John Harris to Staff: 'Politico Leaves Entire City in Awe'

In a memo late last night, Politico's Editor-in-Chief John Harris dropped a love bomb of compliments and extreme praise on the staff. Among many superb graphs in the memo was this: "POLITICO’s congressional reporters and editors have left not just their colleagues but the entire city in awe…of their sourcing, of their expertise on the personalities and process playing out on Capitol Hill, of their keen judgment during the most intense and competitive deadline situations, and of their indefatigable commitment to stay on top of the story. Very often it was as if we had hidden microphones in the private meetings as lawmakers plotted strategy and argued over options." Wow. That is intense. See Harris' full love note to staff... From: John Harris Date: October 16, 2013, 11:26:33 PM EDT To: Staff Subject: It's Over Or so I read in the lead headline on POLITICO right now…. We aren’t quite over the hump yet—there are scads of stories in preparation reconstructing and helping make sense of all that has happened in the closing hours of this conflict—but it is not too early for us to very confidently say this: POLITICO has dominated this story in every way, at every moment, in every particular. I’d go further….I can’t think of any contemporary example of a news organization owning an important national story as comprehensively as POLITICO has owned the shutdown and all its related angles. This has been a newsroom-wide effort. To begin citing all the specific examples of great work is foolhardy….since there inevitably would be scores of others just as great for every piece we mention. But if we won’t mention specific pieces we will mention a specific team. POLITICO’s congressional reporters and editors have left not just their colleagues but the entire city in awe…of their sourcing, of their expertise on the personalities and process playing out on Capitol Hill, of their keen judgment during the most intense and competitive deadline situations, and of their indefatigable commitment to stay on top of the story. Very often it was as if we had hidden microphones in the private meetings as lawmakers plotted strategy and argued over options. This congressional reporting was the cornerstone that allowed every other team—at the White House, on politics, the policy and breaking news desks, the video unit and webteam, among others—in our newsroom to make invaluable contributions to public understanding of a showdown that likely will shape national politics for a good while to come….or at least until we do this again, under the terms of tonight’s agreement, in January. Not surprisingly, traffic has been soaring at levels we ordinarily see only in the closing days of a presidential election. We will gather the newsroom soon to talk in more detail about all the extraordinary journalism we have witnessed in our midst in recent days. Until then, let’s keep this simple: This newsroom has never had such a convergence of reporting and editing talent as it has right now, and the results have never been more impressive. Many, many thanks. John, Danielle, Bill Rachel

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John Harris to Staff: 'Politico Leaves Entire City in Awe'

Betsy Rothstein

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Betsy Rothstein