Henneberger Hired as HuffPost Prepares to Offer Original Reporting

By: E&P Staff HuffingtonPost.com has hired Melinda Henneberger as it prepares to offer original reporting on its site, according to a Thursday New York Times story.

Henneberger has most recently been a contributing editor at Newsweek magazine. The former N.Y. Times reporter has also been writing a book about women voters.

As HuffingtonPost.com political editor, Henneberger will hire a number of other journalists to produce content "with attitude," Arianna Huffington told the Times' Katharine Q. Seelye. The site will cover Congress, the 2008 presidential election, and more.

"Now is the time to generate our own original content," said Huffington, as quoted in the Times. "It was always our intention, once we had the money, to hire people to do reporting." She added that the site will bring in investigative reporters as well as a multimedia team.

Huffington is the co-founder/editor of the 18-month-old group blog/news site that bears her name. She also writes a syndicated column for Tribune Media Services.

Henneberger, 48, said she's joining HuffingtonPost.com not because of frustration with print media but because it's "a great opportunity to build my own team." She also told Seelye that the new job will give her a chance to report while offering an opinion -- "but not my opinion just sitting around spinning off what somebody else wrote."