Internal Memo

In a somewhat goofy but endearing exercise, WaPo tests their own Fact Checker today with a special in-house edition of Glenn Kessler‘s The Fact Checker. This is, by far, the most creative internal memo we have seen to date out of WaPo. And trust us when we say we read memos that bore us to tears. They bring in Pinocchio to help. They also introduce Kessler’s new assistant, Josh Adam Hicks, who comes to the position highly recommended. Who wouldn’t hire him? He once worked as a fruit picker in New Zealand.

Enjoy….

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Politico‘s Congressional Bureau Chief Laura McGann is heading up a brand new team that centers on lobbying and campaign finance. Some may also know her work from Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab, where she was prior to Politico. She’s also the former founding managing editor of The Washington Independent and worked at TPM.

On an unusual note, she has a dog named FOIA.

So far McGann’s team members are Ken Vogel, Robin Bravender, Anna Palmer and Dave Levinthal.

The search is on to fill McGann’s former position.

See the internal memo from Managing Editor Bill Nichols.

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From NYT Washington Bureau Chief David Leonhardt…

To the Newsroom:

Carl Hulse has long been part of the nerve center of The New York Times. As our chief Congressional correspondent, he’s been a leading player on most big Washington stories, and he has written some of the most insightful pieces of the Obama/Tea Party years. Carl is also a wise and generous colleague who is an enormous help to other reporters, editors and (believe me) columnists.

I am thrilled to announce that he will now become deputy Washington bureau chief, joining Rebecca Corbett in that role. Carl will have primary responsibility for running the bureau day to day, helping to oversee every aspect of our coverage. Those who know Carl as an editor — from his years as the bureau’s night editor, alongside a former bureau chief named Abramson — praise his deft hands and unerring judgment. And the truth is that Carl has remained an editor in many ways, running our Capitol Hill coverage and mentoring reporters like David Herszenhorn, Ashley Parker, Sheryl Stolberg and Jeff Zeleny. On a big story, you want Carl by your side, because he’ll make you smarter and he’ll make you laugh.

Carl’s first Times-related job was a Washington correspondent for the regional papers, starting in 1986. (His first desk in the old bureau was literally in a closet.) He joined The Times as night editor in 2001, began covering Congress in 2002 and became chief Congressional correspondent in 2006. An Illinois native, he’s a former construction worker, a member of the Illinois State University college-newspaper Hall of Fame and the drummer for the Capitol Hill garage band, the Nativemakers. He lives on the Hill with his family. Lest Carl’s followers worry, he promises to keep tweeting from @hillhulse.

I feel just as fortunate that Rebecca will continue in her role, overseeing our enterprise and investigative work — on domestic policy, foreign policy and the 2012 campaign — and helping shape everything else the bureau does as well. Rebecca’s hit parade, be it wiretapping, WikiLeaks or the series of 2008 candidate profiles, confirms what reporters eagerly say about her: there may be no better story conceiver, counselor and wordsmith at the newspaper. Along with Dick Stevenson, our invaluable political editor, Carl and Rebecca will lead a desk that’s well suited for these never-dull times.

Carl starts his new job on transition Tuesday — Sept. 6. If you’re interested in applying for one of the two openings on Capitol Hill, please contact Carl, Rebecca or me. We welcome internal and external candidates for these Guild positions.

David

Well that was fast. This morning the Washington Examiner‘s Freeman Klopott announced the news that he was resigning and moving to Albany to work for Bloomberg News. Examiner Editor Stephen Smith says he will miss the reporter’s “gaudy tie collection” among other things. This afternoon the Examiner is on the ball and has already filled the City Hall beat with Liz Farmer, who has worked for the publication for two years. Farmer’s position will also soon be filled. An announcement is expected within a few days. There is no job opening.

We are by no means suggesting that Farmer’s legs are hairy.

See Smith’s internal memo…

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AP Washington Bureau Chief Sally Buzbee announced to reporters and editors this afternoon that the political editing desk will soon be fully operational. She reported that Michele Salcedo will anchor the desk and outlines how coverage will break down in coming months. For one thing, more editors are on the horizon. She also outlines which reporters will handle each aspect of  Washington coverage as well as beats on the trail such as Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada.

See the internal memo…

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WaPo is “reorganizing the structure” of their weekly feature sections. A memo from Executive Editor Marcus “Steamed” Brauchli to staff on Tuesday afternoon reports that they are “simplifying” and “streamlining.” Travel and Food are being “consolidated” into one staff but this will not mean fewer reviews. Books will now be split up — nonfiction writers will report to Outlook and fiction to Style. These changes apparently do not indicate “trimmed” coverage. Just maybe trimmed human beings. At the bottom of the memo they announce that the changes will affect a “small number” of newsroom jobs. “We don’t make these decisions lightly,” wrote brass.

See the memo…

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WaPo‘s Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli is really buttering up his staff today. He sent out this note of thanks to them for their national debt coverage. He also took a moment to slam the competition, saying WaPo “stood smartly above our competition…day in and day out, even minute to minute.”

See the memo…

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CQ Roll Call brass has put the kabosh on Roll Call TV, a weekly television program produced in partnership with the Comcast Network.  News of the show’s demise came in the form of an internal memo from Scott Montgomery and Mark Walters this afternoon.  Although RCTV was a revenue-producing venture, those familiar with the arrangement suggest the deal was more trouble than its worth and say the newsgroup’s reporters were less than enthused to participate in the program.

“We enjoyed working with the Comcast Network to launch this show and give many of our reporters the opportunity to fine-tune their TV skills. However, we have made the business decision to end the partnership,” explained the memo.

The divorce date is set for September 27, 2011.

Subject line: A local baby — from Vernon. (As in WaPo‘s Local Editor Vernon Loeb in a memo he dispatched Monday to newsroom staff.)

Did Vernon have the local baby? Of course, not. But that’s just the beginning of the confusion that an editor, if editing this memo, might have asked before sending such copy out. Other questions to ponder: Is it about the mother? The infant? The grandfather? Or, is it about the author, Loeb, and his relationship with the grandfather?

Questions aside, welcome Nicholas Marimow Sargent to the Fishbowl!

See the internal memo… (The above photograph is the meandering Tigre River in Argentina.)

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WaPo‘s Eric Athas is taking his digital skills and moving them to NPR. WaPo management is “sad to announce” the news. He’ll be relocating to Boston, where he has family. His new title: Digital News Specialist.

See the internal memo…it’s not a snoozer, actually.

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