The Washington Post

At a little after 3 p.m. on Monday, April 7, New York Times executive editor Bill Keller grabbed a microphone and took to a landing on one of the floating red-walled staircases that climb up into his brand-new newsroom’s skylit clerestory. It was Pulitzer day, and the first time this kind of stand-up-in-the-newsroom ceremony was being observed in the new Renzo Piano-designed tower the newspaper moved into last May.  read more »

The Washington Post picked up six Pulitzer Prizes today, a record for the paper and one shy of the New York Times' record of seven back in 2002. Dana Priest of the Post nabbed her second Pulitzer in three years, winning the Public Service award along with Anne Hull and photographer Michel du Cille for exposing mistreatment of veterans at Walter Reed Hospital (She also won in 2006 for Beat Reporting on counterterrorism prisons).  read more »

Two Washington Post sources tell us the word around the newsroom is that it's gonna be a mighty great day for the paper. The Pulitzer Prize winners aren't scheduled to be announced until 3 p.m. today (stay tuned!) but somehow the staff at the Post seems to think they're on tap to win as many as six of the coveted prizes.

"It's a pretty amazing atmosphere over here right now," said one reporter. "The big editors are roaming around with big smiles."  read more »

The Washington Post sent out a memo this morning announcing that Katharine Weymouth has become the new publisher of the paper and the CEO of Washington Post Media, which will oversee the paper and its Web site. Ms. Weymouth, formerly the vice president of advertising for the parent company, is the fifth member of the Graham family to become the publisher of the Post. Boisfeuillet Jones, Jr., who was publisher, will effectively swap roles with Ms. Weymouth and become the vice president of advertising.

In a story that was just put up on the Post's web site, the paper also announced that there will also be a series of buyouts for older employees beginning in March.

On the back of the Hillary press bus, the word spread quickly that she might be able to do an "avail," meaning she might speak to the press during an unscheduled stop at Gala, a downtown Manchester coffee shop.

It's been a rare thing for her to do a presser, but as one reporter put it: "She has no other choice." It's time to start talking!  read more »

An early dispatch from Very Special Correspondent Choire Sicha in New Hampshire.

The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz has weighed in on the controversy over his paper's front-page story last week which gave space to false rumors that Barack Obama is a Muslim. Writes Mr. Kurtz, in a WashingtonPost.com chat:

It's always a subject of journalistic debate as to when a rumor or smear has gained enough currency that a newspaper should weigh in and debunk it, even at the risk of spreading the original trash. I had debates in this newsroom many times about wanting to knock down some of the Clinton scandal rumors that were gaining currency in tabloids or British papers, and that was before the Internet was the force that it is today.

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... why does The Washington Post allow Howard Kurtz to write a news story about charges that CNN acted improperly when he hosts a regular segment on the network? Yes, there's a line of disclosure at the bottom, but still -- isn't there anyone else they could have assigned it to?

Starting in late December, Pulitzer-Prize winning film critic Stephen Hunter is taking a three-month leave from The Washington Post, in order to write a book. The Post is looking for a replacement during the film industry's dry season. Says an internal memo:

Style is looking for ways to plug the gap during [Hunter's] absence. If you’re interested in a short stint reviewing and writing about movies for Style and Weekend, please let us know by Dec. 13. Stephen returns March 31.

The Washington Post reports that Brad Pitt has dropped out of a planned film in which he was to play a reporter covering the murder of a political
staffer, after clashing with the director over the script. Several months ago, Mr. Pitt had thrown thrown the Post's newsroom into a tizzy when he met with a handful of editors and reporters there, in order to research the role.

This is not the first time that the star has played fast and loose with the hearts of residents of our nation's capital. Two years ago, he and Angelina sparked fevered speculation that they might be buying property in the District after being spotted outside an on-the-market townhouse in a tony neighborhood. Turned out they were just visiting friends.  read more »

Via Huffington Post, Washingtonian magazine (which is kind of like the New York magazine of Washington but worse, in a weirdly exact mirror of the way Washington is worse than New York) reports that The Washington Post Company makes more than half of its revenue from Kaplan, its test-prep division, according to the company's latest financial report. Maybe The Times Company should think about making an offer for Princeton Review.

We also learn that Newsweek's revenues were down 16 percent from last year. But not to worry: Karl Rove and Markos Moulitsas will no doubt turn things around.

The Washington Post's Ruth Marcus gets all bloggy in her column today, quoting the Times' Paul Krugman disparaging those who argue that Social Security faces a serious financing problem, then lining up passages written by Mr. Krugman earlier this decade in which he seems to agree that it does.

The attack comes on the heels of Mr. Krugman's spat with fellow Times columnist David Brooks over Reagan and race, in which, in apparent observance of an unspoken Times rule, each delicately avoided naming the other. So it'll be interesting to see whether Mr. Krugman responds to Ms. Marcus, and, if so, whether the rule seems to work any differently when the other columnist writes for a different paper.  read more »

Just when Joe Biden was cooking up a nice little redemption story, he goes and steps in it—again.  read more »

On Sunday night, James Carville, who touts himself, perhaps accurately, as the best-known political consultant in the country, sat down with Dan Rather at the 92nd St Y to discuss the 2008 presidential election.

But he was at his most passionate, by far, when talking instead about the 2000 campaign, and denouncing the way it was covered by the country’s two leading national newspapers.

The New York Times’ coverage of that race “was borderline criminal—and The Washington Post’s was worse,” said Mr. Carville, joining a growing list of commentators who have argued lately that the media was overly focused on superficial issues, and exaggerated Al Gore’s flaws while giving a pass to George W. Bush.  read more »

Observer contributor Niall Stanage, who is currently on assignment in Iran, sends an email for our "general amusement" to say that it is possible where he is to access the sites of the New York Times, Washington Post, the Guardian and the Times of London, but that attempts to get to the New York Post, the Sun, Gawker or Wonkette are met with "a disappointingly literal 'Access to this Site is Denied' together with some Farsi script presumably saying the same thing."

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