In your luxurious Thursday media column: the WaPo has an explanation, Sam Sifton promotion rumors, licensing journalists is bad, MSNBC leans forward further, and tawdry speculation about our company's activities.

  • OHHHHHH, it turns out that Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth has a perfectly good reason for why the paper closed all its local bureaus recently, that is not "because our business is dying and we desperately need the cash." Katherine? "We're really not closing our bureaus, we're closing down the literal office space, because … it doesn't really matter where your office is. We don't really want them [reporters] in the office, we want them out on the street talking to people." Hahaha. That lady would make a great corporate executive!
  • Will current food critic Sam Sifton become the next national editor at the New York Times? John Koblin says he's the leading candidate. Why not? Ha, remember when they made Frank Bruni a columnist? Couldn't turn out any worse than that.
  • Has anyone who does not possess strong fascist tendencies (or is not really dumb) ever thought that licensing journalists would be a great idea. Well. It would not.
  • Oh good, MSNBC has decided to expand its "Lean Forward" ad campaign to include daytime anchors. Left unchanged will be the fact that the slogan is vapid.
  • Internet gossip rags are all atwitter with anonymously-sourced speculation about Gawker Media's first company-wide meeting.

[Photo: AP]