Dan Froomkin hired by the Huffington Post

[WilliamPitt]

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/07/07/froomkin/index.html

Woo hoo!

:toast:

[eleny]

1. that didn't take long!

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Amen.

To my mind, this is a second major event in the past week in the ongoing ascent of online journalism as the old guard of hardcopy news comes crashing down. Coincidentally (or maybe not), both events were at the expense of the WaPo. The first event was the exposure of the WaPo's attempt to sell access to political power. And now throwing Froomkin overboard. The actions of the WaPo are hard to describe only because too many adjectives are trying to get through my fingers to the keyboard at the same time: Stupid, venal, corrupt, shortsighted, blind....

Ah, well, I rejoice in thinking how many trees will be saved.

[meegbear]

3. We'll see how long that lasts ...

... While this pairing is, in some ways, a natural one (even the Post Ombudsman suggested that "Web sites like The Huffington Post or Politico would seem a perfect fit"), there are also potential sources of tension. As a practitioner of what he calls "accountability journalism" -- "explaining how Washington works; pulling no punches" -- Froomkin has been a vehement critic of the Obama administration for the last several months, while The Huffington Post frequently trumpeted (some might say "cheerleading") the Obama campaign and even his presidency (though it has become mildly more critical of Obama in recent months; its screaming, red headline today: "White House May Cave on Public Option"). Will Froomkin's harsh criticisms of Obama alienate an Obama-loving HuffPost readership? ....

That site was giving Obama journalistic blowjobs nonstop in 2008. We'll see how a credible critic will do there.

[Cha]

4. Rec'd~ I knew when that rickety old

door closed at the wapo that a window would fly open somewhere grand for Dan Froomkin!

Yay! The continuing overtaking by the Nets!

[grasswire]

5. Froomkin has too much objectivity for HP, IMO.

He's the real deal.