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* When Politico announced it was moving in to Illinois, a bunch of people privately asked me what I thought.
I’m all for more bureaus, more coverage, more reporters, more competition. Period. Always have been.
Plus, I glanced at Politico’s other state operations, including Florida. To me, it looked like they have a more national focus and are competing for eyeballs with the big state media outlets, not people like me.
* I recently told a friend of mine at the Tribune that the people who really ought to worry should be the folks who run and work at the Chicago Sun-Times. They have a horrible website (slightly improved recently, but still awful), don’t fully utilize some highly regarded reporters and columnists (until fairly recently, Mark Brown’s top notch stuff has been mostly buried) and still haven’t installed a new Statehouse reporter.
Because the Sun-Times has so hobbled itself over the past year and a half, it’s made itself a target. So, in my opinion, even a semi-strong Politico staff and a reasonably accessible website could do big damage to the CS-T’s position.
* And if it wasn’t obvious before, it ought to be crystal clear now…
Natasha Korecki, one of Chicago’s premier political reporters, is leaving the Sun-Times after 12 years to join Politico, the authoritative source for coverage of politics and government.
Korecki will serve as a Chicago-based senior political reporter and will be responsible for compiling the daily Politico Playbook on Illinois politics, starting in late September.
Again, if Florida’s Playbook is any guide, it’s filled with Sunshine State angles on national stuff, with some state news tossed in.
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Sep 9, 15 @ 10:39 am
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Ouch. Losing korecki, thats gotta sting.
Comment by Langhorne Wednesday, Sep 9, 15 @ 10:44 am
So the focus will shift more to how Illinois and Rauner are playing out national issues? That would be a shame.
Still, the more good news people focus on Springfield, the better. My best source, beyond Rich, is the Daily Herald.
Comment by walker Wednesday, Sep 9, 15 @ 10:50 am
Congrats to Natasha for finding a lifeboat off of that sinking ship. She does excellent work.
Regarding the Sun-Times website, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve clicked links to their stories and (as a subscriber) am unable to finish reading the story because of clunky software and ad interruptions. Ireally don’t even bother any more, unless it’s news that I’m dying to read. It’s pitiful.
Comment by out of touch Wednesday, Sep 9, 15 @ 10:51 am
Over the decades, the Sun-Times has been harder to kill than Rasputin. But they can’t be making any money, not after cashing out tneir suburban holdings. If they keep going, it’s just a Ferro vanity asset.
Comment by Wordslinger Wednesday, Sep 9, 15 @ 10:53 am
It’s sad to watch the what the Sun-Times is becoming. A third of the paper on Sunday (the only day I can get it downstate in dead tree format) is USA Today. The Daily Herald and S-T are now starting to share stories to make up for their ever-shrinking newsrooms and coverage. And now they’re losing one of the best political reporters in the biz.
And then…that website. Ugh. I could code a website for them in an hour with basic HTML that would be more user-savvy.
Comment by Tournaround Agenda Wednesday, Sep 9, 15 @ 10:54 am
Politico is awful. It’s everything that is wrong with political reporting. I wish her well, but I hope Korecki can fully practice her craft and not fall into the Beltway-herd-groupthink mentality that Politico perpetuates and profits from.
Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Sep 9, 15 @ 10:56 am
stopped reading the sun times and I won’t go back. It is simply unusable as a website. What a joke. selling their local papers was a huge mistake also.
But I will follow her at Politico. And you’re right Rich, they are not competition. We all check the blog first - and the other news sources after that.
Comment by siriusly Wednesday, Sep 9, 15 @ 11:01 am
Excellent points about the Sun-Times. Their website is a mess and they don’t take advantage of the talent they have there. Fran Spielman regularly beats two Trib reporters at City Hall and Lynn Sweet out-scoops a handful of DC based Trib reporters in covering Illinois congressional delegation. Not to mention, the Sun-Times columnist are all better than their counterparts at the Trib (Mark Brown runs circles around wise guy wannabe John Kass.)
But it’s kinda like a tree falling in the forest…it doesn’t matter how good the reporting and writing is if no one sees it.
