Inside Politico and the brave new world of post-print journalism

And it worked. Politico succeeded in muscling its way into the political journalism firmament by the sheer volume of reporting and a shrewd--some might say obsessive--focus on the gossipy Beltway scoops and gaffes that appeal to the tabloid sensibility of Drudge and cable news. Politico's readership spiked during the election, attracting 4.6 million unique readers in September 2008 (that's about one-third of the Post's online readership). The following month, Nielsen ranked Politico the ninth-most-visited newspaper website in the country. Politico broke stories about John McCain forgetting how many homes he owned and Sarah Palin's six-figure wardrobe budget--stories that dominated the news cycle for days and forced establishment papers like The New York Times to follow with front-page stories. On Election Day, Chris Matthews crowed on "Hardball" that Politico was the "hottest political team in town," and wondered "is that still around, The Washington Post?"

The Scoop Factory