Huffington Magazine Issue 2 | Page 79

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.”