Politico

Politico

The February 15, 2007 front page of
The Politico
Type Daily newspaper
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]

Contents

Ownership, distribution and content

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]

References

  1. ^ a b "Mission Statement". Politico. http://www.politico.com/aboutus/missionstatement.html. Retrieved 2011-11-15. 
  2. ^ "Appointment of Frederick J. Ryan, Jr., as Assistant to the President". University of Texas. http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1987/110487e.htm. 
  3. ^ Allen, Mike (2007-05-04). "Politico Playbook: Mitt's moment". http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0507/3841.html. 
  4. ^ a b Wolff, Michael (August 2009). "Politico's Washington Coup". Vanity Fair. http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/08/wolff200908. 
  5. ^ "Editor sees room for Politico coverage". The Washington Times. 2007-01-22. http://washingtontimes.com/business/20070121-102604-6082r.htm. 
  6. ^ Johnson, Caitlin A. (2007-01-21). "The Politico Roundtable". CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/21/ftn/main2381362.shtml. 
  7. ^ a b Jaffe, Harry (2007-01-22). "Politico Hopes To Rock Washington Media". Washingtonian. http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/mediapolitics/3148.html. 
  8. ^ a b Seelye, Katharine Q. (2007-01-08). "For journalists, it's not politics as usual". International Herald Tribune. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/08/technology/08iht-washington.4136182.html. 
  9. ^ Kiely, Kathy (January–February 2007). "Politico Mojo". American Journalism Review. http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4265. 
  10. ^ "About Us". Politico. http://www.politico.com/aboutus/. Retrieved 2011-11-15. 
  11. ^ Smith, Ben (2010-09-08). "Kinsley, Scarborough to Politico". Politico. http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0910/Kinsley_Scarborough_to_POLITICO_.html. 
  12. ^ Harris, John F. (2007-03-06). "Media Matters Response". Politico. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0307/3013.html. Retrieved 2010-06-17. 
  13. ^ Pérez-Peña, Richard (2008-09-22). "Politico Intends to Expand After Presidential Race Ends". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/business/media/22politico.html. 

Further reading

External links