The former editor of washingtonpost.com and AU alumnus Jim Brady will be launching a new local D.C. news Web site in spring 2010.
In an e-mail, Brady said his new site will cover subjects that “affect people’s daily lives in the Washington region,” such as crime, transportation, sports, entertainment, schools, development, weather and traffic.
The Web site will feature up-to-the-minute information about a variety of topics and events in D.C., Brady said.
“It’s very much focused on news of the moment and getting it to people who live or work in those areas,” Brady said.
Brady also said he would be willing to collaborate with AU students on many aspects of the Web site.
“We haven’t worked out whether we’ll have an internship program right off the bat, though I’m relatively sure we’ll eventually have one,” Brady said. “We would [also] consider taking stories written by college students, or by anyone else in the [D.C.] area for that matter.”
Brady left his job at The Washington Post in December 2008 to work on the new Web site with Allbritton Communications, which also owns Politico and local television news stations WJLA-TV and Channel 8, according to the Post. Allbritton Communications will be merging the Web sites of these two news stations to give content to the new site.
Larry Kirkman, dean of the School of Communication, praised Brady as a self-starter and said he looks forward to working with Brady in the future.
“As head of washingtonpost.com, Jim was a pioneer and innovator in online journalism, creating new multimedia approaches to news and information production and using interactive technologies to engage, involve and empower users,” he said. “In his new venture, Jim will build on his successes at the Post with a commitment to community information and community building.”
Kirkman also said Brady has kept an active connection to AU since he graduated with a Bachelors’ degree in 1988. Brady is active in SOC’s alumni-student mentoring program and has helped many students get internships and jobs at the Post. Brady will also be teaching a graduate course for SOC in the spring about new models in the journalism field.
Luana Perez, a sophomore in SOC, said she is interested to see Brady’s new Web site and what job opportunities it would offer AU students.
“If this Web site was offering internships, I’d definitely want one,” Perez said.
Perez said she would want this new site to cover the gaps she has found in content in other D.C.-area newspapers.
“I’d like to see them cover arts and culture,” Perez said. “Maybe they could have a style section. I’d like to see the Web site really cover what’s happening in D.C.”
You can reach this staff writer at jryan@theeagleonline.com.
