Huffington Post Gets Howard Fineman; Quits Newsweek

Howard Fineman, well-known Washington D.C. Columnist, MSNBC Hardball Personality, and Facebook and Twitter friend to this blogger, has joined the staff of The Huffington Post, leaving Newsweek.

Fineman was Newsweek's Chief Political Correspondent until he heard the siren song of Arianna Huffington's voice and left print for the greener pastures of the Internet. According to The New York Times MediaDecoder, Fineman said the Internet's where the action is. He's right.

Howard Fineman follows a long list of journalists who've left print for the Internet, some succeeding, but most not. The Daily Beast, steered by print media exec Tina Brown, is still trying to find its readership base. According to a quick analysis on Alexa.com, The Daily Beast is six times smaller than The Huffington Post in daily reach. It is now the focus of a new possible arrangement merging it with Newsweek.

Yes. Newsweek online.

If a talk that reportedly was held over cocktails at the Four Seasons in Georgetown between The Daily Beast investor Barry Diller and Newsweek's new owner Sidney Harman materializes as reported in The NY Post, then Brown would take The Daily Beast and transform it into Newsweek online while working to turn-around the failing print magazine.

Since Harman took over, Newsweek staff have jumped ship for other media efforts, mostly online.

Stay tuned.