The St. Petersburg Times and Politico will begin immediately sharing content both in print and online, and at the Republican convention in Tampa, they’ll combine reporting efforts to write in-depth enterprise stories related to the August 2012 event. In addition, the Times and Politico plan to co-produce daily newsmaker events in the Tampa Bay area.
Press release
St. Petersburg Times, POLITICO to cover 2012 RNC in Tampa
Tampa Bay, FL – The award-winning St. Petersburg Times and POLITICO have formed a robust partnership to cover presidential politics in Florida and the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa.
“The St. Petersburg Times is excited to join forces with POLITICO in creating a journalistic powerhouse that will chronicle the Republican Party’s march to Tampa in 2012,” Times Editor Neil Brown said. “As the state’s leading news organization, we are honored to work with POLITICO, which has become the signature name in covering the national political scene. The history-making GOP convention in Tampa will generate great journalistic and business opportunities and we know this partnership will help us capitalize on all of it.”
The Times and POLITICO will begin immediately sharing content both in print and online to offer their readers added insight into the campaign trail. At the convention, they’ll combine reporting efforts to write in-depth enterprise stories related to the August 2012 event. In addition, the Times and POLITICO plan to co-produce daily newsmaker events in the Tampa Bay area.
Similar to POLITICO’s convention partnerships with The Denver Post and the St. Paul Pioneer Press during the 2008 election cycle, the Times-POLITICO team’s work will appear in the newspaper, which also will include local and national advertising. The newspaper will be distributed at key locations around Tampa Bay, drawing readership from both local residents and influential convention-goers alike.
During the convention week, the Times will co-brand its front page print nameplate with POLITICO’s logo. Both will co-brand the home page of their Web sites. POLITICO will create an online page featuring 2012 news related to Florida politics and the 2012 GOP convention. The Times will feature POLITICO’s 2012 LIVE content on the politics page on its Web site, TampaBay.com.
POLITICO also will feature ‘Truth-O-Meter’ rulings from PolitiFact, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Web site owned by the Times, and work with PolitiFact to fact-check campaign speeches.
“We are thrilled to pair up with one of America’s most prestigious newspapers,” said POLITICO Executive Editor Jim VandeHei. “This will allow both organizations to play to their core strengths – POLITICO’s national political coverage and the St. Petersburg Times’ dominance of state and local politics – to provide readers a compelling way to navigate and understand the GOP convention.”
This is the Times’ second major partnership related to the coverage of the Republican presidential election. The Times also is co-sponsoring a Republican presidential primary debate early next year with NBC News, National Journal and the Florida Council of 100. Held at the St. Pete Times Forum, it will be the first time that presidential primary candidates will debate in the arena where one of them will return to accept the nomination.
