Politico Suffers Staff Exodus, Loses Star Media Reporter

[babylonsister]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/29/michael-calderone-leaving_n_517059.html

Danny Shea
Michael Calderone Leaving Politico, Latest In Mini-Exodus
First Posted: 03-29-10 02:31 PM | Updated: 03-29-10 03:18 PM


Politico media blogger Michael Calderone is leaving the site for Yahoo.

According to sources, he is expected to leave Politico within a matter of weeks to join Yahoo News' original content project, overseen by blogging editor Andrew Golis. Chris Lehmann and "Cajun Boy" Brett Michael Dykes also recently joined the project.

Calderone, who joined Politico from the New York Observer, has the rare distinction of being named both one of Keith Olbermann's "Worst Persons in the World" and one of Bill O'Reilly's "pinheads."

Calderone had no comment when reached by the Huffington Post.

The departure comes on the heels of several other big losses for the site: just last week, features editor Pia Catton left to join the Wall Street Journal, Victoria McGrane left to join Newswires, and Patrick O'Connor left to join Bloomberg. Other members of Politico's staff have also been shopping their resumes around to various news organizations in Washington.

It is a tense time at an already intense organization: the site recently came under fire from black journalists after CNN's "Reliable Sources" showed an editorial meeting full of white men; the New York Times Magazine is expected to publish an article about the site by Mark Leibovich some time next month.

[Atman]

1. Gosh, another right-wing operative demoralized at their lack of influence

Day after day they blog, they get a spot on the three-hour GOP love-fest that is MSNBC's Morning Joe, the imagined themselves to be so important. Now, *POOF* it's all gone. They're worthless.

Gotta love it!

.

[blogslut]

2. I wonder if the Allbrittons are planning on pulling the plug

Perhaps profits trumped ideology?

[pdxmom]

3. Howard Kurtz did a follow up this week on "Reliable Sources" and

it was totally appalling. They are very clear that they aren't "journalists" as we would define it. They have an agenda, which they outright stated was to shape and influence what the rest of the media reported on that day. Of course, Kurtz just went "ok". And they talked about their publisher, but no one ever brought up Albritton's political agenda.

I'm hopeful someone will finally shine some light on this organization, so people see them for what they are.

[Nikki Stone1]

4. But no complaints about the lack of women.

Typical.