James Pethokoukis knows how to break news: he live blogged his departure from Reuters over Twitter.
Pethokoukis, a money and politics columnist at Reuters Breakingviews, kept his 8,874 followers up to date with his employment status and who will be replacing him - as if it were a news story.
Amid tweets on President Obama's Buffet Rule, - he sent this message:
"FLASH: Pethokoukis to leave Reuters by week's end ... Developing soon ..."
About an hour later, he teased out where he was going:
"FLASH! I'm leaving Reuters to become economics blogger at the American Enterprise Institute ... and that's not all ..."
Unlike many "so long" tweets, Pethokoukis also told readers who will be replacing him (also a nice news tidbit), the much-respected Jack Shafer, recently let go from Slate:
"My last days at Reuters will be like that old SNL Star Trek skit. Here comes @jackshafer to take my chair."
This is the latest example of how Twitter is becoming its own little media world -- with news organizations asking journalists to tweet for jobs or broadcasters asking readers to retweet to get stories on-air.