WashPost shuts bureau

Besides L.A., where Karl Vick and TV columnist Lisa deMoraes are based, the Post is closing its bureaus in NY and Chicago. "The fact is we can effectively cover the rest of the country from Washington," said Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli. Well yeah, but the closures signal both a cost-cutting retrenchment and the paper's greater focus on the Washington area. From the Post story:

Brauchli, a former foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, acknowledged that "unquestionably there are advantages to having someone on the ground at times." But, he said, "We are not a national news organization of record serving a general audience. Nor are we a wire service or cable channel." Maintaining that The Post's strength is to report issues through a "Washington prism," Brauchli cited recent examples of education and economic reporters filing major dispatches from other cities to illustrate national trends.