Matthew Mendelsohn isn't upset with Washington Post Publisher Katharine Weymouth, even though she may well have scuppered his 10,000-word piece on a quadruple amputee. She's still a good friend, he says. "I don't want Katharine to be exposed to this story."

His feelings about Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli aren't nearly as charitable. "Marcus should quit while he's ahead," says Mendelsohn.

Read More "Freelancer to Brauchli: Quit While You’re Ahead" »

Yesterday, I interviewed Washington Post Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli for a story I was writing on the Washington Post Magazine. I was working on allegations that Post Publisher Katharine Weymouth may have played a part in killing a magazine story written by a freelancer who happened to be a friend of hers.

Read More "Brauchli: Washington Post Swamped with Media Calls" »

This article about the Washington Post by Michael Wolff in Vanity Fair: commenting on such things is Wemple's beat. All I could hope to add to the discussion is my belief that the photo of Katharine Weymouth on page 2 of this article is a Prince song waiting to happen.

So the Washington Post appeared to want to make you pay big bucks for meet-ups with their reporters and editors. Politico had the scoop on the Post scheme in which Publisher Katharine Weymouth would host "salons" in which lobbyists and association muckety mucks would pay large sums of money to hobnob with Posties, Obama administration officials, and members of Congress.

Let's stop and just say it: This is/was really, really dumb. Unethical and dumb. Yesterday, Weymouth published a "Dear Reader" letter apologizing for the now-abandoned salons. It reads in part:

"A flier distributed last week suggested that we were selling access to power brokers in Washington through dinners that were to take place at my home. The flier was not approved by me or newsroom editors, and it did not accurately reflect what we had in mind. But let me be clear: The flier was not the only problem."

I wonder if the Weymouth has to put a stop order on the hot appetizers she planned on serving to D.C.'s elite. I hope the Post doesn't have to eat the cost of the flower arrangement orders. And I hope they got a deal on those fliers they're not going to use. Next time: Evites.

Read More "Post Salon Scandal Gets Full Take Down" »

Politico hit it hard with the story of how the Washington Post was hoping to rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars by charging influence peddlers to attend exclusive meals with Post people and decision-makers.

Now come a flurry of memos in the wake of the crisis. Here are a couple of them:

Read More "Washington Post “Salon” Scandal: The Memo Trail" »

A bit of the NFL may be coming to the Washington Post.

No, this region's premier daily isn't signing anyone to a multimillion-dollar contract or deploying the cover-two on Mayor Adrian M. Fenty. But the paper may soon be designating a platoon of "franchise players."

Read More "WaPo: Clearing the Way for Layoffs?" »

The Washington Post is undergoing a remarkable shrinking act, with some sections folding and others taking on more complicated identities. Making it all happen will require some tweaks to the paper's design. The paper's Web site, washingtonpost.com, has long had layout problems of its own---a crowded homepage that poses something of a gantlet for users in search of their favorite blogs and articles.

That's where Roger Black comes in. The paper has contracted with this renowned New York design guru to redo its newspaper and Web site. In recent weeks, Black has been meeting with staffers to get their ideas on freshening the look of the Post brand.

Like all deliberative processes at the Post, this one won't spawn a revolution. "Instead of a redesign, it'll be much more of a cleaning up of visually contrasting elements," says a Post source, referring to "typefaces changing from section to section," among other minor design problems.

Read More "WaPo Working with Roger Black" »

Washingtonpost.com will soon be looking for a new executive editor, following today's announcement that Jim Brady will soon be leaving that post. Then again, it may not be looking to fill the slot. Over the next year--or perhaps even the next six months--the Washington Post's newsroom and the Arlington offices of washingtonpost.com will merge, and a stand-alone digital chief may not be part of the new power structure.

Says Brady on the question of whether his position will live: "I don't know the answer to that." As to why he's leaving, well, the merger is unquestionably a big part of it. Brady has been executive editor of washingtonpost.com for four years--a full Olympic cycle that Brady has spent on nearly equal footing with the big boss of the main newsroom. For most of Brady's tenure, that's been Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. Last year at this time, in fact, Brady was lording it all over the print guys, in a fight relating to the Post's coverage of national politics.

The newsroom had hired away washingtonpost.com's congressional blogger, Paul Kane, and was hoping that it could transfer Kane's slot to the newsroom as well--meaning that the print operation would essentially be taking a slot from dot-com. Brady said no dice--we'll be hiring our own congressional blogger.

In addition to turf battles of that sort, Brady has had the authority to ram important changes down the know-it-all throats of newsroom people. For instance, reporters at the Post once objected to allowing the posting of comments and to other initiatives now considered de rigueur for a newspaper's Web site.

"The battles that at times played out between the newspaper and the web site--how they play out is going to change," says Brady.

Read More "Jim Brady Talks About Leaving Washingtonpost.com" »

Fishbowl DC starts its "Hottest Media Types" contest tomorrow. I say call in the dogs and put out the fire, we have ourselves a winner already. Hubba hubba!

(I'm on deadline and don't have time to read the story. I'm sure Wemple will get to it presently.)