The Capitol Leader, the latest newspaper to tackle Capitol Hill, will rely on a mix of issue-based advertising and an existing network of television stations to bring in revenue for the Allbritton Communications-owned publication, Allbritton President Frederick Ryan Jr said.
The paper, which is set to launch in November, will sell many of its advertisements to trade associations, lobbyists, government contractors and other companies that need to capture the attention of Congress, Ryan said.
“If you look at advertising, there are certain categories that come and go, like furniture stores or car dealers,” he said.
“What has interested us in this new Capitol Hill paper is that Congress is always involved in making decisions, so it’s a bit of a different advertising base.”
In addition, Allbritton is counting on its network of television stations — the company owns the local ABC affiliate and News Channel 8 — and a companion Web site to promote the new paper in an already-crowded marketplace and provide more value to potential advertisers.
“We are the only ones that will be doing combined television, Internet and print,” Ryan said. “This will be a chance to be a one-stop shop — an entire advertising strategy for a campaign.”
The Capitol Leader, which will be delivered free to Hill residents and on a subscription basis to others, will go up against existing Hill-centric publications such as Roll Call and The Hill.
Martin Tolchin, a New York Times veteran and founder of The Hill, was tapped to launch the paper.
“This is going to be a paper that looks at behind the scenes of Capitol Hill,” he said. “The deals, the intrigue, the ego. It’s going to be a real insider’s newspaper.”
Ryan would not comment on the initial investment other than to say privately held Allbritton has invested “substantially to make it a quality paper.”
Allbritton originally looked for an existing paper to purchase, Ryan said, but ultimately decided to start from scratch.
“It will be quite a period of time before we realize our investment,” he said. “But we think in Washington, and particularly the Capitol Hill audience, where they’re very pressed for time … by presenting quality we will be able to distinguish ourselves.”
