"The way people consume news has fundamentally changed" with the advent of the Web, creating a new media landscape that will be dominated by niche Web sites rather than general interest newspapers.
That prediction came Thursday from Jim VandeHei, a former high-profile political reporter for the Washington Post, who caused a minor sensation in the journalism world several months ago when he announced he'd be leaving the venerable paper to build an online news site from the ground up. He was in Madison through the University of Wisconsin's writer-in-residence program and spoke to local journalists at Capital Newspapers.
VandeHei, a native of Oshkosh and a graduate of the UW-Oshkosh, launched The Politico in January with one of his Washington Post colleagues, political editor John Harris.
The rapid rise of the Web and the subsequent unease in the newspaper industry had the two pondering what the future of political news would be like. They made the decision after the 2006 election to leave the Post to start the new venture, which combines a Web site, free print newspaper and airtime on local TV stations and is financially supported by Allbritton Communications. ...
