Tag Archives: Washington Post

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Snowball Fights, Cafés and Dog Parks

Photo courtesy of
‘Trigger Happy’
courtesy of ‘M.V. Jantzen’

This morning’s cover story on the Washington Post wasn’t Laurent Gbagbo’s struggles in Ivory Coast, or the month anniversary of the devastating tsunami in Japan, or even the recent spike in city-wide crime and homicides, it was a Marc Fisher feature on the demographic shift the city is undergoing and what that means for race relations in the city. The money quote, which Fisher later beats into a bloody pulp with the help of Marshall Brown (yes, Kwame Brown’s dad and political consultant), comes from Blair Ruble at the Comparative Urban Studies Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center:

“The census numbers create a symbolic moment, but the data overamplifies the change in the city,”

This morning, to look at Twitter is to look into the maw of the “myopic little twit” of Courtland Milloy. There’s a lot of people upset about Marshall Brown’s brutal words, which I’ll put below the cut. But is his frustration warranted? Or is he part of the problem?

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Top Secret America: Washington Post’s Intelligence Investigation Goes Live

Photo courtesy of
‘Census #4’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

Late last week, we had heard that the Washington Post would be planning a series on the intelligence contracting industry. As expected, the first articles of the feature launched this morning on WashingtonPost.com, and the biggest component is an interactive feature detailing just how broad a base of companies have a hand in the national security of the United States. The tool highlights some of the best results from its investigation into “Top Secret America” as it discussed the world behind the thousands of organizations involved in the field.

Spend some time with the feature if it interests you, but for a Cliff Notes version, Yahoo!’s new political and news blog, Upshot, has highlighted what it feels are the five biggest revelations (and be sure to click through so you can see Upshot’s justifications for the points):

  1. The U.S. intelligence system has exploded in size since the Sept. 11 attacks.
  2. Only a few officials in the Department of Defense have access to all of the top-secret activities and information.
  3. Agencies are collecting so much data that they don’t have enough translators or researchers to analyze it.
  4. Turf wars among agencies can prevent the sharing of information.
  5. This confusion has had real consequences.

Beyond these revelations, there are many reasons to take a look at everything compiled by the Washington Post team, which included more than a dozen different journalists. The innovative presentation of the data, taking full advantage of the interactive nature of the Web and allowing readers to search through it all, is very encouraging to see at a time that many print organizations are running the other direction from their consumers by putting up paywalls. If this is the future of journalism, I no longer fear for traditional media organizations like the Post.

The Daily Feed
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Is The Washington Post Revealing Government Intelligence Contractors Next Week?

Photo courtesy of
‘Boundaries’
courtesy of ‘bhrome’

According to a memo from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence acquired by Erick Erickson of Red State, there may be a few landmark stories about government contractors appearing in next week’s pages of the Washington Post. The memo from ODNI serves as a waiver to the  “corporations and individuals who do work to assist the security of the country” that the articles are coming and could reveal information such as who does intelligence work for the government and the type of work in which they are engaged.

In addition to stories, there also seems to be some sort of interactive feature coming to the paper’s website that will detail the links between agencies and contractors. Pentagon Papers, this probably isn’t, but it’s still a sensitive topic that will serve as some good ink space during the normally quiet summer months of Washington, D.C.

We’ll look to the papers come Monday to see what kind of news is exactly on the horizon. Stay tuned…

The Daily Feed
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Will You Get WaPo’s iPhone App?

Photo courtesy of
‘the washington post’
courtesy of ‘nevermindtheend’

Got an extra $1.99 hanging around and a hankering to have faster access to the Washington Post than you could from your iPhone’s Safari browser? The previously announced WaPo iPhone app, which has been hanging around the iTunes App Store for almost exactly a month now, was the subject of a nice blast e-mail coming from the Post’s Web team earlier today. So, if you haven’t downloaded it yet, just a friendly reminder that, well, you can.

Is this a neat foray into apps or just a “look we can go mobile” idea from the respected daily? As a non-iPhone user, I’m the wrong person to ask about its potential utility (although I did like that WaPo’s e-mail asked for feedback for those of us on other devices). Are there any readers using the app already or planning to get it? Should it be free instead? Interested to hear some thoughts on this one.

Adventures, Essential DC, Fun & Games, The Daily Feed
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My DC Baby Is Cuter Than Your DC Baby

Photo courtesy of
‘Two Teeth’
courtesy of ‘Amberture’

Not sure why but the Washington Post is building a library/photo slide show of the cutest babies in town. To submit a photo you need to have a WaPo login and as always be sure to read the Terms & Conditions for photo submission. There doesn’t seem to be any photo date restrictions, so if you want to submit an uber cute baby photo of your great grandmother, go for it.

