The Washington Post made several changes to its politics team Monday, with environmental reporter Juliet Eilperin moving to cover the White House and through the creation of "online strike force," according to a memo obtained by The Huffington Post.
The memo from deputy national editor Cameron Barr and political editor Steven Ginsberg is below:
We're very excited to announce the latest evolution of our political team -- an online strike force that will help lead our journalism during the day. To augment our already top-notch online presence, we're putting point people on each of our main coverage areas and shifting some roles among our bloggers to make us even faster and smarter. The team will write news and analysis, much of which will go into PostPolitics and The Fix. These reporters will also continue to coordinate closely with colleagues in their coverage areas.
An important note: The strike force is designed to be the leading edge of our online efforts, not the only one. We will continue to count on the entire political staff to deliver Washington Post journalism throughout the news cycle.
Without further ado, the group:
Juliet Eilperin will return to the world of politics to cover the White House. Juliet has had a terrific run on the environment beat, becoming one of the country's leading reporters on climate change. She will continue to cover White House policy on climate from her new perch. Her high metabolism is legendary within The Post and her deep sourcing in the political world will be key to her new role.
Aaron Blake will move from The Fix to PostPolitics, where he will join Rachel Weiner in taking the lead on our main breaking news blog. Since joining The Post in May 2010, Aaron has delivered smart analysis, taking us inside the world of politics in a way few others can do and hustling day and night to keep us ahead of the competition. We'll look to him to keep us on the forefront of the news in his new role.
Ed O'Keefe will continue to be our all-platforms-all-the-time presence on Capitol Hill, where he has proved to be one of Washington's most enterprising reporters. From his analytical weekly look-aheads to his awesome "Edsplainers," Ed is perfectly positioned to tell the story from the Capitol in a high-paced, informative and often fun way.
Rachel Weiner took on what became PostPolitics midway through the 2012 election and turned it into one of the Post's most successful blogs and a must-read around town. She will continue to headline PP, along with Aaron, while contributing her distinctive explainers and analysis to The Fix.
Sean Sullivan has quickly become one of our more versatile reporters. Sean will now take
on a broader role for The Fix -- writing more of the morning analytical pieces and taking a more direct hand in its future direction. Sean will also pinch hit when we need a ledeall on a particular political subject.Scott Clement, a key member of Jon Cohen's independent polling group, Capital Insight, will deliver regular posts from the world of polling. Scott has a mind full of numbers and a strong understanding of politics and we're excited about adding more of his analysis to our report.
Digital political editor Vince Bzdek and Chris Cillizza, the original Fix, will work together to lead the team.
Cameron Steven
UPDATE 12:05 pm: Given that the New York Times recently eliminated its environmental desk and Green blog just this past Friday, its not surprising questions arose quickly on Twitter about the Post's coverage with Eilperin moving to the White House. In an email, Eilperin said that she will replaced on the beat, and in her new role, will continue covering White House climate and environmental policy.