By: Jay DeFoore "The Web really demands some experimentation right now," says Jonathan Krim, the veteran technology and business journalist who will start early next year as Director of Strategic Initiatives at Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive (WPNI).
In announcing Krim's appointment in a staff memo today, WPNI CEO and Publisher Caroline H. Little said Krim's first order of business would be to develop and grow Washingtonpost.com's local audience, working across both the editorial and commercial groups.
Washingtonpost.com currently averages more than 8 million unique visitors a month, and according to a
September study by Neilson//NetRatings, the Web site was tops among U.S. newspapers with a 30.1% reach of the local Internet population.
"Community journalism is going to be very important on the Web to us," Krim said. "Figuring out how to do that and leveraging all of our editorial and business resources in order to do that is what I'll be working on."
When asked what form the Washington Post's community efforts would take, be it completely audience-generated or a combination of staff-led editorial augmented by community interaction, Krim said, "That's the million dollar question."
Krim moves to WPNI from the newsroom of The Washington Post, where for the past four and a half years he has been a reporter covering technology issues. Prior to joining the Post, Krim was executive editor of TheStreet.com, an online financial news and commentary publication based in New York.
Krim spent 16 years at the San Jose Mercury News in Silicon Valley, mostly as a senior editor. At various times, he supervised business and technology news, local and state news, and investigative projects. Coverage that he guided won Pulitzer prizes in 1986 and 1990.
Although his initial mandate at least will be to focus on growing the company's flagship site, he also hopes to work with Newsweek and the company's recently acquired Slate.com. "I'm sure that much of the Slate and Newsweek staff live in this area as citizens so I definitely want to tap that resource if nothing else," Krim said.
In a
similar move, The New York Times announced earlier this week the appointment of Michael Zimbalist to the position of vice president for research and development operations.
Although he said he will be taking a "little break" in January to "recharge," Krim added that his time off would involve more reading and talking to industry colleagues than simply "sitting on a beach."
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