Press release
POLITICO TO LAUNCH ‘POLITICO PRO’
MORE THAN 40 JOURNALISTS TO PROVIDE HIGH-IMPACT POLICY COVERAGE FOR PAID SUBSCRIBERS
Arlington, Va. – POLITICO announced today the impending launch of POLITICO Pro, its biggest new venture and its largest investment in journalism since POLITICO’s own launch in 2007.
Debuting in February 2011, POLITICO Pro will provide paid subscribers high-impact, high-velocity reporting on the politics of energy, technology and health care reform. And it will do so with a team of more than 40 dedicated journalists — roughly the same number that POLITICO itself had when it started publishing.
“Political and policy professionals want someone to cut through the clutter, tell them what really matters and tell them first,” said POLITICO Executive Editor Jim VandeHei. “We have a proven track record for doing just that – and POLITICO Pro will build on it.”
As POLITICO itself did nearly four years ago, POLITICO Pro is moving aggressively to hire the best reporters and editors in the business. Leading the effort will be POLITICO Pro Editor-in-Chief Tim Grieve, currently a deputy managing editor at POLITICO.
“I don’t know where it’s written down that policy coverage has to be boring,” Grieve said. “A lot of other policy-focused publications produce dry recitations of hearings and meetings. We’ll put all of our money in what matters most: journalists who can deliver human intelligence better and faster than anyone else.”
The hiring process for POLITICO Pro has just begun, but Grieve said he’s been thrilled by the response from journalists who see the value in a new way of covering critical policy issues.
On the POLITICO Pro team so far:
Dan Berman, a former senior reporter for Greenwire and editor of Environment & Energy Daily, will lead POLITICO Pro’s all-star energy team, which will include Darren Samuelsohn, Josh Voorhees and Robin Bravender — all of whom have left E & E to join POLITICO — plus Darren Goode from The Hill and several more reporters to be announced in the days ahead.
Kim Hart, an innovator in tech coverage at The Washington Post, The Hill and POLITICO, will lead POLITICO Pro’s technology team. She’ll be joined by a half-dozen other technology reporters, including Tony Romm, co-author of POLITICO’s Morning Tech, and Jennifer Martinez from GigaOm and the Tribune Co.’s Washington bureau.
Diane Webber, a veteran of the New York Post, the Brooklyn Papers, Scholastic and other publications, will run POLITICO Pro’s health care team, which will be built upon the foundation laid by Sarah Kliff and Jennifer Haberkorn, authors of the must-read POLITICO Pulse.
POLITICO’s LaRonda Peterson will serve as POLITICO Pro’s production editor, leading a team that will include copy editor Abby McIntyre and web producers Kate Nocera, Jess Kamen and Alex Guillén.
Poppy MacDonald, who has successfully launched new products for Gallup Inc. and The Advisory Board Co., will lead POLITICO Pro’s fast-growing sales and customer-relations teams. Early hires in those areas include Miki King, Khari Joseph and Lauren Englander.
Subscription sales for POLITICO Pro will begin in December. The main POLITICO site will remain free.
While POLITICO is best known for its coverage of Congress, the White House and campaigns, Washington insiders already know that POLITICO is the place to go for incisive reporting on the politics that drive policy decisions. A recent Erdos & Morgan survey of “people of influence” in Washington found POLITICO to be the best-read publication on environmental and energy issues, health, education and human services issues, and science and technology issues — beating Roll Call, CQ and the National Journal even before the launch of POLITICO Pro.
“Our ambition is to emerge from the great upheaval in journalism to become the dominant publication covering Washington politics and governance,” VandeHei said. “In the past three years, we have owned coverage of Congress and politics and the White House. This has allowed us to grab significantly more readers and advertisers than our competitors. It has also positioned us financially to make a robust investment in coverage of the most important policy issues.”
For more information about POLITICO Pro, please visit www.politicopro.com.
