From an editor’s note on politico.com by founding editor John F. Harris headlined “POLITICO Marked the End of the Era of Institutional Media. Now We Need to Bring It Back.”:

As we approached the 15th anniversary of POLITICO, I plunged into old files expecting to find a lot that would make me cringe.

Cringe, I did, looking at some of the early stories, replete with typos, clunky writing, strained premises. More cringing: The first edition of our publication — January 23, 2007 — with its high school newspaper design and a red-black logo announcing the arrival of “THE POLITICO.” Just like in the early days of “TheFacebook,” we soon dropped the “THE.”

From a story on thedailybeast.com by Zachary Petrizzo and Lachlan Cartwright headlined “Inside a Divided Politico: Playbook Drama. Woke Police, and Union Fights”:

Politico is known for its wildly popular Playbook newsletter, its vast reporting talent pool, and its success as the most widely recognized Beltway-centric publication. But behind the flashy exterior, billion-dollar sale, and massive draw of their star reporters lies a series of burgeoning newsroom conflicts.

From personnel issues, including complaints about internal “woke police,” to a divisive unionization drive, to increasing competition in the profitable D.C. newsletter space, tensions appear to be growing within Politico, which was recently bought by German-based media powerhouse Axel Springer for more than $1 billion.