Dorian Benkoil, one of Big Head DC’s favorite media giants, is leaving Mediabistro (the parent company of FBDC) at month’s end. A statement from Mediabistro indicates that he will be pursuing “entrepreneurial opportunities through his company, Teeming Media.”

Benkoil had been at the job just over a year, and Gawker had predicted that he would last only a short time in the position.

Patrick Gavin, the editor of FishbowlDC, is reportedly “sad.” Sources tell BHDC that he’s thinking about leaving Mediabistro sometime in 2007 as well.

No word on whether our investigation into FishbowlDC’s “Inky” played a role in Benkoil’s sudden departure.

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Laurel Touby (that’s two U’s) was in top form last Friday night at the National Press Club. Although she spent much of the night sans boa, despite promises to the contrary, the boots-clad media vixen worked the crowd like a celebrity. Even the shyest journalistic wallflowers found her approachable; Touby held their hands and introduced them to the nearest throng of people. At his request, she gave one enthusiastic Mediabistro fan a bear hug.

Dozens of media and quasi-media organizations were represented, including The Washington Post, Express, Washington Times, NPR, Cato Institute, and packs of hungry freelancers.

A pair of twentysomething media types attempted to jump-start the festivities with an explicit grind number in the middle of the hall. It didn’t catch on, but the act drew the attention of one rather sloshed 50-something who was passing around copies of an erotic military poem he’d written.

A sample:

We don’t ask, and we don’t tell.
This is our task; we do it well.
Some who serve are merely slackers,
But in the Reserve, we’re top fudge-packers!

Note from Big Head Rob: This post was penned by BHR’s very own “No Rhythm“, our new editorial associate, who’s much more in-the-know than “Inky,” if you ask us. (eat your heart out, Patrick Gavin.)

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It had to be asked re: the new anonymous blogger at FishbowlDC. And only we could have asked it so bluntly. In case you missed it, Dorian Benkoil, the editorial director of Mediabistro — which oversees the blog — recently made the following announcement:

We’re excited to announce a new FishbowlDC contributor. The candidate who ultimately best fit our criteria (a strange brew, trust us) will blog anonymously under the moniker Inky. We can tell you that this person does not work in journalism, but knows the ropes. We want to thank all who applied. 

How pathetic that a blog that’s supposed to be about the media can’t get someone currently in the media to write for the damn thing. Say what you want about FishbowlDC’s now year-old editor Patrick Gavin, he is in the media. And how pathetic a name is Inky? We’re offering a bounty for anyone who can reveal the true identity of this fishy blogger.

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Mediabistro’s editorial director Dorian Benkoil just informed us that Mediabistro’s “CEO’s name is spelled ‘Touby’.” (We had accidentally spelled it Toby in a post from 100 years ago — yes, literally, 100 years ago). Bloggers, who knew? We’re beginning to like Benkoil just as much as our pals over at Gawker:

New Mediabistro editorial director Dorian Benkoil might have an even shorter tenure at the house of boas than we expected: Suggestion from a variety of tipsters — including some we actually know and trust — is that his departure wasn’t exactly voluntary at either of his last jobs. Indeed, at Fairchild Publications, we’re told, his tenure was only a few months, and his fate was sealed after a management retreat in Nantucket, at which he managed to insult nearly all the participants, including Fairchild CEO Mary Berner. 

We sincerely hope that we have only offended Benkoil — and not the radiant Ms. Laurel Touby — whom very much look forward to gabbing with at the next DC Mediabistro party.

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A respected Mediabistro insider tells BHR we’re “on the money” regarding our report today on the new co-editor of FishbowlDC. Dorian Benkoil is expected to make the announcement sometime very soon.

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We’re hearing that Mediabistro’s FishbowlDC is *this* close to announcing it’s next co-editor. Thank goodness because we were beginning to wonder how much longer Patrick Gavin could keep up the Howie Kurtz-like pace: editor of FishbowlDC, gossip columnist with the Examiner, associate editorial page editor with the Examiner, and man about the town. We’re tired just typing this BS.

Has Mediabistro’s Dorian Benkoil even thought about what might happen to the DC enterprise if Gavin were to retire anytime soon?

He should, especially considering the poor luck the site has had since we spoiled Garrett Graff’s exit, Aoife McCarthy was a miserable failure, and Benkoil was “too afraid” to hire BHR. Excuse us for editorializing, but they need a hot ass in that seat — and fast.

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And we’re not talking about his bladder control. We think that whenever an item about the DC Examiner comes up on Fishbowl DC, it should be mentioned that Gavin, the head editor of the site is also the associate editorial page editor at the newspaper. In the interest of full disclosure, doesn’t that just seem like the right thing to do? (Yeah, you can read his bio, but, c’mon who does that?) The site presented at least three items involving insider goings on at the pub this week alone. Yet, interestingly, Gavin didn’t write a word of them. People named “Dorian” and “FishbowlDC” (both, apparently better bloggers than us) posted each of those entries. Anyone else wonder whether Gavin gave them the inside scoop? And when are they going to make the new blogger hire?

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