Huffington Magazine Issue 2 | Page 87

INSIDE THE CULT primarily as Time’s editor-atlarge and an MSNBC senior political analyst, also served as Harris’s co-author on the 2006 book, The Way to Win. Halperin didn’t respond to a request for comment on his past talks with Politico. Lately, Politico has once again signaled an interest in television, but more akin to streaming video shows around major political events, or perhaps, a regular web series on the site or on a dedicated YouTube channel. VandeHei says Politico is now “trying to experiment with a bunch of HUFFINGTON 06.24.12 established industry players. “All those people are looking to build channels, are looking to build content that’s going to be delivered differently than it is today,” he says. “We think we’re well positioned, because of the size of the newsroom, and because of the type of people we recruit here, to be able to produce that content. “Is there a big market for that? Over time, can you sustain that financially? At this point, we’re not as worried about the financial question. We’re more “At this point, we’re not as worried about the financial question.” —Jim VandeHei different things, everything from short bursts of programming to live programming.” VandeHei likens the next couple years in television and online video to 2006 and 2007, a time of “massive upheaval in print,” which coincided with the birth of Politico. He mentioned new players like Google, YouTube and Apple TV, and The Huffington Post — which is launching a 12-hour streaming network — joining more worried about the experimentation question. I think over the next six months, hopefully you’ll see different experiments that tip our hand where we think things are going on video.” “NOT MONOPOLY MONEY” Politico’s editors maintain that their company is profitable and isn’t borrowing money to fund its expansion. Since Allbritton is privately held, it’s impossible to