This is getting interesting.
In October, I wrote about how the parent company of Politico.com, Allbritton Communications Co., is starting a local news site for the Washington D.C. area.
Politico already owns the political-news world, and the powers-that-be at Allbritton clearly have their sites set on giving The Washington Post a run for its money in the other spheres of news coverage.
Former-Post Web site Executive Editor Jim Brady is in charge of the new venture, which still doesn’t have an official name, and as I reported Jan. 30, news and online guru Steve Buttry has joined the team, which is great because Buttry, just like Brady, knows his stuff.
Now the team has gotten even stronger. Erik Wemple, the editor of Washington City Paper, is leaving his post this month to join the D.C. start-up.
There are going to be fireworks when this Web site finally gets named and launched. WaPo isn’t going to know what to do, and although I like that publication, I really like creative, fiery ventures that challenge the traditions and show that news is headed in a brand-new, exciting direction.
I’m so excited about this I thought about this that I want to rekindle some of my plans to start a news outlet.
Quite possibly the most entertaining part of this, at least to me, is where Wemple comes from — The City Paper. See, on Oct. 30, two WaPo staffers got into a fist fight, and The City Paper not only covered it but made spoof video about it. It was hilarious.
Clearly there is no love lost between The City Paper and WaPo, so I’m sure Wemple isn’t a big supporter of WaPo either, which makes his joining Brady and the unnamed venture even more delicious.
I hope the new Web site rolls out soon. I really want to see how it attacks WaPo’s coverage area. Also, I wonder who will join the team next? The suspense of all this is killing me!
