The Politico

Politico and Politico.com, based in Arlington, Virginia, were launched January 23, 2007, the date of President George W. Bush's State of the Union address, "with the mission of covering the politics of Capitol Hill and of the presidential campaign, and the business of Washington lobbying and advocacy with enterprise, style, and impact," its website states.

"The Politico has signed partnerships with all-news WTOP-103.5 FM as well as CBS, which will feature its stories and reporters on 'Face the Nation' and other CBS news programs. In addition, the startup will have its own 30-minute TV show that will air weekdays on NewsChannel 8, a sister Allbritton property whose newsroom it shares with [ABC News in Washington, D.C.] WJLA-TV (Channel 7).

"The newspaper will publish 30,000 copies to be distributed free of charge three days a week while Congress is in session, and one day a week during recess. The Web site, which also will be free, plans to be rich in video and is aimed at readers across the country," Kara Rowland reported January 22, 2007, in The Washington Times.

Politico is a publication of Capitol News Company, LLC, a division of Allbritton Communications Company.

Politico's working title was The Capitol Leader.

The Publisher / Funder
Politico's "publisher, Robert L. Allbritton, 37, scion of the banking and media family that once owned the defunct Washington Star, said in an interview that he would finance The Politico for 'the foreseeable future' and has committed to paying for expensive campaign travel. He has hired a staff of about 50 people, almost half of them journalists," Kara Rowland reported January 22, 2007, in The Washington Times.

"Newspapers have to be all things to all people,' Mr. Allbritton said. 'On the Internet, there is no one site that delivers everything. It’s broken down into mini-mini-subdivisions of interests and they attract people who are passionately interested in one subject.' ...

Allbritton "is best known for following his father, Joe L. Allbritton, as chief executive of the Riggs Bank, which was sold in 2004 after a Senate investigation found that Gen. Augusto Pinochet, the late Chilean dictator, had kept millions of dollars in secret accounts at Riggs. Robert Allbritton has been chairman and chief executive of Allbritton Communications, which owns television stations in Washington and a half dozen other markets, since 2001," Rowland wrote.

"Politico will generate its revenue through an advertising-supported business model, with many of the ads coming from trade associations, lobbyists, government contractors and other companies looking to attract the attention of Congress, said Albritton President Frederick Ryan Jr. in September [2006] when the venture was initially announced," Katie Wilmeth of The Examiner reported on January 23, 2007.

Editorial Staff

 * Editor in Chief, John F. Harris (former political editor of The Washington Post)
 * Executive Editor, Jim VandeHei (former national political reporter of The Washington Post)
 * Managing Editor, The Politico, Bruce Drake
 * Managing Editor, Politico.com & Associate Publisher, Dan Kunitz
 * Editor, Senior Publisher, Martin Tolchin
 * Senior Editor and Assistant Editor, Robin Reid
 * Senior Editor, Andy Glass
 * Political Editor, David Mark
 * Chief Political Writer, Mike Allen (covers White House news for TIME Magazine)
 * Chief Political Columnist, Roger Simon (chief political correspondent for Bloomberg News)
 * Congressional Bureau Chief, John Bresnahan
 * Gossip Columnist, Anne Schroeder
 * Senior Political Writer, Jonathan Martin
 * Senior Political Writer, Ben Smith (formerly with The Daily News (NY))
 * Staff Writers: Christian Lowe, Kenneth P. Vogel, Helena Andrews, Daniel W. Reilly, Jean Chemnick, Amy Doolittle, Ryan Grim, Jeff Patch, Josephine Hearn, Patrick O´Connor, Aoife McCarthy, Carrie Sheffield, and Carrie Budoff
 * Assistant Editor, Dana Wells
 * Proofreader, Katie Gilchrist
 * Media Director, Kim Kingsley
 * Photography Editor, Patrick Ryan
 * Staff Photographer, John Shinkle
 * Editorial Cartoonist, Matt Wuerker
 * Creative Director, Frank Meyers
 * Senior Creative Assistant, Kathryn Ray
 * Creative Assistant, Sandra Sharpe
 * Editorial Assistant, Samantha Slater
 * Director of Human Resources & Office Manager, Ta'Mara Blake
 * Publisher, Robert L. Allbritton
 * President & CEO, Frederick J. Ryan, Jr.
 * Associate Publisher, Kenneth Day

Contact Information
1000 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 601 Arlington, VA 22209 Phone: 703 647-7982 Email: tblake AT thepolitico.com Website: http://www.politico.com

Related SourceWatch Resources

 * "slow-bleed" plan

Profiles

 * The Politico in the Wikipedia.

