• by Tom Siebert , November 21, 2006

In a nod to the growing political clout of the Internet, two political reporters for The Washington Post left the influential newspaper to join Allbritton Communications, where they will launch a Web-based multimedia news venture.

The start-up publication will combine Allbritton's new Capitol Hill newspaper, The Capitol Leader, its local D.C. ABC affiliate WJLA-TV, and its 24-hour cable news service, NewsChannel 8. Coverage will also be shared nationally on CBS, which will air the publications' interviews and features on "Face the Nation," "CBS This Morning," and CBS Radio.

The new platform will be anchored on the Web, however, and led by former Washington Post political editor and author John Harris and national political reporter Jim VandeHei, who have pledged to make the coverage "more interactive, more controversial and more transparent."

Harris and VandeHei have spent their careers in traditional news media organizations, and were both highly visible in the months leading up to the 2006 mid-term elections. Harris has covered the White House and national politics, written a New York Times best-selling biography of President Clinton and recently coauthored the controversial book on modern politics, "The Way to Win," with Mark Halperin of ABC's "The Note." VandeHei has covered Congress, the White House, and presidential politics for The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.