Media, The Daily Feed
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WaPo Exec.: “Wait And See” Before Pay Walls

Photo courtesy of
‘Irony’
courtesy of ‘bhrome’

For District residents who spend a lot of the day in front of computers, refreshing news sites or even just clicking the occasional link from a friend, an open way to get to content on local newspaper sites is pretty crucial. If you are one of those people, you are likely wondering if it will stay that way forever here in D.C., especially since other major newspapers are either planning or have already built subscription models that will impact how and at what cost we can have access.

Of course, given the prestige of the Washington Post in the journalism community, there are lots of people interested more than just cube dwellers about what its business plains entail in this regard. The answer? To be determined (and not in the Albritton kind of way). Speaking to a collection of student journalists from the Harvard Crimson over the weekend, Washington Post Co. Vice Chairman Boisfeuillet Jones, Jr. said the paper would “watch and see what happens before we jump into something like [the New York Times’ upcoming metered model].”

Jones did mention that something is likely in the works, but there is at least a little bit of time before we know for sure what will happen to the news we get from WashingtonPost.com.

Media, News, The Daily Feed
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Washington Post Ombudsman Defends Front Page Photo of Kissing Couple

This photo, taken by Bill O’leary, ran on the front page of the Washington Post on May 4 and with this article. It sparked a number of letters to the WaPo ombudsman as well as subscription cancellations.

It has been a very exciting week for same-sex couples in the District, and the Washington Post wanted to make sure to capture the joy that city residents were sharing around the date that licenses for same-sex marriages would be accepted. As part of news coverage of that, the Post ran the above photo of Jeremy Ames and Taka Ariga kissing outside D.C. Superior Court on the front page of one of last week’s print editions.

Yesterday, Ombudsman Andrew Alexander shared some unfortunate news on his blog: a few readers were offended by the intimacy of two men reveling in the moment. He included several quotes from this feedback that don’t necessarily agree with the joy of the moment, and he noted that nearly 30 subscribers cited the photo as a reason to cancel subscriptions. Kudos to Alexander, though, for handling it incredibly well with his classy response:

Did the Post go too far? Of course not. The photo deserved to be in newspaper and on its Web site, and it warranted front-page display.

News photos capture reality. And the prominent display reflects the historic significance of what was occurring. The recent D.C. Council decision to approve same-sex marriage was the culmination of a decades-long gay rights fight for equality. Same-sex marriage is now legal in the District. The photo of Ames and Ariga kissing simply showed joy that would be exhibited by any couple planning to wed – especially a couple who previously had been denied the legal right to marry.

There was a time, after court-ordered integration, when readers complained about front-page photos of blacks mixing with whites. Today, photo images of same-sex couples capture the same reality of societal change.

Business and Money, Media, The Daily Feed
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Washington Post? There’s an App for That

Photo courtesy of
‘Lotus #67’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

Online news site paidContent received reports this morning that the Washington Post is heading toward the Apple App Store. The new app, which will provide similar content as the paper’s online properties, should be available today for you to download to your iPhone or iPod touch. WaPo columnist Rob Pegoraro confirmed the news earlier this morning on Twitter.

As the post from pC noted, the application will run you $1.99, and this isn’t the first time a print outlet as done it as a paid version. The U.K.’s Guardian sold over 100,000 downloads of its $3.99 app in the first 10 weeks it was available, but its also worth noting that the New York Times has an app that is currently free (this may change further down the road when NYT moves to a paid-metered-content model).

I’ll toss this one to the crowd: Would you pay for a WaPo app or would you be more likely to download it if it was free?

Adventures, Entertainment, Fun & Games
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Bored Out Of Your Gourd Solutions

Photo courtesy of
‘so bored’
courtesy of ‘sunnyfunnyyellow’

Yeah, I feel you. There’s only so many days you can surf the interwebz, watch movies, catch up on your DVR recordings, read, twiddle your thumbs, pace around your apartment, etc.

So let’s get crazy and kick ourselves into snowaction. The Washington Post’s Jenna Johnson has already compiled a fantastic list of snomageddon activities geared towards the college aged set, and I’ve brainstormed the following activities to stave off the boredom and enjoy the winter wonderland that is DC for the next few days. Continue reading →

Adventures, Essential DC, The Daily Feed
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Case of the Key Bridge Hanging Ropes Solved

Photo courtesy of
‘Ripples’
courtesy of ‘S. Parker’

Ever been driving on the George Washington Parkway and seen those mysterious ropes dangling underneath the Key Bridge? Have you ever wondered, what crazy person is rope swinging into the Potomac? Or, perhaps someone has a secret July 4th firework viewing spot?

