Journalism.co.uk Editors' Blog » Washington Post

Editor&Publisher: WaPo and Bloomberg partner for global news wire

Laura Oliver — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:56:47 +0000

The Washington Post and Bloomberg are to launch a new global news service next January offering 120 stories (plus photos and graphics) from the Post and agency.

The wire content will be available to subscribers to Bloomberg’s Professional service.

The move follows the Post’s announcement earlier this week that it would end its long-standing news wire service with the LA Times.

Full story at this link…

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AP: LA Times and Washington Post ending joint news service

Judith Townend — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:45:23 +0000

Over on Editor & Publisher, a story from the AP: the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post are breaking up their news service partnership after 47 years. The divorce announced this week takes effect on January 1.

“Beginning then, the Los Angeles Times will distribute some of its best work through a news service jointly owned by newspaper publishers McClatchy Inc. and the Tribune Co, the Times’ owner.”

Full story at this link…

paidContent: WaPo’s social media guidelines in full

Judith Townend — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:35:15 +0000

Last week, the Washington Post issued a new social media policy, to deal with its journalists’ use of individual accounts.

Raju Narisetti, one of two managing editors, took the decision to close down his Twitter account, after the views expressed in some of his tweets were called into question.

paidContent has got hold of the full text of the social media guidelines:

Full post at this link…

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Journalism Daily: Rue89’s Canadian expansion, WaPo’s WebCom and KNC 2010

Judith Townend — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:12:52 +0000

A daily round-up of all the content published on the Journalism.co.uk site. You can also sign up to our e-newsletter and subscribe to the feed for the Journalism Daily here.

News and features:

Editor’s picks:

#FollowJourn:

#FollowJourn: @VicThompson

On the Editors’ Blog:

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Poynter Online: Washington Post’s new ‘WebCom’ comment system

Judith Townend — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:54:51 +0000

Washingtonpost.com has developed a new commenting interface, ‘WebCom,’ that displays comments in a web – based on which ones are most-liked by readers and create the most discussion, Patrick Thornton reports at Poynter Online.

“Some commenting systems allow users to vote comments up or down. Some let users respond directly to each other and display the threads of discussions. But on most sites, comments are presented in the same basic way: chronological or reverse-chronological lists. Those lists don’t do much to help users find the best comments, especially when hundreds of people have responded to a single post.”

Full post at this link…

Patrick Thornton describes WebCom in the video below:

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Loudoun Independent: Washington Post pulling plug on hyperlocal site in Loudoun

Judith Townend — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:11:20 +0000

The Washington Post is pulling the plug on its hyperlocal site, the Loudoun Extra, two years after launch, reports the Loudoun Independent.

“While the Washington Post remains dedicated to maintaining a high level of coverage of the counties surrounding Washington, D.C., we found that our experiment with LoudounExtra.com as a separate site was not a sustainable model,” said Kris Coratti, the Post’s director of communications.

Full post at this link…

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What did Walter Cronkite think about online journalism?

Judith Townend — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 10:00:26 +0000

On Monday, The Washington Post hosted a live Q&A with Marlene Adler, former chief of staff to Walter Cronkite, the much-respected news anchorman who died last week, aged 92. WashingtonPost.com users put questions about his career to her. What would Cronkite have thought of the internet and its impact on journalism, they wondered. Adler said that Cronkite would have adapted easily to online journalism, but that he was worried about internet source attribution.

Full Q&A at this link…

Here are a couple of excerpts from the interview (Hat-tip: StinkyJournalism):

Chevy Chase, Md (…) “How did Mr. Cronkite feel about technology in general, and specifically as it relates to news and the demise of newspapers”

Marlene Adler: (…) “He loved the new technology, (the Internet) but also saw the problems with reliability of news delivery. He was concerned that news sources on the Internet were not attributable and worried that it would further diminish trust in the news media.

“About newspapers disappearing, he was sad indeed. He was a newspaper man first and loved that part of his life and that business. He was incredulous that entire cities could be without a newspaper.”

Washington, D.C.: “A friend was supposing that she thought Cronkite would have more easily adapted to online journalism because of his work for UPI. What were his thoughts about balancing speed and accuracy, and did he really think it was much different from what countless wire reporters have done for years?”

Marlene Adler: “As a newspaper man and a TV reporter, speed and accuracy were what it was all about. Getting the facts, getting them right and getting the story out first, whenever possible. He didn’t like to be scooped by another network or print reporter. However, he would not release a story, even if it meant being second, if he could not authenticate his sources. I, too, think he would easily have adapted to online journalism.”

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WashingtonPost: Abducted French security advisers in Mogadishu posed as journalists

Judith Townend — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 08:54:40 +0000

“Two French security advisers posing as journalists were abducted from their hotel in Mogadishu on Tuesday by Somali gunmen, according to the foreign ministry and reports from the chaotic Somali capital,” reports the Washington Post. Full story at this link…

Related:

The Frontline Blog ran this post yesterday, updating as news broke.

The AFP reports that, according to the Somali defence minister, the pair were ‘kidnapped for cash not politics’.

Background from the Frontline:

“The Telegraph’s Colin Freeman and photographer José Cendón were kidnapped and held for six weeks earlier this year. Meanwhile, freelance journalists Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan after still being held hostage after being kidnapped in Mogadishu in August, 2008. Their driver and fixer were released in January, 2009. This new kidnap comes at a time of ‘fresh fighting’ in the north of Mogadishu, although one could argue fighting never really gets the time to go stale in Mogadishu.”

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Washington Post: Fewer copy editors, more errors – now a ‘universal desk’

Laura Oliver — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 09:12:24 +0000

Andrew Alexander, ombudsman for the Washington Post, reflects on how a reduction in the number of copy editors (down from around 75 to 43 in three-and-a-half years) at the title has caused a peak in errors.

“Little mistakes take a huge toll on credibility,” argues Alexander.

But as the Post this week began its shift to a centralised ‘universal desk’ – intended to streamline production operations for print, online and mobile content – will the number of errors increase or will new systems emerge to deal with them?

Full article at this link…

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The Washington Post and the cancelled lobbyist event

Judith Townend — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:35:17 +0000

The original Politico story:

“Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth said today she was canceling plans for an exclusive ’salon’ at her home where for as much as $250,000, the Post offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record access to ‘those powerful few’ – Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and even the paper’s own reporters and editors.”

Full story at this link…

And also read about it here:

The Atlantic: ‘Should journalists be entertainers?’

Washington Post: ‘Post Co. Cancels Corporate Dinners: Journalistic Boundaries Brought Into Question’

WashingtonMonthly.com: ‘Wash. Post selling access?’

A video from Politico showing the Whitehouse press secretary Robert Gibbs answering a question about the ’salon’:

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