As major news outlets continue shelling out for a very expensive election season (Debates: $500k-$1m a pop; Convention coverage: ~$2m), some might be looking to cut corners. Networks like CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News already have some version of a user-generated news product, where viewers are solicited to send in tips and photos, that’s less about getting all Web 2.0 than it is about getting everyday citizens to act as unpaid reporters (or so the inner cynic in us believe). But that doesn’t mean the media are cooling down — quite the opposite. With the feisty Democratic primary done with, it’s time to explore every possible angle leading up to November. Like what the temperature is on college campuses. Which explains why CBSNews.com, WashingtonPost.com, and university press syndicate UWIRE.com are teaming to find “15 to 20 top reporters” to keep their readers plugged in to who’s waving what campaign banner on the Quad. They need everybody from investigative journalists to photographers to satirists to play a part. Interested? Fantastic. Just tell them how you like to be paid: Cash, cheque, wire transfer, or … exposure.

CONTINUED »

Three standing ovations followed Leo Downie Jr.’s announcement to his Washington Post newsroom that he’d be stepping down as the newspaper’s executive editor, a post he’s held for the past 17 years. Downie was notable for being unnoticeable — no regular TV or party circuit appearances for this guy — while leading the newspaper to 25 Pulitzer Prizes. His exit, at least in recent weeks and months, is nothing except expected; new publisher Katharine Weymouth has made no secret of her wanting to name her own choice to the position, and though she told the Post she was “in no hurry to rush Len out of here,” damn near showed Downie the door herself. That his announcement was finally made means one thing: He and the Post agreed on the terms of his buyout deal, which should provide plenty of funding for what he says he wants to do — spend time with his wife.

The Washington Post will join the NYT and WSJ in offering a glossy magazine that’s more about serving advertiser interests than readers’. It will be called Fashion Washington, which is, yes, as silly as it sounds. [WaPo]

It turns out this photo of Tiger Woods in the Washington Post, which Photoshop Disasters fingered for being a doctored image, is actually not a photo editor’s bungled work. In fact, it’s an original image from Getty, and just one example of what can happen when a telephoto lens is placed in the hands of an oblivious photographer. The original image is here.

Think the Washington Post buyouts were all sad news for the newspaper industry? Not for feature writer Linton Weeks, who pulled one of those Malcolm Gladwell-level stunts in a final article for the paper. Pick up every first letter of each paragraph in “Updike Reads The Lines in American Art,” and you won’t even need secret decoder glasses to find his closing message.

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“Bob Woodward is leaving the regular payroll of the Washington Post, along with about 100 other Posties who are accepting the paper’s generous early retirement package.

“For the Post’s legendary investigative reporter, however, the buyout may not exactly yield a windfall, largely because he has been drawing a salary of $10,000 for the past couple of years.

“The buyout gives the most senior Post staffers an exit payment of two times their final salary. On that basis, Woodward would get a check for $20,000, or enough for a 2008 Chrysler Sebring. He is 65 and started at the Post in 1971.

“Yet there’s an interesting wrinkle in Woodward’s package: That $10,000 salary? It represents a voluntary pay cut that took effect in mid-2006. Prior to that, Woodward earned a salary commensurate with his title as a Post assistant managing editor, about $180,000. If his exit payment is calculated on that basis, he’d get $360,000 via the buyout.

“The biz people at the paper are now trying to figure out whether to give Woodward the small payout or the large payout.” [WCP]

Lots of big names are taking buyouts at the Washington Post. [Portfolio]

You sort of expect to read plagiarized articles, columns, and books in newspapers, magazines, and websites around the world. But do you expect to read copied work submitted by … children? In the Washinton Post? “One of the poems that KidsPost published April 29 as part of its poetry contest was not written by the child who submitted it. The poem that appeared as “Horrible, Just Horrible” was actually written by Shel Silverstein and is titled “One Out of Sixteen.” The child who sent in the poem originally told KidsPost that it was her work. Another poem on the page, titled “Eraser,” was inspired by, but not credited to, Louis Phillips, who wrote “The Eraser Poem.”” [WaPo via RTE]

Writing an article about television censorship and the use of naughty words, Washington Post scribe Lisa de Moraes finds herself in the unusual position of discussing what, exactly, the FCC has such a problem with — while her own newspaper won’t let her use certain words (or, actually, letters) to describe the situation. Awkward!

On the April 10 episode of “30 Rock,” the staff of the late-night show “TGS” has become obsessed with a new reality hit called “MIL[letter that’s been deemed too naughty for The Washington Post when it follows M, I and L] Island.”

For the uninitiated: MIL[WaPo Scarlet Letter] stands for Mothers I’d Like to [have sex with].