Well, the WaPo’s Answer Man, John Kelly, has put the mystery to rest. They’re not for bungee jumping, rather the ropes are used to help inspectors “access the inclined portions of the Key Bridge’s mighty arches.” Phew! What a relief!

The Daily Feed
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When the Correction Isn’t Enough

Photo courtesy of
‘Party Animals on First Street, SE’
courtesy of ‘kimberlyfaye’

You might’ve caught the Post’s correction last week that dealt with Public Enemy’s 911 is a Joke in Your Town. The resulting edits to Akeya Dickson’s piece has lead to no small amount of derision from the internet.

As it turns out, it’s not her fault. It was the fault of a copy editor, Maria Henriques, who made the change not knowing the song. Chanda Washington, Akeya’s editor, allowed the change without reviewing it with Akeya, and encouraged the correction be made without without revealing the source of the error.

Two “own goals” as Rob Pegoraro put it on his Twitter this morning. I couldn’t agree more. Very sorry, Ms. Dickson, you deserved better from your publication, and I’m glad the Ombudsman recognized that much.

News, The Daily Feed
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WaPo Raises Daily Price to $1

Photo courtesy of
‘Lazy Saturday’
courtesy of ‘InspirationDC’<

Get ready to whip out those George Washington’s for your news. The Post is raising its price by 25 cents, making its daily cost a whole dollar in an attempt to offset the decline in ad revenue.

What does this mean for readers? The Washingtonian reports that “The Post notified retailers Tuesday that the cost of a daily newspaper would increase 25 cents to $1 on December 13. The price of the Sunday paper will go up 50 cents to $2.50.”

As someone who loves the feeling of a freshly printed paper between her fingertips on a slow morning or leisurely weekend, I must say that I’m willing to pay the piper.  But let us compare WaPo’s weekday/weekend prices to that of newspaper heavyweight, The New York Times. Their daily cost is $2, with a $6 fee on weekends. So by those standards, I’d say WaPo is keeping their costs in check — for now.

The Daily Feed
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WaPo Needs New Nats Beat Writer

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

It’d be big shoes to fill, but the Washington Post is looking for a new Nats Beat Writer. That’s the guy who goes to all of the games, Spring Training, Fall Ball, and maintains the Nats Journal. It’s also my dream job. But, as I’ve got my own business to run, and We Love DC to tend to, it seems a bad fit. But, all of you Nats bloggers out there, this might be a way to get to every game…

The Daily Feed
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Commemorative Historical Papers

W Legacy

Well the Washington Post can keep flogging that election day paper and selling inauguration day printed blog entries messages to Obama if they want to be unimaginative. The Reverend Sun Myung Moon, on the other hand, knows that it’s foolish to sell one day’s worth of paper when you can sell an aggregation of eight year’s worth! Coffee table book “W” – not a novelization of this film – will contain a selection of the Washington Times‘ unbiased reporting from the Bush Presidency, described thusly:

this compelling coffee table styled book about an extraordinary president in turbulent times. “W” is packed with gripping pictures and stories

Way to show your impartiality, WT.

Life in the Capital, Media, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Post’s Managing Editor Steps Down



The Washington Post
Originally uploaded by krossbow

Well, I didn’t see that coming on a Monday Morning. The Post’s managing editor for print, Phil Bennett, is stepping down effective Friday. It was previously announced that their managing editor of WashingtonPost.com was stepping down after the inauguration, but it now seems that both of the major editors at the Post are out the door in the same month.

What’s cooking over at the Washington Post that’s got people running for the exits? Is circulation really that far down?

The Daily Feed
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Got Newspaper?

Get Your Own Piece of History!! by chip py the photo guy

So were you able to pick up your super special election edition of the Washington Post last night?  You know, the one that was supposed to be available at 3:00 and then showed up at 7:00?  The one that cost $1.50 instead of $1?

I went down to my local 7 Eleven at 5:00 and saw that the newspaper stands were empty.  I asked the  clerk if they’d already sold out and he said to come back between 6:30 and 7:00.  When I arrived at 7, everyone in line had several copies and there were no more left.  “Oh well,” I thought.  I really didn’t know why I wanted one anyway.  What was I going to do with a newspaper?  Save it until I’m 100 years old and give it to my grandkids?

Just then I saw a line of people on the corner and a guy with stacks and stacks of newspapers in the back of his SUV.  It was like he was selling hot DVD players or something.  I got in line and a few minutes later purchased four newspapers, one for me and several copies for my friends.  Score!

How long did you wait in line?  How many copies did you buy?  What are you going to do with yours?