Lawyer becomes Web site editor

David Kurtz was practicing law in Columbia and posting blogs on a popular Web site devoted to politics and current events when he got an offer that led to a drastic change in his lifestyle.

The founder of TalkingPointsMemo.com, Josh Marshall needed a break from running the site, and Kurtz was asked to take it over in 2007.

The promotion from guest contributor to managing editor wasn’t a big professional jump for Kurtz, who had worked at alternative newspapers before he started practicing business law five years ago.

“I had gotten to know [Marshall] just by reading the site,” said Kurtz, who started off as merely a reader and a tipster. “And there were some stories that they had covered before I started working there that I was familiar with or had tips on or knew something about. … So we just got to know each other that way.”

The Web’s explosion in popularity as a conduit for news and insight provided fertile ground for sites such as TalkingPointsMemo.com. The site-commonly referred to as TPM -was created by Marshall at the beginning of George W. Bush’s first term as president.

Over time, the site expanded into one of the most widely read left-of-center outlets for investigative news, expanding from what was essentially a one-man operation to a staff of 12 people.

Kurtz, who stopped practicing law, said the change in routine was a striking characteristic of his career shift. He used to spend most of his work days in an office. Now, he primarily works from home.

“Doing everything remotely was probably the hardest thing to adjust to,” Kurtz said. “It can be isolating at times. I think that was the biggest adjustment – figuring out how to balance work and life when you’re sort of doing everything remotely.”

In his role as managing editor, Kurtz oversees TPM’s editorial operations. He posts on a wide range of current events such as national electoral politics, the firing of federal prosecutors for political reasons and debate over the use of torture in interrogations.

Does anyone work 9-5 anymore? My official workday starts at 7 and usually ends a little after 6 though I usually do work-related stuff later in the evenings, too. During campaign season, it often went much later and included lots of weekend work.

Traditional media outlets have taken notice of TPM. The site was one of the driving forces behind investigating the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, a scandal that likely led to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ resignation. For the site’s efforts, Marshall won a distinguished Polk Award for Legal Reporting.

“In a way, this model of reporting is a great example of straddling the divide between old school shoe-leather reporting and the more aggregate method of Web reporting,” Paul McLeary wrote in the Columbia Journalism Review about TPM’s coverage of the U.S. attorneys issue.

Beyond accolades from traditional news outlets, the site has also steadily increased in Web hits since its inception. TPM’s family of sites receives about 2.5 million hits per month. And since 2000, a number of companion sites have opened to focus on investigations, commentary, policy discussions and election coverage.

One factor driving the site’s popularity and growth, Kurtz said, was Republican rule of the presidency and-for part of the decade-Congress.

“The infrastructure on the left for discussion and the… ferment of ideas was not very well-developed,” Kurtz said. “So there was a real hunger amongst people with the way things were going politically. This sort of provided a place for that.”

Although it’s unknown which direction the Internet winds will blow with an incoming Democratic administration and a Democratic Congress, Kurtz said TPM could remain relevant because of original reporting and investigations.

“Our reporting is almost grass roots in a sense,” Kurtz said. “We sort of talk about being an insider’s publication for outsiders. … So people who are really interested in this, but aren’t really directly involved themselves, can really follow what’s going on and feel like they’ve got a reliable narrator to carry them through.”