Come Together Now: Tribune Papers Share Bureau in Washington

By: Joe Strupp For decades, the seventh floor of Woodward & Lothrop's department store in Washington, D.C. -- known to locals as "Woodies" -- bustled with shoppers clamoring for the latest bargains and trends. After it closed more than a decade ago, the block-wide building at F and 10th streets stood virtually empty. Last December, the hustle and bustle returned, but those roaming the 7th floor are no longer seeking sale items. Now it's scoops, interviews, and late-night coffee they want. That's because the space is now home to the Tribune Co.'s Washington, D.C., bureau.

Previously spread across four scattered locations, the D.C. bureaus of the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, New York's Newsday, and six other Tribune papers have come together as one. Since Dec. 12, all of the Tribune papers have had their Washington correspondents there, along with Tribune's vast broadcasting center. The building also leases space to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Environmental Protection Agency.

In all, 107 journalists work in the new Tribune digs, which staffers contend are larger and more modern than their previous workplaces. "There are good facilities, each paper has its own identity, and operates more or less independently," said Mike Dorning, a 15-year Chicago Tribune reporter who covers politics.

Jeff Reiter, director of corporate communications for Tribune Co., hailed the consolidation as both a cost-saving opportunity and a way to combine resources. "It has been economical to bring them together," says Reiter, who declined to reveal the lease price. "There is also the economics of improving the amount of shared effort."

That is what concerns some reporters. While most contend that the move has not sparked major changes in beat structure and reporting, some staffers are worried that the consolidation of space may soon lead to consolidation of coverage and, eventually, jobs. "I think that is the greatest concern, that it might be the first step down some slippery slope," says Faye Fiore, a 17-year Los Angeles Times reporter who has covered Washington since 1994. "There is a fear that the bottom line will prevail."

Andrew Martin, who covers food policy and agriculture for the Tribune, agrees. "Everyone is very concerned about that," he says. "It is an ongoing concern, although we have been told it won't happen." Glenn Thrush, a Newsday reporter, says his bureau had already been cut prior to the move, so location is not as much of an issue for him.

Reiter acknowledged that one of the aims is less duplicate coverage: "Instead of someone from three newspapers covering things, we can put more people on enterprise. It will lead to more content sharing, but it will be these routine stories, which makes sense."

The bureaus are already working together more often, with bureau chiefs from the nine papers meeting twice daily rather than weekly as they had done before. Some reporters also lament the fact that when they call someone, their caller I.D. reads "Tribune Co." rather than "Newsday" or "Los Angeles Times."

But Reiter stressed that while the reporters would share more content and reduce duplication, they would not lose their separate newspaper connections. "We wanted to bring them all together, but have them maintain their identities," he says. "This was done with the idea of maintaining each bureau."

Still, Vickie Walton-James, Tribune's senior Washington editor and the bureau's top boss, admits some beat structures have changed, noting that The Sun of Baltimore has the only person regularly covering the National Security Agency and the Food and Drug Administration among the nine papers. But she stresses that real competition continues, enough so that some stories are not discussed among the editors until later in the day if one paper has a scoop.

Paul West, bureau chief for the Sun's six-person staff, also defended the set-up, claiming it has only enhanced coverage. "If you have one hundred people in one place, you have a sharing of information about what is going on in Washington," he says. "The hardest thing to know in a town like this is what not to cover." He also says that more Sun stories have been appearing in other Tribune papers since the consolidation. "That may be because they are more aware of what we are doing," he says.

For Jeff Miller, the lone Allentown (Pa.) Morning Call reporter in the bureau, "It is actually a benefit when covering Washington to be able to talk to other reporters" who cover doings in the nation's capital.

Another change slowly coming about in the new bureau is more interaction with Tribune Broadcasting, Reiter says. He cites a Los Angeles Times poll about President Bush's approval rating that the paper published with an online video component just before the State of the Union address in January. "The reporter who wrote the story taped an interview in the TV studio and it went on the Web site of the L.A. Times," he says. "That just wouldn't have happened before. The print reporters are in front of the camera more than before."