The Two Washington Posts

Harris is right; some readers do think Froomkin is a White House reporter. But Froomkin works only for the Web site and is very popular -- and Brady is not going to fool with that, though he is considering changing the column title and supplementing it with a conservative blogger.

Froomkin said he is "happy to consider other ways to telegraph to people that I'm not a Post White House reporter. I do think that what I'm doing, namely scrutinizing the White House's every move -- with an attitude -- is in the best traditions of American and Washington Post journalism."

On the other hand, Chris Cillizza, a washingtonpost.com political reporter, appears in The Post frequently. When he writes for the paper, he works for Harris, who is happy to have him.

Some Post reporters don't appreciate that links are put on the Web site to what bloggers are saying about this or that story -- especially when the bloggers are highly negative.

Metro reporters think the Web site ignores their good work and doesn't display it well. "My concern is that we have this rich, deep, robust local coverage which is not fully displayed, but I know the site is working to fix that," said Robert McCartney, assistant managing editor for metropolitan news. McCartney is a great ally of the Web site and was assistant managing editor of continuous news for two years before he became Metro's top editor.

Brady said that in July, WPNI launched a new local home page that he describes as "a work in progress. We want to break that page out and make it look distinct with weather, traffic, local community information."

Brady and several of his staff members visit The Post every week, keeping up on what Post staffers are doing. Post staffers frequently visit WPNI.

A number of newspapers have integrated their newsrooms and Web sites, and the New York Times is moving to do so. I asked Don Graham, The Post Co.'s CEO, about that. "Putting out the newspaper is a demanding, more-than-full-time job," he said. "The Web site has an equally demanding challenge, having to make its way against brilliant competitors who are constantly unrolling new products. The Post and WPNI must cooperate but must also find a way to do quite different jobs."

My bottom line: The Web site adds to The Post's prestige, and the world is moving toward the Web. The Web is a wonderful place for The Post to put newsprint-eating texts and documents, such as presidential speeches, and other information, such as congressional votes, that readers want.

But I agree with The Post's political writers here; the Web site should remove the "White House Briefing" label from Froomkin's column.

Deborah Howell can be reached by phone at 202-334-7582 or by e-mail atombudsman@washpost.com.