Lobbying reporter joins leading K Street firm

Birnbaum has gone to BGR Group, formerly known as Barbour, Griffith & Rogers, as president of its public relations practice, BGR Public Relations.
 
Birnbaum has reported and written for several national publications, including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Time and Fortune. He has covered the White House and Capitol Hill and his former column at the Post, “K Street Confidential,” was widely read among lobbyists in Washington. Also, his 1988 book, Showdown at Gucci Gulch, co-authored with Alan Murray, is considered one of the best dissertations of K Street.
 
{mosads}Birnbaum left the Post in 2008 and headed to The Washington Times, where he was the digital managing editor, overseeing multimedia and online news for the newspaper. He resigned from that position at the end of 2009 after a recent shake-up among management at the publication. 
 
“I’m happy to join such a well-established and well-regarded enterprise and look forward to dealing with the many new challenges that lie ahead,” Birnbaum said in a statement.
 
“The world is changing and to be effective in Washington and in other capitals you have to combine knowledge of the political process with knowledge of how to be effective with the media,” said Ed Rogers, group chairman of BGR Group. “These days, the media follow policy makers and policy makers follow the media. Jeff is unique in his experience and expertise in that realm and we are thrilled to have him here.”