Changes on horizon for ‘Politico’ newsroom
Start-up’s key figures VandeHei, Allen are leaving website
Politico’s rapid expansion has revolutionized online journalism. But it, too, is being pinched by career restlessness and conflicting ambitions evident at other enduring start-ups.
The tension bubbled to the surface last week when the influential Washington political news website announced that co-founder and CEO Jim VandeHei, star political reporter Mike Allen and other key players will leave later this year. And as if that isn’t enough churn, the site also will be changing editors in 2016.
The departure of VandeHei and Allen, two quintes-sential Politico figures, after the election presages major changes at the groundbreaking site, one of the most successful digital journalism ventures. VandeHei, who co-founded
Politico in 2007 with Politico editor in chief John Harris after the idea was rejected by their former employer, The Washington Post, has been the site’s standard bearer, championing its rapid-fire, saturation coverage of all things Beltway.
Allen’s daily briefing of the political scene, called “Politico Playbook,” is a signature Politico column and must-reading in Washington.
The huge shake-up surprised the newsroom, already accustomed to rampant staff turnover, and triggered speculation that it was a result of ongoing jostling for control among the top leaders. Not so, say the executives.
VandeHei told the newsroom that he caught an entrepreneurial bug that he couldn’t shake and was ready for a new project. Robert Allbritton, founder and publisher of Politico, echoed the message in a staff memo, saying VandeHei began signaling his interest in a new venture “some years ago.”
As for what lies ahead, he wrote, “We are about to experience the most exciting, and I expect most enjoyable, period of expansion in 10 years.”