Is Politico Really That Awful of a Place to Work?

The swanky Axel Springer Haus on Mott Street in Manhattan; Politico’s reporters mostly work out of Rosslyn, Virginia. Photo: Google Street View

Politico has always been defined by its scrappy, high-pressure newsroom culture. In its almost 18 years of existence, it has become better known for churning out the stars of tomorrow who move on to other, bigger-time jobs (and maybe chewing up and spitting out a few others who didn’t quite make the grade) than for necessarily nurturing people’s careers long term.

And that seems to be truer than ever right now: Eleven high-profile reporters and editors have left the newsroom since March, some apparently chafing at what insiders characterize as a meddlesome or confusing editorial process led by the demanding head of news, Alex Burns. This despite the generally imperiled state of the industry, in which Politico, backed by the German conglomerate Axel Springer, is one of the more stable spots.

Among the runaways are congressional bureau chief Burgess Everett; deputy managing editor for Congress Elana Schor; national security reporters Alex Ward, Lara Seligman, and Erin Banco; top Washington editor Sam Stein; White House bureau chief Jonathan Lemire; Congress reporter Sarah Ferris; and investigative correspondent Heidi Przybyla. Some went to The Wall Street Journal or CNN, while others sought career refuge in smaller operations like The Bulwark and Semafor. Lemire, who in addition to working at Politico was hosting the 5 a.m. hour at MSNBC, is now a permanent Morning Joe co-host. And there are likely more departures to come, with several well-respected staffers, I’m told, in talks with other outlets or signaling their availability.

The frustration is largely around how the newsroom works under its semi-new leadership team, sworn in about a year ago as part of the Axel Springer purchase. Politico co-founder John Harris became global editor-in-chief and set up a triad of leaders under him: head of news Burns, a Harris mentee who basically grew up at Politico and left for the New York Times in 2015 as a reporter, only to be lured back to Rosslyn in 2022; executive editor Joe Schatz; and senior managing editor Anita Kumar. I wrote about this new leadership last year, and eight months later I heard much of the same frustrations in conversations with several Politico insiders, particularly about the top-down editing process involving what staffers describe as aggressive oversight of copy that has slowed the publication of stories.

“The whole revolution of Politico was the way it approached politics as a drama: ‘We’re going to tell you what people are thinking and planning to do, help you understand what’s going to happen,’” says one former Politico staffer. “But they don’t really have that ability anymore, because they’ve tied top talents’ hands behind their back, and then they’ve told their top talent that they suck.” Politico has always had a bit of a reputation for being a combative workplace — people even took a certain pride in it. But today, “the general sense is it feels like Politico is being mismanaged,” says one staffer. “Management at this point has to be aware that people feel that way across the newsroom and yet haven’t shown any interest in addressing why people feel that way, or changing their approach interacting with the rest of the newsroom.”

Politico, for its part, stands by its management. “The bar is being raised,” Politico spokesperson Brad Dayspring said in response to these gripes. “The actions being taken and decisions being made speak to being obsessive in the desire to ensure distinctive coverage and provide valuable insight to subscribers and readers.”

The Politico newsroom has over 500 people and is prone to turnover. Journalists like Josh Dawsey, Maggie Haberman, Manu Raju, Ben Smith, Annie Karni, Shane Goldmacher, Lisa Lerer, Tim Alberta, Nancy Cook, and Ken Vogel all got reps in at Politico before movin’ on up — or at least out. But the place has undoubtedly changed over the years. Politico has matured from the disrupt-the-game scoop factory Washington Post alums Jim VandeHei and Harris launched in 2007 and is now part of the Establishment. VandeHei himself left in 2016 to lead a then-ragtag band of bullet pointers at Axios (since absorbed into Cox Enterprises). Harris stuck around.

In its early years, Politico pioneered the kind of gossipy inside-baseball political reporting that has become the standard in today’s Washington coverage, so much so that it is arguably no longer the best place to find it. Punchbowl News, the Hill-focused news start-up founded by a few other Politico alums in 2021, has been a continuous source of anxiety for the outlet’s Congress team.

Then there’s the question of Playbook, particularly its well-read daily a.m. edition, which for the past few years has been written by Eugene Daniels, Rachael Bade, and Ryan Lizza. (It lost Tara Palmeri along the way.) The newsletter still drives the Beltway day, but it had lost some of its juice even before Lizza went on an indefinite leave of absence in October, as Politico said it was conducting an internal investigation amid a scandal involving his ex-fiancée Olivia Nuzzi, the former New York writer. (He has a little over a year left on his contract.) Meanwhile, Bade’s role at Politico is evolving beyond Playbook, the publication announced Thursday, with an expanded role in the newsroom that includes her own column.

At the same time, Playbook remains a revenue driver for Politico. Puck’s Dylan Byers recently reported that it “averaged $300,000 a week last year” to advertise, compared to the less than $100,000 per week it cost nearly a decade ago. In an effort to grow the franchise and oversee its creative development, Harris and his new executive vice-president, Jonathan Greenberger — who came over last spring from ABC News, where he was Washington bureau chief — announced this summer that they would be hiring a “Playbook executive producer.” Byers reported that contenders included Ryan Struyk, a senior producer on CNN’s State of the Union; Diana Miller, a former CBS This Morning executive producer; and Matt Rivera, the director of editorial operations at NBC’s Meet the Press. I’m told Miller is no longer in the mix.

There’s been some eye-rolling internally around the emphasis on this executive-producer idea, especially given that there are already so many middle managers in the newsroom while high-profile reporters leave and new ones aren’t brought in. “The news is what’s really going to keep us competitive,” says one staffer. “People are waiting to see how it materializes, but there’s a lot of skepticism going into all these staff meetings, and hearing this vision, and it’s a vision for more managers.”

Reporters are prone to skepticism and disgruntlement, of course. And maybe a bit of paranoia. One of the current conspiracy theories around the place is that higher-ups are being difficult on purpose: Maybe the top brass wouldn’t actually mind clearing out some of these well-paid vets so they can bring new people in. After all, it’s a good time for hiring journalists right now. As Dayspring assured me: “We’ve been receiving an incredible amount of interest from talented journalists and editors eager to join Politico to cover the new administration, new Congress, and the evolving Washington landscape in the unique and distinctive ways only Politico can. Stay tuned.”