The Washington Post is getting into the paywall game. Hey, it’s better late than never. The metered digital subscription system will debut this summer.

Much like the New York Times’ model, WaPo will allow people to read 20 articles per month (aside from its home page and classifieds, which won’t have a limit attached) but after that, they’ll have to pay up. Also — just like the Times — WaPo won’t count visits via social media links.

As of now there is no official word on what the digital subscription plans will cost, but “further details” are coming.

Marcus Brauchli, the executive editor of The Washington Post, is stepping down. Brauchli is leaving his post on December 31 to become vice president of The Washington Post Company, a new role.

“After nearly four and a half years as executive editor, I will step down at year’s end,” said Brauchli, in a memo to staffers, via Jim Romenesko. “It has been a privilege and honor to work with you. What we’ve accomplished in this time, and what you accomplish every day, is a tribute to your ambition, discipline and personal dedication.”

For more on Marty Baron, Brauchli’s successor, head over to our sister site FishbowlDC.

After getting his start at New Jersey’s Star-Ledger, Richard Prince went on to Washington Post where he became part of the “Metro Seven,” a group of African-American journalists who took issue with the paper’s discriminatory practices.

“It was a harbinger of other such cases that took place at other publications, including Newsweek and The New York Times, regarding not only black journalists, but women journalists, to both increase the numbers of these groups and equalize the pay scale,” he recalled in Mediabistro’s latest So What Do You Do? interview. “We never went to court, but after our efforts there was another case at the New York Daily News that did.”

Read the full interview at So What Do You Do, Richard Prince, Columnist for the Maynard Institute?

ProPublica has named Amanda Zamora its new senior engagement editor. Zamora comes to ProPublica from The Washington Post, where she worked since 2003; most recently as national digital editor. Zamora is also a former Knight Digital Media Fellow and helped found the non-profit news site The Huffington Post Investigative Fund.

“We’re thrilled Amanda is joining us,” ProPublica’s senior editor, Eric Umansky, said. “We’re constantly pushing ourselves to do not only ground-breaking reporting but to do it using all the tools the Internet offers, including social. Amanda will help us super-charge that effort.”

Zamora starts on August 6.

Liz Spayd, the Washington Post’s first female managing editor, is leaving at the end of the year. Politico reports that Spayd accepted a buyout and is expected to leave after the presidential election. Spayd has been with WaPo since 1988, serving in a variety of positions. She has been managing editor since 2009.

According to a memo obtained by Poynter, WaPo’s executive editor, Marcus Brauchli, said there has been no exact date set for Spayd’s departure.

“She [Spayd] is a bulwark of sound judgment upon whom we all have come to depend, whose views are reasoned and thoughtful,” wrote Brauchli. “She is steeped in this great institution’s traditions and has ensured we honor them in our journalism, in whatever form, on whatever platform, at whatever speed we produce it. She epitomizes the best of The Post.”

Politico recently published a piece accusing the New York Times and Washington Post of being “blatantly” biased in favor of Barack Obama. The piece was odd/wrong/ridiculous on a number of levels, and the masses have begun to make their opinions known to Politico.

Below are excerpts from some of the best responses. Enjoy the righteous anger.

Devin Gordon, GQ:

Politico published this story the day after one of its targets, The Times, published an astonishing expose about President Obama’s personal oversight of a terrorist ‘kill list.’ In what universe is that not vetting? Part of Politico’s argument is that these two media outlets have spent far too much time on the silly stuff about the Romney family, chasing stories that have no bearing on candidate Mitt’s qualifications for office — but then, in the same breath, they ignore the Times when it focuses, exceptionally, relentlessly, on the truly important stuff like Obama’s record on national security.

Read more

Politico is reporting that Doug Frantz is joining The Washington Post as National Security Editor. Frantz comes to the paper from Kroll, a consulting firm. Frantz is a former Managing Editor for the Los Angeles Times and former Investigative Reporter and Investigations Editor at the New York Times. He also spent time as an Investigative Reporter for the Chicago Tribune.

Additionally, Frantz is a Pulitzer winner and has been a finalist twice.

Frantz’s first day is June 11.

Sarah Stillman is a New York-based journalist. She has written about Iraq and Afghanistan for several publications or online sites, including Slate, The Washington Post, the Nation and the Dallas Morning News.

Stillman, the inaugural winner of the New York University Carter Journalism Institute’s Reporting Award, has added two trophies to her mantle. Her piece in the June 6, 2011 issue of the New Yorker was entitled “Invisible Army.”  She documents poor treatment of Third-World nationals working on U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Sarah’s compelling story is a perfect representation of the work we’re trying to encourage at a time of cutbacks in editorial budgets,” said Stephen Solomon, associate director of the Institute.

The Reporting Award, in its second year, funds articles on under-reported subjects in the public interest.

Stillman was decorated with the Hillman Prize for Magazine Journalism and National Magazine Award in the category of public interest.

The Washington Post has named John Temple its new Managing Editor. Temple was most recently the founding editor of Honolulu Civil Beat, an online news site. Prior to that he was the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Rocky Mountain News, which folded in 2009. Marcus Brauchli, the Executive Editor of WaPo, said Temple was the perfect candidate for the job.

“As a managing editor for The Post, John will ensure that the coverage we provide to our print and digital audiences is smart, original and acutely attentive to our audience,” said Brauchli. “He’ll help us to build on the rapid growth we’ve enjoyed recently with readers who come to us through our website, on mobile devices, or through new platforms like the incredibly successful Washington Post Social Reader on Facebook.”

Temple’s first day is April 30.

It’s extremely rare for three of the biggest papers in the nation to run the same photograph on their front pages on the same day, but that’s exactly what happened today. The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal all ran Rodrigo Abd’s picture of a young boy mourning the loss of his father — who was killed by a sniper — in Syria.

Merrill D. Oliver, the Times’ Page One Photo Editor for Thursday, said Abd’s photograph was too powerful to pass up. “It’s always horrible when people are grieving a death, but something about a child just raises it to be that much more painful,” Oliver explained. “The emotion in his face just kind of takes you by the throat.”

[Paper pic via Romenesko]