WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 7, 2008--Marcus Brauchli has been named executive editor of The Washington Post, effective September 8. He succeeds Leonard Downie, Jr., who announced his retirement on June 23. Brauchli will oversee the editorial operations of both The Washington Post newspaper and washingtonpost.com; Jim Brady, executive editor of washingtonpost.com, and Phil Bennett, managing editor of the newspaper, will report to him.

Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth said: "Marcus brings a tremendous wealth of experience, both as a journalist and as an editor, that will help us navigate the new world of media - honoring and building on the standards of journalism blazed by Ben Bradlee and Len Downie - and move us forward to a new and bright future. Marcus has the ability to think strategically about our newsroom, about how to realign our resources in a way that is consistent with what readers want and expect and maintain The Post's first-rate journalism."

Brauchli was named managing editor of The Wall Street Journal in April 2007. He resigned one year later, four months after News Corp acquired the newspaper's parent company, Dow Jones & Co.

As managing editor, Brauchli oversaw the Journal news operations, both in the U.S. and internationally. He led the integration of the Journal's print and online newsrooms and put an emphasis on breaking news and dynamic content online, while focusing the newspaper on original or exclusive news. He oversaw planning for a new luxury lifestyle magazine that will launch in September 2008.

Before becoming the Journal's managing editor, Brauchli was a deputy managing editor at the Journal. In that job, he led the newsroom team in the redesign of the newspaper that launched in January 2007. Earlier, as global news editor, Brauchli oversaw the redesign of the Journal's Asian and European editions. He was also closely involved with the 2005 launch of the U.S. Journal's Saturday edition. Before that, as national editor, he helped guide the Journal's coverage of two U.S. presidential elections; the stock-market downturn and corporate scandals of the early part of the decade; and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, for which the Journal - its offices damaged and evacuated that day - won a Pulitzer Prize.

Brauchli's career at Dow Jones began in 1984, when he joined the company as a national copyreader for AP-Dow Jones News Services. Later that year, he became the agency's Hong Kong correspondent, covering Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and the Philippines. He moved to Stockholm in 1987 as Scandinavia correspondent for The Wall Street Journal Europe. He became the Journal's finance and economics reporter in Tokyo in 1988. In late 1992, Brauchli returned to Hong Kong as Asia correspondent. He reported extensively from India, Pakistan, China and Southeast Asia, before moving in 1995 to Shanghai as the China Bureau Chief.

As a reporter, Brauchli reported and wrote on a wide range of social, political, economic and finance news. Among the stories he covered were the sweeping economic and social changes that have transformed China in the last two decades, the fall of both the Marcos and Suharto governments, financial crises in Japan and Asia, and sectarian strife and political change in Pakistan and India.

Brauchli is a native of Boulder, Colo., and a graduate of Columbia University. He was a 1991-92 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University and led or participated in Journal teams that won two Overseas Press Club awards and two citations for excellence. He is on the board of directors of the Overseas Press Club and the International Center for Journalists, and is an advisor to the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship program at Columbia. He also is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Brauchli is married to Maggie Farley, UN Bureau Chief of the Los Angeles Times; they have two daughters.

About The Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com)

The Washington Post is owned by The Washington Post Company (NYSE:WPO), a diversified education and media company. In addition to The Washington Post, the Company owns Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive (WPNI), the online publishing subsidiary whose flagship products include washingtonpost.com, Newsweek.com, Slate, BudgetTravel.com, Sprig.com and TheRoot.com; Express; El Tiempo Latino; The Gazette and Southern Maryland Newspapers; The Herald (Everett, WA); Newsweek magazine; Post-Newsweek Stations (Detroit, Houston, Miami, Orlando, San Antonio and Jacksonville); Cable ONE, serving subscribers in midwestern, western and southern states; and CourseAdvisor, an online lead generation provider.

The Company also owns Kaplan, Inc., a leading global provider of educational services to individuals, schools and businesses, serving over one million students with operations in more than 30 countries. Its international programs include higher education, test preparation, language instruction and professional training.

The Company has ownership interests in the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service and Bowater Mersey Paper Company.

CONTACT: The Washington Post Company
Rima Calderon, 202-334-6617
calderonr@washpost.com

SOURCE: The Washington Post Company