Newspapers

When National Journal announced 3121, their social networking site for members of Congress and staffers, many questioned whether membership to the site was a violation of House and Senate rules. But since its launch and cocktail party, little more has been said publicly...until now.

In Roll Call's "Heard on the Hill" column, Emily Heil and Elizabeth Brotherton report that a recent e-mail from a key aide was sent to Senate staffers warning that "joining the networking site, whose name comes from the Capitol switchboard's phone extension, might result in a breach of Senate rules."

The email cautioned that officials had yet to rule if joining 3121 was okay and that participation could be a security risk.

The Rules Committee and the Office of Legal Counsel are expected to review the site and advise if it's in compliance with Senate rules.

At the launch party on September 17th, we were told that the collaboration tool/directory houses roughly 9,000 profiles and 500 were claimed by the end of day one.

Pulitzer Prize-winning Henry Allen and Style's Manuel Roig-Franzia

First On FishbowlDC (9:34 AM): FACT! We're still working on the details but we've confirmed that Henry Allen did throw a punch at Manuel Roig-Franzia in the newsroom last Friday. We hear that punch landed on Franzia's face...

FishbowlDC spoke with WaPo HR this morning and confirmed that both reporters are still employed at the paper. We did learn that Allen was "on contract."

UPDATE (11:35 AM):

When reached for comment, WaPo's Director of Communications Kris Coratti said, "I can't discuss private personnel matters but that doesn't mean we haven't taken this incident seriously and addressed it appropriately."

So what does one have to say in order to get a fist to the face from Henry Allen? "Henry, don't be such a cocksucker." That's what triggered Allen to throw down on Roig-Franzia. We hear that Marcus Brauchli was then forced to intervene.

UPDATE (1:24 PM)

Two hours after our original post, we received notification that Washingtonian's Harry Jaffe had also published on the newsroom rumble. Jaffe's article was certainly more exciting than ours but we regret to inform you that our sources have disclaimed his account saying, "Jaffe's story is full of hyperbole -- it was a single punch and no one was on the ground."

City Paper's Erik Wemple says that he reached Roig-Franzia by cell phone but got the ol' hang up after he identified himself.

The Washington Times has doubled the newspaper's sales locations over the past month in an effort to increase single-copy sales. The paper is now being sold at 2,100 new locations across the DC Metro area.

The new distribution points include places like Barnes & Noble, 7-Eleven convenience stores, drugstores such as CVS, Walgreens and Rite-Aid, major gas stations, grocery stores, hotels and fast food joints like Chick-Fil-A.

In our poll about the redesign of the Washington Post, the reaction was fairly split across all three possible responses. 30% of you love the new WaPo while 36% of you didn't care either way. 34% felt negatively about the rag's new look. If you were among the 34% that aren't feeling the new look, let us know what you hate. What should WaPo change?

It's been an entire day since WaPo unveiled its redesigned paper and the reviews have certainly been mixed. FishbowlDC heard everything from "it's more readable and crisp" to "it makes my eyes bleed." One thing is for sure, folks are pretty passionate about the Post...er, the look of the Post.

Weigh in. Is the new WaPo an abomination or stylin' creation?

Via Newseum.org.

Notice anything different about your paper this morning? WaPo unveiled a new look today, complete with an eight-page "Redesign Owner's Manual," which includes notes from publisher Katharine Weymouth, editor Marcus Brauchli and editorial editor Fred Hiatt.

Most noticeable changes include: bigger, more readable fonts, navigation bars across the tops of section fronts, Health & Science section now on Tuesdays, Local Living section on Thursdays, new opinion page Washington Forum in the A-section, and classifieds have been moved to the Local Living and Sports sections. Reporters' emails are now at end of their pieces and columnists like Howard Kurtz and Al Kamen's photos have been added to their columns.

WaPo welcomes comments at ideas@washpost.com and staffers were prepped this weekend on how to handle reader feedback. That memo (via Politico) is after the jump...

continued...

In an internal memo, USA Today publisher David Hunke addressed the paper's reported decline of 398,000 copies a day.

Hunke said:

We fully expect to see circulation increases again as the economy recovers. I'm encouraged by the fact that despite the tough travel economy, we have not lost a single hotel relationship during this recession.

Even with this latest economic impact, USA TODAY remains the nation's number one newspaper in total print circulation. We know these circulation declines are temporary and as the economy continues to recover and the travel industry rebounds, we know our circulation will rebound with it.

See Hunke's full memo after the jump.

continued...

Just after we told you that WaPo and the LAT were calling their joint news service quits, WaPo filled us in on the launch of their new global news service with Bloomberg. The two organizations will offer a selection of content from the Post and Bloomberg News stories to newspapers, websites and other subscribers daily.

WaPo and Bloomberg will also produce a co-branded web-based business news page on washingtonpost.com, incorporating content from the Post and from the Bloomberg.com.

In addition, the Post's entire news content, including breaking-news alerts, will be available in real time as part of the Bloomberg Professional service.

The Washington Post News Service with Bloomberg News will begin offering 120 stories a day on January 1, 2010.

Howie Kurtz reports that the longstanding WaPo-LA Times News Service is no more. The 50/50 partners will now compete against one another to syndicate content to more than 600 global clients.

Kurtz say that details about the dissolved deal were not disclosed but it stems from the Tribune's takeover of LAT in 2000.

See WaPo for more.

"Fearless reporting. American values." John Solomon tells us that's TWT's new tag line that will soon be rolled out to accompany TWT Digital's new "WT" cube logo seen in the picture below.