are bringing out the big name talent for coverage of the 2011 State of The Union address Tuesday evening.

On the broadcast networks, NBC has Brian Williams anchoring along with “Meet the Press” host David Gregory.

ABC has Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos anchoring, joined by a number of correspondents, hosts, and analysts, including Jake Tapper, Christiane Amanpour, Jonathan Karl and Deborah Roberts.

On CBS, “CBS Evening News” anchor Katie Couric will lead the coverage, joined by CBS reporters and analysts.

On the Fox broadcasting network, Fox News Channel’s Shepard Smith will anchor coverage. Smith will be joined by “Fox News Sunday” anchor Chris Wallace and correspondent Wendell Goler.

On the cable news channels:

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CNN has announced its coverage plans for the 2010 midterm elections. As in previous elections, new technology will be a major part of the coverage, with returning favorites like the “magic wall” and “data wall’ being joined by the “CNN Election Matrix,” which will break down data in a visual way.

The network already revealed it will be adding more “virtual objects” to its coverage.

“We are taking capabilities of the Data Wall and quadrupling it in order to report the story in the clearest way we can,” said CNN senior VP and Washington bureau chief David Bohrman in a statement. “Viewers are ready for a rich meal of election items and with CNN’s technology on air and online, paired with the Best Political Team, we will serve an unparalleled election night experience.”

Wolf Blitzer will lead the network’s coverage, and will be joined by Anderson Cooper, Candy Crowley, John King and Soledad O’Brien. Other anchors, reporters and hosts that will be contributing to the program include Jessica Yellin, Dana Bash, Brianna Keilar, Ed Henry, Dan Lothian, Suzanne Malveaux and new 8 PM hosts Eliot Spitzer and Kathleen Parker.

More information after the jump.

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Congressman Steven LaTourette (R-OH) is not too happy with Fox News about a graphic that aired on the network yesterday afternoon.

During Megyn Kelly‘s “America Live,” recent Fox Business Net hire Gerri Willis appeared in the studio to discuss proposed pension legislation floating through congress.

“Take a look at this crew,” Willis said as the image on the right popped-up showing nine Republican representatives. “These are the folks who would like to have you help bail out the unions.” Congressman LaTourette (bottom left) apparently took offense and announced his displeasure with some harsh words on the floor of the House of Representatives for the newsers.

Clip from MSNBC — a network LaTourette says he hates — and “Countdown”:

(Not sure why the online “Countdown” clip is labeled “Beck personalizes attacks against Obama,” but that’s probably awesome for search-engine traffic.)

Keith Olbermann named Kelly WPITW for the incident and identified her as the one at whom LaTourette was directing his comments. But, though the segment occurred on the show Kelly anchors, Willis made the appearance with the report in the FNC studio.

Also: though not included in this clip, CNN contributor Erick Erickson was named “worse” last night. Full segment.

CNN contributor Erick Erickson gets The New York Times profile treatment. Shaila Dewan says that the RedState blogger has shown himself to be a different sort of Republican pundit:

Mr. Erickson has shown a pragmatic streak, suspending RedState’s policy of endorsing only anti-abortion candidates in favor of Scott Brown, the Republican who won a special Senate election in Massachusetts. He has banned “birthers,” who question President Obama’s citizenship, from commenting on RedState, calling them “crazies.”

Also interviewed for the article was FireDogLake blogger Jane Hamsher, who is often across the table, or at least the screen, from Erickson when they appear on John King, USA.

Jane Hamsher, the publisher of the liberal blog FireDogLake, said that many bloggers like Mr. Erickson test rhetorical limits, but “that’s no reason to keep him off the air.” Ms. Hamsher said she would rather debate Mr. Erickson, whom she called an “honest broker,” than an opponent reciting prescribed talking points.

Erickson’s controversies, including a now-famous tweet about Supreme Court Justice David Souter, also get mentioned in the article, with the criticism attributed to “liberal detractors.”