May 14, 2008
Washington Post Buyouts Pile Up
A lengthy stream of names, many of them seriously big time folks, keeps rolling out of the Washington Post newsroom today as senior reporters, editors and columnists are coming to final decisions about their buyout offers. The face of the Post is about get a lot younger and a lot less familiar to its readers.
The two biggest names to come out of today's round of buyout acceptances are longtime sports columnist Tony Kornheiser and veteran political columnist David Broder. Broder will become a contract employee of the Post and will continue to write his column for The Washington Post Company. Kornheiser, who co-hosts Pardon the Interruption on ESPN with fellow Post sports columnist Michael Wilbon, hasn't written a regular column for the paper in years.
The deadline for Posties to submit paperwork to accept the buyout is Thursday, so more names could come out overnight. Fishbowl DC has been doing a great job keeping track of the will-they-stay-or-will-they-go list. Others who are definitely departing include Style section editor Deborah Heard, Obituaries editor Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb, Travel editor K.C. Summers, Copy desk AME Don Podesta, Metro reporter Sue Anne Pressley Montes, and many others.
Photo by L-squared
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Wow, the obituaries just won't be the same without Yvonne at the helm anymore. Oh wait, yes they will.
The post has turned into a snarky high school rag. Date Lab? Sunday Source? Gag me with a spoon.
"Tony Kornheiser", "David Broder", and "FishbowlDC?" I couldn't be any less interested if you linked to "Pilgrim's Progress", "Paris Hilton", and "the cinema of Uwe Boll."
So why was Tony Kornholer still employed by the Post when he wasn't even writing for them regularly?
I was hoping you were telling me that David Broder was finally retiring, but he's going to continue to churn out his lamebrained column full of "on the other hand" tripe and criticism of Democrats for being too "partisan." Bummer.
No love for TK here at DCist? When I started reading the paper in high school, Kornheiser's column was one of the first I read regularly. I guess I'll always have a soft spot for him and I'm sorry to see him leaving the Post.
My experience with TK is just about the exact same as hillrat's.
Plus, it has been exciting (and still kinda is) to see him become nationally known and I get a bit sad when he's lame on Monday Night Football.
But I feel like he's only stuck around as a WP employee because, as much as he is raking in the dough through television, he still thinks of himself as a journalist and the WP was the last thing actually connecting him to that. Listening to his radio show, it even sounded like he realized he was more just hanging out there.
TK is money, which is why I record PTI everyday. One of the most amusing shows on tv. Do you think he'll ever take over Skeletor as host of Redskin's Report and Around the Horn?