2006

 * Jim Romenesko, "Allbritton Communications Signs Political Journalist Heavyweights to Lead Groundbreaking Multimedia Political Coverage," PoynterOnline Forum, November 20, 2006.
 * "AllBritton Communications gambles on journalism of the future," The Editors Weblog, November 26, 2006.
 * Katharine Q. Sellye, "More Journalists Join Political News Venture," New York Times, December 12, 2006.
 * "Capitol Leader: Now With Mike Allen, Crappy New Name," Wonkette!, December 13, 2006.
 * Robert MacMillan, "The reporters who went up a Hill but came down a dot-com," Reuters Blogs, December 13, 2006.

2007

 * Katharine Q. Seelye, "For Journalists, Politics Not as Usual," New York Times, January 8, 2007.
 * "The Politico Roundtable. New Political News Site Will Partner With CBS News," Face the Nation/CBS News, January 21, 2007.
 * Kara Rowland, "Editor sees room for Politico coverage," Washington Times, January 22, 2007.
 * Katie Wilmeth, "Albritton Communications launches latest venture," The Examiner, January 23, 2007.
 * "The Politico's Allen and Simon lauded McCain as 'honest' and 'authentic'," Media Matters for America, January 23, 2007.
 * Blake Hounshell, "The Politico: just another media website," Foreign Policy Blog, January 23, 2007.
 * Todd Zeigler, "The Politico: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly," The Bivings Report, January 24, 2007.
 * "The Politico's Simon botched description of Kerry's joke," Media Matters for America, January 25, 2007.
 * Howard Kurtz, "Politico: Niche Web Site Isn't Yet A Notch Above," Washington Post, January 29, 2007.
 * Kathy Kiely, "Politico Mojo," American Journalism Review, February/March 2007.
 * Gal Beckerman, "Will The Politico Foster More Horse Race Coverage?" CJR Daily, February 1, 2007.
 * "The Politico's Allen repeated baseless claim that McCain and Giuliani are 'moderates'," Media Matters for America, February 15, 2007.
 * "Following Politico clarification, will the media eschew 'slow-bleed' when reporting Dem's Iraq policy?" Media Matters for America, February 16, 2007.
 * BarbinMD, "The Murtha Smear Is On," Daily Kos, February 19, 2007.
 * "Politico's Allen (again) ignored McCain's inconsistencies to call him 'staunchly anti-abortion'," Media Matters for America, February 21, 2007.
 * "Once again, The Politico ignored McCain's abortion inconsistencies, labeled him 'consistently pro-life'," Media Matters for America,
 * John Amato, "Politico Hackery?" Crooks and Liars, February 27, 2007.
 * Greg Sargent, "Gerstein: So What If I'm Getting Paid By Lieberman?" The Horse's Mouth / Talking Points Memo, February 27, 2008. re Dan Gerstein and Joe Lieberman
 * John Amato, "Gerstein admits to being on Lieberman’s payroll– just fine for The Politico," Crooks and Liars, February 28, 2007.
 * John Harris, "An Editor's Confession: I'm the Source of 'Slow Bleed'," The Politico, February 28, 2007.
 * kos, "'Slow bleed' not a Murtha term," Daily Kos, February 28, 2007.
 * Simon Maloy, "Is Politico a GOP Shill?" The Politico, March 7, 2007.
 * Staff, "Media Matters Response," The Politico, March 7, 2007.
 * Glenn Greenwald, Opinion: "Who funds and runs the Politico?" (with updates), Salon, May 4, 2007.

2009

 * Gabriel Sherman, "The Scoop Factory by Gabriel Sherman: Inside Politico and the brave new world of post-print journalism", The New Republic, March 04, 2009.