February 7, 2008
Big Changes at the Washington Post
Major shakeups are afoot at the Washington Post. First, Katharine Weymouth, the granddaughter of late Washington Post Co. chairman Katharine Graham, has been named chief executive of a new division to be called Washington Post Media, which will place both The Washington Post print edition and washingtonpost.com under the same direction.
City Desk asks the key question here:
Will this mean the end of the 3.4-mile trek between the two operations? For the uninitiated: The Post works at 15th and L Streets downtown, while washingtonpost.com works in Arlington, right by the Court House Metro station.Moving the entire operation to Arlington, while unlikely, could theoretically solve some of those labor issues the Post has been dealing with of late, since Virginia is a right-to-work state. But the idea of the Washington Post not actually being located in Washington is a little tough to swallow.
Alongside this news is word of another round of buyouts at the newspaper. Approximately 60 employees are expected to be given generous early retirement packages as the company continues its efforts to trim its pension liabilities. The most recent round of buyouts, in 2006, saw around 70 senior staffers take the money and run.
Photo by Brian Knight Photography
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Please please please let Warren Brown get the ax, or take the package.
Well with the future expansion of the Courthouse plaza (the East section is already under construction) the WPost could be a great anchor tenet for the new office buildings planned!
I can't imagine the District would let the Post move entirely to Arlington though!
Amanda from DCMetrocentric.com
Well, great. The already anemic coverage of the District of Columbia will only get worse.
the san francisco chronicle has offices all over the bay area. like eight offices. most of the business staff is rohnert park. where? exactly, it's like 50 miles from their main offices. i can't imagine a 3 mile difference means a hill of beans in a wired office space.
Goodbye Washington Post, hello Arlington Post! If they're stupid enough to move their operations entirely to Court House, they sure as hell better change the name.
Correct me if I'm wrong (and I often am) but didn't she recently take a leave of absence to help Michele Rhee out in her transition to the job?