Politico

Politico’s parent company, Capitol News Company, is privately held. In 2014, Politico’s revenue grew by 25 percent, CEO Jim VandeHei told his staff in a memo. VandeHei said the company “invested big” in expansion. In 2013, it acquired an online news site Capital New York for an undisclosed sum, which it rebranded as Politico New York. Axel Springer, the German publishing and digital media group, invested in Politico in 2014 to form a 50-50 joint venture called Politico Europe. By 2016, Politico plans for its revenue to come some 50 percent from subscriptions and the other 50 percent from advertising, VandeHei disclosed. Currently print advertisers each pay between $2,700 (for a black-and-white, quarter-page spread) and $29,000 (for a full, color spread) based on 12-month contracts. The company was expected to bring in “well above $20 million” in 2009. At the time, Politico was getting most of its money from print with a circulation of about 32,000 copies. Money also comes from Politico Pro, its subscriber-only news service; newsletter subscriptions; events; and PowerJobs, a career site in partnership with WTOP Radio and Federal New Radio.

Covering official Washington — especially political campaigns, Congress, the White House, lobbying, and media — Politico spews a steady stream of Beltway minutiae, gossip, and official-flattering claptrap to a politically elite, in-the-know audience, preferring to whip up narrative-driven un-news and reinforce conventional dominance in Washington as opposed to taking an interest in ramifications of public policy or holding power accountable for its actions.

Jim VandeHei covered Congress for Roll Call (1997-2000) and was the White House correspondent at the Washington Post (2000-2006), before joining veteran Post reporter John Harris as one of the co-founders of Politico in January 2007. VandeHei is now Politico’s CEO and president.

Being ‘insidery’ is Politico’s point, VandeHei explained in a 2013 interview to the New Republic. "This has always been a publication focused on [Washington]. So we write about everything: the good, the bad, the personalities, the politics, the policies. Unless you understand, holistically, all those ingredients, you don’t understand the town."

Mike Allen is Politico’s senior White House correspondent and the first reporter hired by VandeHei and Harris. He previously worked for the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Time magazine. Allen is considered emblematic of Politico’s overall mission given his omnipresence in Washington, coziness with sources, and seemingly tireless desire to drive the Beltway news cycle with an endless amount of minor-to-intermediate scoops.

Allen is best known for his ‘Politico Playbook’ morning newsletter — which asks advertisers for $35,000 a week, the Washington Post reported in late 2013 — that has a reputation for establishing the daily tone for Washington’s insider set.

Critics have slammed Allen as a purveyor of stenographic, non-confrontational, access-based journalism.

A 2010 New York Times Magazine profile of Allen described Playbook as an "insider’s hodgepodge of predawn news, talking-point previews, scooplets, birthday greetings to people you’ve never heard of, random sightings (‘spotted’) around town and inside jokes."

Politico’s brand of hyperactive, at times thinly-sourced reporting has drawn criticism from other publications, alleging the paper played fast and loose with the facts.

In February 2013, the Daily Beast slammed Politico for taking at face value a "big factual error" by Bob Woodward about the Obama administration’s sequestration plan. In April 2013, after Politico reported that lawmakers were trying to get an exemption from Obamacare, ThinkProgress argued that "a fairly mundane and technical question" got turned into a "sensationalistic story about Congressional hypocrisy."

During the 2012 presidential campaign Politico reporter Joe Williams was suspended for falling "short of our standards for fairness and judgment," after he made comments about GOP candidate Mitt Romney the editors deemed inappropriate. Williams eventually resigned.

Another reporter, David Catanese, was pulled from covering the Missouri Senate election after defending comments made by then-congressman Todd Akin about "legitimate rape."

"So perhaps some can agree that all rapes that are reported are not actually rapes? Or are we gonna really deny that for PC sake?" Catanese tweeted. "So looks like he meant to say — ’If a woman was REALLY raped, it’s statistically less likely for her to get pregnant.’ What’s the science?"

So looks like he meant to say -- "If a woman was REALLY raped, it's statistically less likely for her to get pregnant." What's the science?

— David Catanese (@davecatanese) August 20, 2012

Catanese later said his words were not meant "to lend support to Rep. Akin’s inexcusable remarks."

Politico in general and Mike Allen in particular have been repeatedly accused of being former Vice-President Dick Cheney’s go-to source for unquestioned political attacks during the President Obama’s time in the White House.

A 2013 Washington Post report accused Mike Allen of sprinkling the ‘Playbook’ with fawning coverage of corporations that advertised in the paper.

"A review of ‘Playbook’ archives shows that the special interests that pay for slots in the newsletter get adoring coverage elsewhere in the playing field of ‘Playbook,’" wrote the Post’s Erik Wemple. Allen’s free advertising reportedly included Goldman Sachs, BP, the US Chamber of Commerce, and Bank of America.

Politico editor-in-chief John Harris told the Post the accusation was "without merit in any shape or form," while VandeHei later called the story "nonsense," adding that he was sure Wemple "could find any pattern he wants to if he wanted to dissect all the Playbook entries that we’ve had over seven years."