A Brief History of washingtonpost.com

Here is an interesting look at the evolution of The Washington Post's involvement in electronic newspapers and the internet, beginning with the document known as the "Kaiser memo," which framed the decision to launch an electronic version of the newspaper for subscribers. Digital Ink evolved into washingtonpost.com, launched 10 years ago on the World Wide Web.

"The Post is not in a pot of water, and we're smarter than the average frog," wrote The Washington Post's then-managing editor Bob Kaiser. "But we do find ourselves swimming in an electronic sea where we could eventually be devoured -- or ignored as an unnecessary anachronism. Our goal, obviously, is to avoid getting boiled as the electronic revolution continues."

In the memo, in August 1992, Kaiser proposed that the company "design the world's first electronic newspaper."

"We could organize the entire paper electronically with a series of 'front pages' and other devices that would guide readers the way our traditional cues do -- headlines, captions, story placement, etc.," he recommended. "And we could explore the feasibility of incorporating ads in the electronic paper."

Jul 03, 2006 | E-MAIL | SAVE | PRINT | PERMALINK | DISCUSS(0)

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