No One Needs to Know This Much About Politico Reporters

Why do you read THE POLITICO? For politics news, or perhaps to reminisce of sweet Mike Allen daydreams of old. I am not psychic, but I doubt that you read THE POLITICO because you are dying to know where each and every reporter attended college.

Here is what the average reader needs to know about who wrote the average news story: probably nothing. Not even a name. If we are being honest with ourselves, the vast majority of the time there would be absolutely no negative consequences for readers if a story’s byline read “STAFF.” For sophisticated readers and media junkies, bylines are useful. You get the name of who wrote the story. You can track various writers’ work, compare and contrast, and evaluate them. Fine. Bylines have their utility. They go at the top of the story, and they’re easy to skip over if you don’t care.

For the small minority of very close media watchers, it may be useful to have a title attached to the name. So-and-so is a junior reporter who covers X, so-and-so is a senior reporter who covers Y. A tiny percentage of readers may find this information useful. But that is it. That is the maximum possible amount of info that anyone could possibly want about the random reporter who wrote the random news story they happen to be reading.

THE POLITICO, however, goes farther. Much farther. As you reach the end of a story you have been scrolling through on your phone, you are treated to a bio of the random-ass reporter who wrote the story. Why? For example, as discussed above, this is already too much information:

You wrote some story about some Trump tweet, probably. Do I care where you grew up? No. But that is only the beginning.