Wash Post editor says online is swell

Washington Post Editor Leonard Downie walked across the street to speak to the ONA this morning. His basic message was that all his early assumptions and worries about the internet years ago were unfounded. Online was not competition for the newsroom, and didn't ruin its journalism, instead it made it better. And the audience for Post's journalism is huge, now much bigger than with just print, and has strengthened Post's brand.
Post's Continuous news desk starts at 4:30 a.m. The paper runs an AM and an FM station that carries Post writers talking about the news,.
"(internet) has imoproved our journalism a lot. Our journalists are working earlier, watching breaking news more closely." plus unlimited newshole.
Print and online work the the same standards. He later raised the question about seperateness, as the web side remains separate. "Will we eventualy merge? I don't know."
He noted the increased scrutiny of journalism online, and said that there used to be big names in the business in the old days who were "cheaters, fabricators and plagiarists" who did not get caught but would swiftly get exposed nowadays.
He said citizen journalsts haven't displaced traditional journalism, but has joined it, noting that the most-read journalism on the net remains edited, verifiable journalism. He said largest single driver of traffic to the site is Drudge.
"Everyone blogs." Staffers take pictures and video for the web. Still important we keep opinion out of news coverage.
Here's a link to Staci's paidcontent.org blog entry on Downie's comments. Staci is a more experienced blogger and one more accustomed to typing as people are talking.