Washington Post’s Conservative Blog Hire Draws Fire

The Washington Post recently hired conservative blogger Ben Domenech (of Redstate.com) to write a regular blog for the newspaper’s website. The appointment drew immediate criticism, notably from conservative-turned-progressive writer David Brock, who questioned Domenech’s journalism bona fides.

Media Matters:

I noted with interest the Post’s decision to add Republican operative Ben Domenech to its roster of bloggers.

Presumably, this decision grew out of reported complaints both inside and outside of the Post that online columnist Dan Froomkin is too liberal. It’s worth noting that Froomkin himself has argued, “I do not advocate policy, liberal or otherwise. My agenda, such as it is, is accountability and transparency. I believe that the president of the United States, no matter what his party, should be subject to the most intense journalistic scrutiny imaginable.”

But even if one were to grant the debatable premise that Froomkin is, indeed, a liberal, he is also a journalist by background and training, having spent 18 years in journalism, working for the Winston-Salem Journal, the Miami Herald and the Orange County Register in addition to nearly a decade with the Post. He is deputy editor of niemanwatchdog.org, the web site of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.

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