• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, December 22, 2024

The Washington Post is rolling out an initiative that it previously referred to as the Third Newsroom.  

Rebranded as WP Ventures, the project team will explore how the Post “can effectively grow our reach, revenue and relevance with new audiences in a rapidly changing media landscape,” says Matt Murray, executive editor of the Post, in a memo to the staff. “A particular focus has been expanding our presence on social media and creating new commercial opportunities for consumer and lifestyle journalism, while accelerating innovation and cross-company collaboration.” 

The Third Newsroom was created to focus on serving Americans who disdain traditional news, providing them with news where they are, in the style they want. 

Indeed, this seems an attempt to achieve some of what The New York Times has done in the past several years. But back to the announcement. 

Managing Editor Krissah Thompson, who joined the Third Newsroom project in June, will serve as editor of WP Ventures. And Samantha Henig, co-founder of The New York Times’ audio division and “The Daily,” has joined the team and is working with Thompson.

WP Ventures will have its headquarters on the fourth floor of the Post’s Washington, DC office. Murray boasts that goal is to create “a new kind of working space enabling experimentation, learning, and adaptation as we explore opportunities and new formats, in alignment with our values and journalistic standards.”

The Post has received a fair share of negative publicity this year, ranging from CEO Will Lewis’s tumultuous debut and the exit of Sally Buzbee as executive editor, to the paper’s decision to not endorse a presidential candidate.  

But it feels it has a strong foundation on which to build.  

“The Post has a history of innovation in digital storytelling and prior successes on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, and we are building on the greatest off-platform reach in our history, bolstered by the strength of our journalists’ platforms,” Murray says. 

In a separate development, Murray announced that Wall Street Journal veteran Karen Pensiero has been named standards editor, a new masthead position, effective in January,  

Pensiero will boost “how we source and report, how we navigate tough stories and how we seek to cultivate fairness and balance in our work,” Murray writes.