In this episode of “30 Rock” — which NBC says also is titled “MIL[WaPo Banned Letter] Island” — network bigwig Jack (Alec Baldwin) is watching the riveting finale of this reality-series hit, pitting the final two contestants, Debra vs. Deborah, when he is blindsided by a blind item in a newspaper gossip column. In it, a network staffer calls him a “Class A moron” and adds, “That guy can eat my poo.” [WaPo]

“F” = Not allowed

“Poo” = Totally kosher

Katharine Weymouth, publisher of the Washington Post, sent staffers a memo today about its buyout plan to cut staff. They’re calling the program, which is only for non-Guld members, “Voluntary Retirement Incentive Programs (VRIPs).” It would’ve done them well not to include the acronym “RIP” in their plan, but so be it. There are a few eligibility requirements, like being older than 50 and work at least 22.5 hours a week. So basically, that includes everyone the Post would be looking to excise.

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Before we start this, for the record, we like Malcolm Gladwell. His books and articles are always interesting. When he met him at the Moth Gala last year, he recommended a book to us and pointing out a bug scampering on the floor, which for the sake of symbolism, might as well have been a moth.

At the event, Gladwell told a story about his mischievous days at the Washington Post, which was used on a recent episode of This American Life. While he was at the Post, as Gladwell puts it, he had a “Jayson Blair moment,” when he realized mistakes he put in the paper could have a major impact on the world. He went on to goad the National AIDS Conference to hold their annual meeting in Sydney, Australia because he hadn’t been there before.

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Seeing Slate’s continued success and the purchasing power of blacks, the Washington Post Co. has launched TheRoot.com, a news and entertainment site for people of color. Henry Louis Gates Jr., an African-American Studies professor at Harvard, comes on board as editor-in-chief, with folks like Malcolm Gladwell signing on to contribute.

Gates is also involved on the business end, with TheRoot teaming up with his own AfricanDNA.com, which is among a growing number of companies promising to link the black diaspora to its African roots through genetic maps. Readers of TheRoot are often directed to Gates’ website.

Gates – and apparently WaPo – sees no conflict of interest, even though their new website (named TheRoot, after all) makes an explicit effort to focus especially on genealogy. Which is a convenient stance to take. (And given our own interest in black web publishing, perhaps our skepticism is also convenient?)

What we wear, what we buy, who we like and what we’re like, duh, it’s all controlled by the media. And politics is no different.

So if you’re the kind of person who likes to gamble on the future of our nation, Barack Obama and John McCain winning the primary today in New Hampshire seems like a good bet. Because as some outlets are admitting, the media has a huge crush on both of them.

CONTINUED »

COST OF LIVING GOES UP IN D.C. The Washington Post will be an even 50 cents starting December 31, up from 35 cents, its cost since 2001. The New York Times is more than twice that, but as saying goes, it’s all about location, location, location. [WP]

Sometimes publicists won’t take “unsubscribe” for an answer. Washington Post music critic Tim Page was so eager to get off the email list for former crack user and current DC Mayor Marion Barry that he wrote an email to a Barry aide that may have verged on the inappropriate:

Must we hear about it every time this crack addict attempts to rehabilitate himself with some new — and typically half-witted — political grandstanding? I’d be grateful if you would take me off your mailing list. I cannot think of anything the useless Marion Barry could do that would interest me in the slightest, up to and including overdose.

To be fair to Page, Marion Barry overdosing on crack has very little to do with his opera beat.

CONTINUED »

Digg, that site you’re always hearing is important but don’t really understand why, might finally be sold.

Word on the street is that a major media player is set to buy the link sharing site for $300 to $400 million. While that number might seem a little 1999, Digg recently signed a $100 million multi-year ad deal with Microsoft.

Over at Valleywag, they’re guessing that the media player in question is the Washington Post Co., which already has ties with Microsoft through Slate. Well, Digg couldn’t be any worse of an investment than About.com.

Freelancers, rejoice: Slate is set to launch a new business site as early as next summer.

Following in the steps of Portfolio and Fox Business News, Slate sees an opening in the crowded business news market. The project is still waiting final authorization, but Slate already offered the head job to Elizabeth Spiers. She turned down the position; maybe she is also tired of seeing her name attached to big web launches.

CONTINUED »

Sometimes I just have to say, “what the fuck?” and the royal we doesn’t work as well. These are my thoughts—raronauer

In college, pretending to have read books was a necessary skill. There were papers to write, tests to take, and in between, keg parties to crash.

But since I’ve graduated from required reading, my free time is finally free. If I wanted to spend all my non-work hours playing Mortal Combat 2, that would be weird, but still my choice. I end up reading books and magazines because I enjoy to, not because I have to.

CONTINUED »

An Iraqi reporter for the Washington Post was fatally shot in Baghdad over the weekend, proving once again that this war was a giant fucking miscalculation reporting from the front lines of an active war-zone is still extremely dangerous. [WaPo]

From the Washingtonian:

The Northwest cafeteria Coffee Cart is offering Post managers an opportunity to reward their employees with tickets for either a free box of popcorn or a free 16-ounce regular coffee. Tickets must be purchased in sheets of ten and can only be redeemed at the Northwest Coffee cart. The price is $11.00 for ten popcorn tickets and $15.50 for ten 16 oz. regular coffee tickets. (Taxes are included).

Dance, monkeys, dance!

Earlier: Tub of Lard