Arianna Huffington | featured news

The good news for Arianna Huffington is that she gets to keep her share of the $315 million that AOL shelled out for her website. The bad news is her duties as editrix of the once-mighty Web conglomerate are being scaled back. Way back.

Can traffic-chasing sensationalism and society-changing journalism co-exist under the same roof? The decision by the Pulitzer Committee to award this year's prize for national reporting to the Huffington Post's David Wood for his series on wounded veterans is a pretty good sign that they can, at least for now. Editor in chief Arianna Huffington and executive editor Tim O'Brien took a few minutes out from the staff's champagne toast to talk about what it means for the seven-year-old news organization.

The talent exodus continues at AOL. The latest to give her notice, according to Business Insider, is TechCrunch CEO Heather Harde. Harde, a former News Corp. executive who joined TechCrunch five years ago, had stuck around after the site's founder, Michael Arrington, left in September after being stripped of his editorial duties in a very public confrontation with AOL editor in chief Arianna Huffington.

Arianna Huffington's recent refusal to turn off her mobile during a flight is just the latest example in the debate over whether to allow in-flight cell phone conversations.

The Huffington Post will soon turn 5 — veritable old-age in Internet years. As the site, co-founded by Arianna Huffington and launched on May 9, 2005, marks the anniversary, its proclaimed mission to be an "Internet newspaper" gains more credence every time its traffic surpasses the websites of its print brethren.

The FTC is holding a two-day workshop to examine ways the government can aid the struggling journalism industry. Rupert Murdoch and Arianna Huffington are among the panelists.