INSIDE
THE CULT
HUFFINGTON
06.24.12
called up two notable Republicans, former Bush press secretary
Ari Fleischer and ex-Mississippi
governor Haley Barbour, who —
surprise! — dished supportive,
media-bashing quotes.
Some in the Politico news-
ical insiders online, on Twitter and
on cable news — Politico’s target
demographic — were talking about
it. For better or worse, Politico was
again driving the conversation.
Harris and VandeHei tout their
top political reporters as the
“We don’t want you taking off
in the middle of an election where
you’re playing a critical role for
the publication.”
—John Harris
on asking reporters and editors to sign contracts
room weren’t happy with the
piece. One staffer said it “went
over extremely poorly” with the
rank-and-file and looked like
top writers were simply “picking a fight unnecessarily” with
competitors. Times and Post
writers weren’t pleased either,
suggesting that VandeHei and
Allen downplayed or completely
ignored their extensive coverage
of Obama since the 2008 race.
Other journalists mocked the
piece on Twitter and critics, like
the Post’s Erik Wemple, tore it
apart in a series of blog posts.
Lo and behold: even if the story
was a transparent attempt at currying favor with the Romney campaign, the net effect was that polit-
reason they stand out this cycle,
regardless of their competitors’
cranked up metabolisms or the
Twitterverse micro-controversy
of the moment. Harris described
Martin as “one of the most authoritative forces covering the
presidential campaign,” called
Haberman “almost supernatural,” and described 26-year-old
reporter Alexander Burns, who
started as the top editors’ researcher straight out of college,
as “indispensable.”
When it comes to covering the
current president, Harris says he’d
put Thrush “against any competitor in terms of his ability to interpret and to understand what’s going on in the White House.”