Her hiring got here on the heels of media juggernaut Axel Springer’s $1 billion acquisition of Politico within the fall of 2021. The German writer has poured important funding into the digital information website.
Linzer, who was as soon as a nationwide safety reporter for The Washington Submit, got here to Politico after serving as a managing editor for politics at NBC Information and as an investigative journalist for ProPublica.
Throughout her first week on the job, Politico scored the most important scoop of its 15-plus yr existence, a narrative a few leaked draft opinion from the Supreme Courtroom that might strike down Roe v. Wade. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. known as the leak “a singular and egregious breach” of belief, however the story introduced journalistic accolades to Politico and is broadly seen as a front-runner to win a Pulitzer this spring.
However her tenure was marked by rigidity with Kaminski, her quick boss. Linzer chafed underneath Kaminski’s management and advised colleagues that she took the job anticipating that he can be elevated to a unique position, however that didn’t occur.
Others at Politico pointed to her brusque administration type and stated that as Politico was embarking in a significant enlargement, high newsroom managers couldn’t agree on how you can execute that enlargement. Considerations about promoting income have created important stress contained in the newsroom, in accordance with present and former Politico staffers who spoke on the situation of anonymity to debate non-public conversations.
Final month, the Every day Beast reported on a public confrontation at Politico’s 118th Congress kickoff occasion at Washington, D.C.’s Union Station between Linzer and a younger reporter who deliberate to depart Politico for The Washington Submit, writing that Linzer was “aggravated” and brought on the reporter to turn into “visibly upset.”
In a notice to the newsroom this morning, Kaminski wrote: “In her time with us, Dafna has made vital and lasting contributions to the publication — for which we’re grateful. She introduced nice abilities to the newsroom. She labored intently with our Washington and politics groups and with our management workforce to form key pillars of the technique unveiled in December that we at the moment are working to implement.”
However he added that he and Linzer “noticed ourselves diverging over one of the best ways” to assist Politico be “the world’s premier supply of stories on politics, coverage, and energy.” He added that the 2 of them “first started discussing the opportunity of this transfer final December.”
Her final day can be on the finish of the month.
Politico CEO Goli Sheikholeslami advised workers that “continuity” was the purpose for the quick future however added that she had requested Kaminski to “companion with me on a deeper and extra complete have a look at our newsroom construction (within the U.S.), to reply whether or not we’re greatest positioned to reach Washington and the states that we function in.”
Linzer, in a notice to the newsroom, wrote of her satisfaction within the Roe scoop and touted Politico’s midterm protection as “the very best within the enterprise.” She highlighted the group’s investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol and wrote that “our journalism throughout the board merely flourished in a yr of large change for the publication.”
Throughout Linzer’s tenure, Politico employed high-profile names akin to Heidi Przybyla from Bloomberg and Alex Burns and Jonathan Martin from the New York Instances. Burns had been at Politico from its earliest days, and his return to the newsroom was the results of a protracted courtship by Politico founding editor John Harris.
Politico, which was based in 2007 by two former Washington Submit journalists with a digital-friendly give attention to in-depth political information, rapidly impressed imitators of its personal — notably Axios was based in 2016 by Politico veterans Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz; and Punchbowl, launched in 2021 with Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan, who labored collectively for years as star Capitol Hill reporters at Politico.
The crowded marketplace for deeply reported congressional protection has created intense competitors for promoting {dollars}, at the same time as many teams are reining in advert spending for worry of a potential recession.
Axel Springer simply final month introduced a restructuring of its German operations, and CEO Mathias Döpfner has signaled his aggressive ambitions to increase in the US.
The corporate, one among Europe’s largest information organizations, is exclusive for its main U.S. presence. Döpfner has stated he plans to streamline its company construction in Germany and reduce on its print editions as the corporate strikes into being a digital-only writer.
