on Reimagining the Washington Post

When I began my internship with the Washington Post in the Fall of 2008, the election campaign was in full swing, the economy was collapsing, and the Washington Post Company was going broke.Eleven months later, having put in many hours editing images and writing blurbs for the photo desk, I was thanked for my time and sent off to my graduation with nary a job offer or any compensation aside from the 'Washington Post' line on my resume.I didn't quite understand the structure of the organization when I reported to the office on my first day - Where I expected to find a bustling, bright, and raucous newsroom, instead I walked into an unfinished, dark, and quiet chamber full of large glowing screens and rivers of network cable flowing through the uncovered ceiling.As it turned out, the Washington Post newspaper and washingtonpost.com were being run from two separate locations, as two separate entities, with what seemed to me like only an occasional conference call to unite the two. In Virginia were the computer people and their communicating translators, linked by telephones and instant messages to reporters and photographers that were situated with great egotistical distance across the Potomac River.Since my exit, I've heard that the two sides eventually united, and the dot-com team moved into the old Post building on 15th Street, in Washington. None of the other interns I served with ended up getting hired, and as far as I know, many of the key managers who I interacted with didn't stick around, either.With Jeff Bezos' purchase of the company, perhaps the internet side of the business and the reporters will be able to bridge the gap that seemed to be cracking the Post's foundation several years ago. His Amazon.com experience and visionary technological ambitions should be a great asset to an organization that has faithfully served Washington D.C., and the rest of the country, for such a long time.