Former Reasoner Radley Balko Headed to WashPost From HuffPost

Check it out: Former Reason Senior Editor Radley Balko is leaving the Huffington Post for the Washington Post, where he'll head up a blog covering criminal justice, the drug war, and civil liberties.

From the editors of the Opinions section, via Poynter.org:

We are delighted to announce that Radley Balko, one of the country's top criminal justice reporters, will be joining The Washington Post's Opinions section, where he will have his own blog about criminal justice, the drug war and civil liberties.

Radley has made headlines for his groundbreaking stories and investigations into the criminal justice system across America. His work has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and the Mississippi Supreme Court. Radley's dogged reporting in the Cory Maye case helped get Maye freed from death row and later released from prison, and his investigations into the controversial methods of Mississippi pathologist Steven Hayne led to Hayne's dismissal as the state's top medical examiner. His first book, "Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces," has been praised across the political spectrum, and hailed as a "must read" and a "searing exposé…of police brutality."

He was named Journalist of the Year in 2011 by the Los Angeles Press Club, which said "Radley Balko is one of those throw-back journalists that understands the power of groundbreaking reporting and how to make a significant impact through his work. Time and time again, his stories cause readers to stop, think, and most significantly, take action."

Radley comes to The Post from The Huffington Post, where he was a senior writer and investigative reporter. He also writes about the music and culture of Nashville, Tennessee, where he lives. A graduate of Indiana University, Radley was previously a senior editor at Reason magazine, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute and an opinion columnist for FoxNews.com.

Radley will be joining us in January. Please join us in welcoming him to The Post.

Fred Hiatt and James Downie
December 4, 2013

Interesting side question: Does this have any implication re: old versus new media? That is, is this Empire Striking Back by signing up figures who have made their bones in the swashbuckling world of online activity? Or does the venerable Wash Post, now owned by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, count as the new new media?

So perhaps this move actually means that the Huffington Post, which is owned by AOL, which merged with Time Warner (and helped kill it) is now officially the old media. Related: Jack Shafer's "General Theory of Media Exodus."

In any case, it will be exciting to see Radley Balko on a new platform and bringing his signature issues and investigative chops to a new audience. Read his Reason archive and buy his book, Rise of the Warrior Cop.

Here he is in August 2013, talking with Reason about the militarization of police: