WaPo's political blog network goes state-focused

The idea of going state-focused originated a year ago when Chris Cillizza, author of the news site's 'The Fix Blog', requested readers to recommend top local blogs focused on state politics, and recently unveiled a "best of" list that comprised of 50 states.
 
The company plans to highlight top stories from blogs such as the Alabama-based Doc's Political Parlor or The Iowa Republican on a daily basis, and individual bloggers will be contacted to provide in-depth coverage and analysis on the highlighted ones for PostPolitics.com, MediaWeek reported.

As SFN reported earlier this month, a local blogger has recently spoken out against the Post's blog network, because bloggers are unpaid.

"...I received an unsolicited offer from the Washington Post. They asked if they could post my picture and biography on their Web site and link to every new blog post appearing here if I agreed to produce regular original content for them at their request. I turned them down. Why? Because they wanted me to work for them for nothing," Adam Pagnucco of Maryland Politics Watch wrote. He also pointed out that using unpaid bloggers also has implications for journalists currently working as paid columnists. "If bloggers fill their functions for free, the Post will inevitably phase them out. In the labor movement, we have a term for workers who undercut other workers and threaten their jobs: scabs. As a labor guy for sixteen years, I have no intention of blogoscabbing."

Post spokesperson Kris Coratti, however, said the Post believes "there is value in the additional traffic it will drive to their blogs and in having their writing exposed to a new audience."