Newspaper turf wars seem to be popping up all over the U.S. lately, and the spirit of competition has most recently struck Washington, D.C.'s nationally respected Washington Post. Once known as the national newspaper for political news, the Washington Post has begun to lose ground to newer competitors since the proliferation of political blogs and websites made possible by the internet. In a move that some say directly challenges political coverage competitor Politico, the Washington Post launched its new PostPolitics homepage today.

According to Washington Post national editor Kevin Merrida, PostPolitics.com aims "to collect and organize our great political reporting and analysis on one dynamic destination." The motivation behind the politically-branded site, however, is competition. Paul Volpe, national innovation editor of the Post, told Neiman Lab that the Washington Post needed to redefine itself as a go-to spot for politics.
"The challenge that we face was we were fighting for space on our own front page," he said. "We have competitors that can devote their entire homepage to politics."

Politico, which was founded by former Washington Post reporters Jim VandeHei and John Harris, hired away numerous Post reporters for its staff, including acclaimed political reporter Mike Allen. But in response the Post has begun to expand its staff with political reporters from across the field, including Nia Malika-Henderson, a former Politico reporter.

The new home page offers users the most popular posts, as defined by pageviews, and the option to tweet, comment on, or facebook the post before even clicking through to read it. PostPolitics will offer an increased emphasis on what Nieman's Laura McGann calls "political database-driven tools," such as a presidential tracker or congressional database right on the home page. The site will also engage in more link aggregation and cross-linking to the rest of the web and relevant articles from the rest of the Post.

Albritton Communications, the company that owns Politico, plans to launch a Washington, D.C. local news site titled TBD.com that is expected to compete with Washington Post local coverage. It's clear that with the launch of these new websites there's a rumble on the horizon, but just like with the NYT v. the WSJ, the winner isn't yet clear.

Sources: Neiman Journalism Lab, Washington Post, New York Times