Comment by Phil Wednesday, Sep 9, 15 @ 11:03 am
I’m not a fan of politico nationwide. My perception is that their focus tends to be more on horserace/sizzle than issues/substance.
Hopefully the local version will be better.
Comment by Robert the Bruce Wednesday, Sep 9, 15 @ 11:16 am
What 47 said. Politico is an awful gossip rag.
Korecki will fit right in with her prurient gay-baiting innuendo skills.
Comment by Wordslinger Wednesday, Sep 9, 15 @ 11:17 am
This is great news! Looking forward to a fresh take on this dysfunctional state.
Comment by William Wednesday, Sep 9, 15 @ 11:18 am
Politico would be smart to contract with you, much the same way with Crains, IL Times, Etc.
Comment by Ahoy! Wednesday, Sep 9, 15 @ 11:21 am
Cant wait to see who takes Tim Novak once he gets kicked to the curb from the Suntimes. His little Watch Dog articles are just Regurgitatd cut and paste write ups about nothing substance.
Comment by Just saying Wednesday, Sep 9, 15 @ 11:27 am
Kudos, Korecki!
Politico’s national focus is the optional extra sugar in the sweet tea of Cap Fax.
Comment by Formerly Known As... Wednesday, Sep 9, 15 @ 11:37 am
As most folks here appreciate, bylines usually matter more than platforms, so while I 90-95% agree with 47th, RTB and WS about Politico, there are a few excellent bylines there, Josh Gerstein being one. Politico’s Mike Allen is like a certain Michael Chicagoan.
Comment by The Historian Wednesday, Sep 9, 15 @ 11:45 am
Politico news sounds like ‘brainwashing’ news to me. Why would Politico hurt the Sun-Times, but not the Chicago Trib.? Hope Sun-Times wakes up before its to late.
Comment by Mama Wednesday, Sep 9, 15 @ 11:47 am
I share the opinion of many regarding Politico. If I read it, it’s because someone shared a link on something specific. Probably a good move for Natasha, so I’m happy for her. They’ve got money. I may read it more often with her there.
Comment by A guy Wednesday, Sep 9, 15 @ 11:52 am
Politico moved here to leach from the Man, who shows how it should be done every day.
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Sep 9, 15 @ 12:09 pm
Smart move by Politico to get its operation up and running here in anticipation of the Duckworth-Kirk race and battle for the U.S. Senate.
Comment by Michelle Flaherty Wednesday, Sep 9, 15 @ 12:16 pm
I’m not a huge Korecki fan. Not that she cares…
I’m curious to see if Politico’s “local” people can police the comment section. Their comment section used to be atrocious. That’s one of the unfortunate thing about constantly having your articles linked to the Daily Kos and Drudge. If they curtail the comments, it might be readable.
Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Sep 9, 15 @ 12:18 pm
Politico hired Marc Caputo, one of the best political reporters in a state loaded with them, to launch its Florida operations. Their coverage there does skew national, but Florida is not Illinois. It has two candidates from the state running for president. And, of course, it’s the biggest swing state prize in nearly every presidential election. A more interesting model might be Politico’s New York operation. It’s a more robust, locally minded site. Politico has a lot of money to throw at new ventures (a new magazine, a European site and who knows how many PRO sites). That won’t guarantee success, but I wouldn’t count them out just yet.
Comment by Dan Wednesday, Sep 9, 15 @ 12:50 pm
I’ve completely stopped visiting SunTimes.com and even their paper edition seems difficult to read for some reason.
Comment by Not it Wednesday, Sep 9, 15 @ 12:53 pm
The sun times has 3 strengths that are all but gone in todays media world-1)an energetic dc correspondent-sweet 2)local columnists 3)local investigative journalists. All are completely buried in that website under ads and you can’t even get them on their mobile app which is a haphazard disaster.
Along with the local reporter-remember the nytimes tried this a few years ago and only monica davey remains from that effort to compete-they usually do events livedstreamed so expect some mike allen-rahm suckup brunch soon.
Comment by Shore Wednesday, Sep 9, 15 @ 2:09 pm