New Newspaper to Cover Congress

By: A new Capitol Hill newspaper will be debuting this fall, entering a competitive niche market of publications that cover politics and policy.

Local media entrepreneur Robert Allbritton and journalist Martin Tolchin are teaming up to create the Capitol Leader. They are set to begin publishing three days a week when Congress is in session and once a week during recesses, starting November 21st.

The newspaper will compete with Roll Call, The Hill and publications such as National Journal and Congressional Quarterly.

Allbritton says the intent is to combine the reporting from the Capitol Leader with the visibility of the company's local television station, WJLA. Allbritton's family owned the Washington Star newspaper in the 1970s.

Tolchin is a former New York Times correspondent and co-founded The Hill newspaper in 1994. He left there three years ago.