Why is Jose Vargas leaving the Washington Post for the Arianna Huffington?”
The Post has endured the loss of lots of name brand journalists, both through voluntary departures (Mark Liebovich, Dafna Linzer, Jim VandeHei, John Harris, etc.) and buyouts (Richard Harrington, Steve Hunter, Tamara Jones, etc.). But news this week that four young reporters are leaving the Post suggests a weakness at the paper’s journalistic core and raises at least two questions: — Can the Post keep its best young talent? — Is the Post botching the merger of its print and online operations? Jose Antonio Vargas’s decision to leave the Post for the online publication Huffington Post was the most damaging loss. “It was a personal decision,” Vargas tells The Washingtonian. “I was not unhappy at the Post.” Vargas’s departure comes on the heels of news that technology columnist Kim Hart is switching to The Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper; political writer Matthew Mosk is leaving for the Washington Times; and intern Kendra Marr has been scooped up by Politico. Vargas, 28, came to the Post
Jose Antonio Vargas, who has covered what he called “the marriage of the Internet and politics” for The Washington Post, is moving to a Web site that operates at that intersection: The Huffington Post. Mr. Vargas will join the Arianna Huffington outfit next month as the technology and innovations editor. He will oversee a new section about tech (coming this fall) and encourage sitewide innovation. The Huffington Post has been on something like a hiring tear in recent months. After Dan Froomkin, the Washington Post columnist, was dismissed last month, Ms. Huffington happily scooped him up. In Mr. Vargas’s case, she had been exchanging e-mail messages with him regularly since the election. “I love his passion for communicating how technology impacts our lives, and exploring the many ways the Internet can be harnessed to reach new readers and engage existing ones more deeply — something we’ve been working on at HuffPost since the beginning,” Ms. Huffington said. Mr. Vargas said he had res
Jose Antonio Vargas, who has covered what he called “the marriage of the Internet and politics” for The Washington Post, is moving to a Web site that operates at that intersection: The Huffington Post. Mr. Vargas will join the Arianna Huffington outfit next month as the technology and innovations editor. He will oversee a new section about tech (coming this fall) and encourage sitewide innovation. The Huffington Post has been on something like a hiring tear in recent months. After Dan Froomkin, the Washington Post columnist, was dismissed last month, Ms. Huffington happily scooped him up.
