Online Media

Melinda Henneberger admits that her friends and colleagues were skeptical when she announced that she'd be heading up PoliticsDaily.com, AOL's political newsmag website. But that skepticism has simmered now 6 months after launch and with bragging rights to roughly 6 million unique monthly visitors.

Henneberger, the site's editor-in-chief credits the success of PoliticsDaily to several factors:

Editorial Freedom: The New York Times alum says that AOL has been very active in supporting the site but has remained hands-off when it comes to editorial decisions. "They've [AOL] never forced or asked us to change anything editorially. They trust our instincts and experience," she said.

Captive Audience: There is an existing "fire hose of readers that pour in from AOL's homepage," Henneberger told FishbowlDC. And while that is true, each month a significantly greater number of visitors are directed to PoliticsDaily by other referrers. "We also understand that not all clicks are created equally."

Back to the Future: Henneberger says that PD's approach to journalism is "so old fashioned that it's new." She explained that the way to succeed is to "pay for quality" and to remain bipartisan as an organization. "You really don't have to swing one way or another to pull readers. We believe in giving both sides a voice."

So, where does PoliticsDaily.com fit into the increasingly competitive market of web-based political journalism? Henneberger says they're more of a compliment than competitor to sites like Politico.com.

"Politico dominates the 10 second news cycle but we're more analytical," Henneberger told us. "We're really serving readers outside of Washington while earning our cred inside the beltway."

PoliticsDaily currently employs a staff of twelve full-time and taps more than twelve additional contributors. But even with two dozen + journalists fueling their site, don't expect them to open an office anytime soon...or ever. Hennberger proudly explained that AOL offered to get her team space in the city but she declined:

"I'd rather spend money on more reporting than rent, desks and chairs."

In a memo obtained by FishbowlDC yesterday, Robert Allbritton disclosed details of the next Allbritton Communications project - the Metro news site TNR reported on Tuesday.

Allbritton says the new project, led by former Washingtonpost.com editor Jim Brady will "include a merger of the current WJLA.com and News8.net websites into a site whose aim is to set a new standard for media coverage of local news, with a staff of more than 50 people."

Allbritton goes on to say, "This is a work in progress. There are lots of questions that we have not yet tackled and that we can't answer now. Jim's experiment is not coming at the expense of what we are doing now at WJLA, NewsChannel 8 or POLITICO."

See the full memo after the jump.

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The New Republic reports that Robert Allbritton, owner of Politico has plans to launch a DC Metro news site. Allbritton is putting former Washingtonpost.com editor Jim Brady in charge of the new site, sources told TNR.

TNR's Gabriel Sherman says that new site will feature a mix of original reporting, aggregation, and GPS-map features. Hmmm...

Who's your daddy? If you answered "Jeff Dufour," you're either Jayne Sandman or one of the "in the know" readers of UrbanDaddy.com.

FishbowlDC is amped to see that our pal, former "Yeas and Nays" columnist Jeff Dufour has safely landed at his swanky new home on the Web, UrbanDaddy DC! The site is now live, so sign up and find out what Jeff is up to here.

Jodi Schneider, who lost her job at CQ-Roll Call during the layoffs on Sept. 24th has launched a new blog to help other out-of-work journos find jobs. Schneider's first post on DCWorks may have been only two weeks ago but the concept seems to be working. "I've gotten great response from journalists both inside and outside the Beltway -- tips, job leads, and events come in every day," Schneider told FishbowlDC.

Schneider, who was (ironically) CQ's director of recruiting and training, now puts that knowledge to work on DC Works, posting on a new topic every weekday. So far, her topics have included interviewing tips, dealing with COBRA and health insurance costs, freelance advice, preparing for a layoff and then some daily job leads.

"It is meant to be simple," said Schneider. "My 17-year-old son, Ben, provides technical support. I do all the rest."

Check out and help out with Schneider's blog at http://dcworks.wordpress.com.

We slackers use social media to upload pics to Facebook and to tweet about "Goatee Gamble," but some DC-ers out there are actually using technology to make the world a better place.

Meet Jared Cohen, the youngest member of the State Department's policy planning team. This 27 year-old is the guy who kept Twitter available to Iranians during protests earlier this year.

Today he was the subject of the series "Unplugged, Under 40" on CBSNews.com's webcast "Washington Unplugged."

Newt Gingrich, Senator Jim DeMint, Congressman Thad McCotter, Former Congressman Pat Toomey, and Grover Norquist. Those are just a few of the boldface names that you'll see contributing to TWT's newly-launched web property, TheConservatives.com in the near future.

Gingrich's first column for the site, "The Conservative Hour for America Has Come" is already live. In addition to offering big name political contributors, "The Conservatives" tightly integrates social media streams along with the blog, enabling readers to follow up to twenty-five conservative leaders across multiple platforms at one time.

Go multiplatform with your favorite conservative policymakers here.

A new design for "MTP" was unveiled on msnbc.com today. The Sunday show's website still has upcoming guests, transcripts and clips, but now also includes new features like David Gregory's Twitter feed, Facebook page and blog "The View from Here." You can also download podcasts of the show and check out "Take Two," the web-only exclusive.

"Since becoming moderator of "Meet the Press," I've made it a priority to connect with our viewers on every platform because my job isn't only about asking our guests the tough questions, but it's to make sure our audience has every opportunity to be part of that conversation," Gregory said in a press release.

A certain "Situation Room" anchor is getting pretty tech-savvy. No, CNN hasn't turned him into a hologram (yet), but the venerable Wolf Blitzer has joined the slew of DC journos on Twitter.

The "Blitzmeister," as Rick Sanchez calls him, was welcomed to the Twitterverse on CNN today:

SANCHEZ: Hey, I understand you're going to join this whole social media craze now?

BLITZER: I'm following in your footsteps, Rick. Guess what?

SANCHEZ: What?

BLITZER: I'm on Twitter as of yesterday. I just started Tweeting
and it's -- it's a lot of fun.

SANCHEZ: That's fantastic...

BLITZER: I did Tweet about ZZ Top. I got a -- ZZ Top came to see me yesterday here in THE SITUATION ROOM...

SANCHEZ: Do we have that picture?

BLITZER: We've -- we've got a picture that -- that's up there, as
well.

Check out Wolf on Twitter, and that photo on FBDC here.

We told you earlier this summer that White House senior advisor David Axelrod's son Ethan Axelrod joined HuffPost as editor of the local edition in Denver.

Now "HuffPost Denver" is up and running. Bloggers include locals and former locals Governor Bill Ritter, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, author and historian Dr. Patricia Limerick, and former Senator Gary Hart.

"We're delighted to launch HuffPost Denver as our third local version of The Huffington Post," Arianna Huffington said in a press release annoucing the launch today. Chicago and New York are the other two local versions.

And after the jump, a comment from Ethan Axelrod...

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