The February 15, 2007 front page of The Politico |
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Type | Daily newspaper |
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Format | Newspaper, Internet, radio, TV |
Owner | Allbritton Communications |
Editor-in-chief | John F. Harris |
Managing editors | Bill Nichols |
Founded | January 23, 2007 |
Headquarters | 1100 Wilson Boulevard 6th Floor Arlington, Virginia, U.S. |
Circulation | 32,090(Dec 09) |
Official website | politico.com |
Politico is an American political journalism organization based in Arlington, Virginia, that distributes its content via television, the Internet, newspaper, and radio. Its coverage of Washington, D.C., includes the U.S. Congress, lobbying, media and the Presidency.[1] It was a sponsor of the 2008 Republican Presidential candidates debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on May 3, 2007, the 2008 Democratic Presidential candidates debate at the Kodak Theater on January 31, 2008, and the 2012 Republican Presidential candidates debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on September 7, 2011.
John F. Harris and Jim VandeHei left The Washington Post to become Politico's editor-in-chief and executive editor, respectively, launching the newspaper on January 23, 2007. Frederick J. Ryan Jr., former assistant to President Ronald Reagan,[2] is president and chief executive officer.[3]
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Politico is owned by Allbritton Communications, which owns television stations in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere, all affiliated with the Disney-owned ABC network.
The newspaper has a circulation of approximately 32,000,[4] distributed for free on Capitol Hill and elsewhere in Washington, D.C.[1] The newspaper prints up to five issues a week while Congress is in session, and sometimes publishes one issue a week when Congress is in recess.[5] It carries advertising, including full-page ads from trade associations and a large help-wanted section listing Washington political jobs.
Politico is a partner with several news outlets that co-report and distribute its video, print, and audio content. Partners include CBS News,[6] Allbritton Communications's ABC station WJLA and cable channel NewsChannel 8,[7] radio station WTOP-FM,[8] and Yahoo! News election coverage.
Journalists covering political campaigns for Politico carry a video camera to each assignment,[7] and journalists are encouraged to promote their work elsewhere.[8] Though Politico seeks to break the traditional journalism mold, it expects to initially make much of its money from Washington D.C.–focused newspaper advertising.[9] Among the reporters who have worked for Politico have been Mike Allen, Ben Smith, Jonathan Martin, Josh Gerstein, Glenn Thrush, John Bresnehan, Darren Goode, Carrie Budoff Brown, Manu Raju, Maggie Haberman, Dylan Byers, Dave Levinthal, Kenneth P. Vogel, Anna Palmer, Jonathan Allen, Scott Wong, Reid Epstein, Alex Burns, Ben White, James Hohmann and Keach Hagey.[10] In 2010, Politico added its first two opinion columnists, Michael Kinsley and Joe Scarborough.[11]
After the progressive watchdog group Media Matters for America accused Politico of having a "Republican tilt", Politico's Ben Smith answered: "Media Matters has a point: ...that Bush's public endorsement made us seem too close to the White House. That was clearly a favor from the president to us (albeit a small one), and felt to me like one of those clubby Beltway moments that make the insiders feel important and the outsiders feel (accurately) like outsiders." The other primary editors disagreed with the general accusation for a variety of reasons, and some pointed to accusations of a liberal bias from the other side of the political spectrum.[12]
In September 2008, The New York Times reported that Politico would expand its operations following the 2008 presidential election: "after Election Day, [Politico] will add reporters, editors, Web engineers and other employees; expand circulation of its newspaper edition in Washington; and print more often."[13]
A 2009 profile of the organization in Vanity Fair said Politico had an editorial staff of 75 and a total staff of 100. Its newspaper circulation is around 32,000; and as of summer 2009, its web traffic was around 6.7 million unique visitors per month. This is less than the 11 million it had during the high point of the campaign, but most political news outlets have lower traffic outside election years. As of July 2009, it was expected to have annual revenue of around $15 million, primarily from the printed product, enough for the publication to remain financially solvent.[4]
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