Susan Glasser of Being Named <em>POLITICO</em> Editor: 'I am honored and totally blown away'

Susan Glasser, who early Thursday morning was named editor of POLITICO, followed up on a memo to staff issued by the Rosslyn-based political news outlet’s CEO Jim VandeHei, editor-in-chief John Harris, and COO Kim Kingsley. "I want to say that I am honored and totally blown away by the opportunity to become POLITICO’s Editor," writes Glasser to staff. "There is an inspiring and clear vision for the next stage of POLITICO’s growth, both here in Washington and far far beyond the Beltway in Brussels and elsewhere, and it’s going to be a big and engaging project to support it." Read Glasser's full memo to staff after the jump. From: Susan Glasser Subject: looking ahead Date: 18 September 2014 06:55:04 EDT To: TP-Staff First, I want to say that I am honored and totally blown away by the opportunity to become POLITICO’s Editor. I love the energy, ambition and sheer audacity of a team that in a breathtakingly short time has gone from insurgent to Washington institution – all while never losing touch with its startup roots. And I am so grateful to have a chance to work with everyone here in defining the next act of this fantastic news organization. It’s been inspiring to watch POLITICO’s rise over these past few years, and my deep admiration for John Harris, Jim VandeHei, Kim Kingsley and all of you is why I was so excited to have the chance a year ago to come to POLITICO and start the Magazine. A year in, I’m even more bullish on POLITICO and its future: There is an inspiring and clear vision for the next stage of POLITICO’s growth, both here in Washington and far far beyond the Beltway in Brussels and elsewhere, and it’s going to be a big and engaging project to support it. Here in the newsroom this will mean doubling down on the mission we already share to make POLITICO even bigger, bolder, and more ambitious than it is today. It’s a fittingly tall order, and we will be calling on all the skills and talents of the wonderful staff that POLITICO has so successfully built from scratch these past few years. And we’ll get you the resources and partners you need to make this next act a success, including by adding to POLITICO’s core journalism on key subjects with high-impact additions of writing and editing talent, and launching a new website to better showcase your great work. We all know what we want: a POLITICO that is an indispensable first read for anyone whose business is Washington – and for millions more who are as captivated as we are by what is happening here. I hope we can aim to win not only the morning, but the afternoon and evening too with smart, authoritative, impactful, independent and original journalism. Together, we should strive to be the most excellent news organization that covers Washington, period. Yes, that means the scoops for which POLITICO is justifiably famous – POLITICO was born with a fast metabolism, and it should never lose it -- and also news and enterprise, opinions and narratives, that tell you stories no one else does. If it’s something Washington needs to know, we want you to read it here. On our website. In our print newspaper on Capitol Hill or our beautiful new magazine or Mike Allen’s Playbook and our 13 and counting Pro verticals. Or on that mobile device that’s not even invented yet. There’s no master plan for making all this happen; we live in an age of permanent disruption when it comes to the media, and the goal here is to own and shape Washington coverage around politics and policy – using whatever great new tools and platforms, tweets and GIFs come our way. A decade from now, we may not recognize some of those tools, but I think we all know what POLITICO will obsess about in 2024: coverage of Congress and the White House, campaigns and elections, and the vast, complicated and all too opaque machinery of the federal government. In the coming weeks and months, we’ll be working together to think more about what that next-generation of POLITICO journalism looks and feels like. It will be both an honor – and much fun – to take on this project with all of you, to listen to your ideas and help figure out how to make them happen. I want to express my special gratitude to Bill Nichols for graciously agreeing to run the newsroom in the interim period and to all the editors and reporters who are working so hard to put out a great product amid this transition — and beyond. An incredible foundation exists for this project thanks to the achievements and hard work of POLITICOs in the seven years since its launch, a strong foundation due in no small part to the success of Roy Schwartz, Peter Cherukuri and their business team. Which is why I’m certain that we’re all going to have a great time figuring out ways to make POLITICO stand out even more compared with the crowded and often uninspiring world of Washington journalism. Hopefully we’ll experiment and innovate and build a lot of terrific journalism together. I am sure it will be fun. I’ve been amazed at what we have been able to do on this platform in less than a year with the magazine, thanks to Blake and Janet and the best magazine staff anywhere in the country. But it’s very much a tribute to what has already been built here – and to the fact that it is more than possible to successfully expand, grow and broaden the definition of what is great POLITICO journalism. For now, let me just say thank you in advance: to Robert and John and Jim and Kim, for putting their confidence in me and for having had this great idea; and to all of you, for the hard work you have done and will do at turning their great idea into such a cool reality. Susan

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Susan Glasser of Being Named POLITICO Editor: 'I am honored and totally blown away'

Nick Massella

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