Andrew Sullivan leaving Atlantic for ‘NewsBeast’

Journalist Andrew Sullivan, who has been blogging for the past four years at The Atlantic, is joining the soon-to-be-merged Newsweek and Daily Beast.

"It's time," Sullivan told The Cutline by phone. "We all need to shake ourselves up now and again and I'm moving on."

Sullivan, a veteran journalist and former top editor of the New Republic, became a political blogging pioneer with the launch of The Daily Dish in 2000. He moved the blog to Time in 2006, and a year later, was lured to The Atlantic by owner David Bradley.

In April, Sullivan will bring his popular blog (and his staff) to the Daily Beast, as editor Tina Brown merges the news and commentary site with the iconic print magazine. Although blogging is his primary job, Sullivan will also write at least six columns a year for the magazine.

"It's very hard to say no to Tina Brown," Sullivan said, who added that he's actually never written for the former editor of the New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Talk magazine.

"We really clicked," Sullivan said. "We're both British imports. I still have that Fleet Street kind of feeling."

Despite a recent flurry of "blogs are over" stories, Sullivan isn't ready to give up the frequently updated, reverse chronological format. "The blog I'm doing sure isn't dead," Sullivan said.

The Cutline first reported Sullivan's move on Twitter, and Sullivan addressed his readers shortly after in a post Sunday night.

Brown also commented on the big move Sunday night. "Andrew almost single-handedly defined the political blog and has been refining it as a form of journalism in real time nearly every day for the past decade," she wrote on The Daily Beast.