Broder, Kornheiser take Washington Post buyout

By Robert MacMillan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Veteran U.S. political columnist David Broder and sports columnist Tony Kornheiser are taking buyout packages offered by The Washington Post, the two said on Wednesday, making them two of the highest-profile names so far to leave the paper in the buyout.

Broder is considered one of the deans of U.S. political news reporting and analysis. He will leave the paper as a full-time employee, but will continue to write a twice-weekly column.

"You will find me at the Democratic and Republican conventions this summer and on the campaign trail this fall," said Broder, who said he started working for the Post in 1966. Broder, 78, will start as a contract columnist on January 1.

Kornheiser, who co-hosts the ESPN program "Pardon the Interruption" with fellow Washington Post sports columnist Michael Wilbon, said he has plenty of work already.

"I love the paper. They were great to me every day that I was there," he told Reuters. "But I don't do much for the paper anymore."

Kornheiser, 59, has not written a regular column for the paper's print edition since 2006, a Web search site shows, but excerpts from his "Talking Points" video program on washingtonpost.com run on page 2 of the paper's sports section. Kornheiser also is an analyst for ESPN's Monday Night Football.

Kornheiser, who joined The Washington Post in 1979, started working for ESPN in 1997 and kept his column at the Post.

The Washington Post is offering buyouts to newsroom employees as a way to cut costs at a time when the newspaper's advertising sales and circulation are falling.