Over the past year, politics-oriented Web sites have attracted record amounts of Internet traffic, and the Washington Post has apparently concluded that it’s not commanding enough of it. Top thinkers at the paper are currently discussing a brand-new, semi-autonomous site that would package the Post’s politics reporting, multimedia offerings, and other stuff.
“We’re exploring whether or not it would be feasible or advisable to create a niche Web site on politics in parallel with our political coverage on washingtonpost.com,” says Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. ....
But just what they would find isn’t clear. “I don’t know what it is yet,” says Jim Brady, executive editor of Washingtonpost.com.
Whatever it is, it all bears some resemblance to a concept advocated two years ago by Post politics veterans John Harris and Jim VandeHei. They wanted the paper to have a strong and separate identity on politics, a refuge for junkies uncluttered by weather reports and stories on the region’s latest double murder. “This sounds similar to what Jim and I had proposed,” says Harris, who left the Post along with VandeHei in 2006 to launch the Politico.