Jim Brady, general manager at the innovative WJLA Washington-NewsChannel 8 joint website, TBD.com, is departing the Allbritton-owned operation. Editor Erik Wemple takes over leadership of TBD.com.
Brady was part of the team that launched TBD.com over the summer. He and Allbritton Communications Chairman Robert Allbritton clashed over the strategy of the site.
Brady, formerly the executive editor at WashingtonPost.com, emailed a memo to staff about his departure November 5. "We've made an immediate mark on this region with the innovative way we're producing local news," he wrote, "so keep up the good fight and I'll see you on [Twitter ID] #tbdnight."
Robert Allbritton called it a case of "stylistic differences."
"As we talked about the next phase of our growth, it seemed clear to Jim and I both that we had some stylistic differences," he said in a memo. "So with mutual respect--and in my case a lot of appreciation for the work he has done across the company for the past year-we decided to shake hands and go in different directions."
TBD.com mixes original reporting with aggregated content to offer more of a real-time news experience in the Washington region.
"We're trying to do something different," Brady told B&C prior to launch. "We're trying to combine what makes the Web interesting and what makes TV such an effective medium."
