The Blog spoke to Robert O'Harrow, Jr., long-time investigative reporter and now blogger for The Washington Post. Government Inc, a blog about federal contracting, launched on July 9, 2007. To read O'Harrow's blog, go to http://blog.washingtonpost.com/government-inc/ .

Why a blog about government contracting? Why now?

Thanks for your interest in Government Inc. The editor of our Financial section, Sandy Sugawara, suggested the blog as a way to extend the paper's reach more deeply into the Web. She thought it might serve as a way to add meaning, in small doses, to a difficult but important subject for many Washington Post readers. We agreed that it also might turn up smart insiders with tips and documents that could help our investigations and enterprise work. It has.

As for the timing, the Web is The Post's future. We need to accelerate our transition to this new medium, and news blogging is one small way of helping that process along. Besides, The Post has devoted a lot of resources to our contracting coverage over the last few years. This is another way to share some of what I have learned.

Who is the intended audience for your blog?

We're aiming for a wide audience that includes general readers -- a.k.a. taxpayers everywhere -- who want to know more about the huge increases in government spending on contractors in recent years. We're also hoping to draw the attention of the huge numbers of savvy government employees and contractors in our region.

Why would a reporter want to blog? What do you hope to accomplish with the blog? Do you hope to use the blog as an investigative tool? Have you had any success so far cultivating sources, getting new leads and/or obtaining "inside" documents?

I'm interested in blogging because I like to say what I know. I also feel responsible for translating the incredibly arcane details of federal contracting into language and ideas that the uninitiated can understand. This stuff is so central to government's operation and yet so little understood.

At the same time, I'm in a never-ending search for tips, documents and conceptual insights. I'm starting to see that Government Inc. is creating a new portal between me and people who know stuff.

How do you respond to criticisms that your blog lacks "objectivity" and has an "anti-contracting bias"?

As for criticism, it's inevitable. Readers who appear to be contractors and federal insiders have been both laudatory and dismissive. I'm not worried, though, because I follow the same code in the blog as in The Washington Post. I strive always to be fair and accurate, while at the same time spelling out as sharply as possible what my reporting means.

Perhaps my biggest challenge is balancing the needs of the blog against the longer term demands of digging for traditional accountability stories that will appear in ink, on paper.

To learn more about O'Harrow and his Washington Post colleague Scott Higham's investigations into government contracting, watch the complete EXPOSÉ episode, "Nice Work If You Can Get It."