All three evening newscasts updated the west coast versions of their broadcasts last night to report the news of the death of American diplomat Richard Holbrooke. The news of Holbrooke’s death at George Washington University Hospital broke around 7:40pmET.

Katie Couric updated for the CBS Evening News. Vicki Mabrey updated for ABC World News and NBC News correspondent Than Truong updated for “Nightly News” from NBC’s LA bureau.

Upon hearing the news Couric Tweeted:

“He was a brilliant man, a dedicated public servant and a helpful friend. Richard Holbrooke 1941-2010.”

Holbrooke’s widow is Kati Marton, the former wife of the late ABC Newsman Peter Jennings. Marton, a journalist who’s worked at ABC News and NPR, and Holbrooke were married in 1995.

Howard Kurtz moderates a media bias/elitist panel with Bill Adair of the St. Pete Times, Dan Rather, author/journalist David Sirota, Free Press executive director Josh Silver and and WSJ columnist Dorothy Rabinowitz (not pictured).

Dan Rather implored journalists to “not back down” when it comes campaigns and candidates who shut them out. The former CBS Newsman was on a panel at the Time Warner Politics summit this morning discussing media bias and elitism during this year’s campaign. Rather says the “press gets defensive” when a campaign goes after a particular reporter or, as we’ve seen this election cycle, an entire network. GOP VP nominee Sarah Palin has yet to agree to an interview with CNN or NBC/MSNBC.

Panelist Dorothy Rabinowitz, a columnist at the Wall Street Journal, said CNN’s Campbell Brown has been a “notorious offender” when it comes to the coverage of Palin. Before she made the comment, Rabinowitz looked around the room hoping Brown’s husband, Dan Senor, wasn’t around. Senor had been on a panel discussing foreign policy (below) just prior to the bias/elitism discussion.

> Update: Campbell Brown responds to the criticism from Rabinowitz: “My comments about Governor Sarah Palin have been in the context of journalists having access to the most basic information about a Vice Presidential candidate. My job as a journalist is to ask tough and fair questions. It has never been more essential for reporters to keep asking these questions.”

Wolf Blitzer moderates a discussion of foreign policy and the next president, with Dan Senor, Christiane Amanpour, Time’s Romesh Ratnesar, CNN/Newsweek’s Fareed Zakaria and Richard Holbrooke.