After both readers and staff were surprised to find that conservative commentator Ben Shapiro wrote Thursday’s edition of Politico’s Playbook newsletter, the outlet’s top editors defended the decision, arguing that publishing Shapiro’s piece was in line with Politico’s “mischief-making” business model.
“We have taken great care to assemble a roster of guest authors who are prominent thinkers and writers and represent a range of perspectives,” Politico said in a statement. “What sets Politico apart in this intense political and media moment is that we rise above partisanship and ideological warfare — even as many seek to drag us into it. It’s a core value of the publication that is unchangeable, and that above all protects our ability to do independent journalism. It’s a part of our mission.”
Politico has released a statement on the backlash against using @benshapiro as a guest-writer for Playbook. It says, “we rise above partisanship and ideological warfare.” pic.twitter.com/NZ3HQQIMCr
— ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) January 14, 2021
Politico Editor-in-Chief Matthew Kaminski said during a phone call with staff that Shapiro was “a very prominent writer, provocateur, and podcaster” and that the outlet’s editors “stand by every word in there, it was very closely edited,” according to the Daily Beast.
Politico has tapped well-known pundits and journalists to fill in as editor of its flagship Playbook newsletter as the outlet searched for a permanent editor, featuring MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, CBS’s Weijia Jiang, and PBS’s Yamiche Alcindor.
But staff took issue with the outlet’s decision to give Shapiro a turn. One staff member said Shapiro had “a long history of bigoted and incendiary commentary” and that giving him a platform after the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill by pro-Trump protesters, which left five dead, was in poor taste.
“It has clearly generated a wave of negative attention, and I fear it’s already overshadowing a lot of great work being done by journalists across this newsroom,” the staffer said in the company’s Slack messaging system.
Others outside the newsroom took issue with the decision as well, highlighting past comments in which Shapiro said that the “Palestinian Arab population is rotten to the core” and that “transgender people are unfortunately suffering from a significant mental illness.”
I would appreciate if someone from @politico would read all the racist things Ben Shapiro has said about Arabs and Muslims here and then explain why they chose to give him a platform https://t.co/bH5CmhiqE4
— Sabrina Siddiqui (@SabrinaSiddiqui) January 14, 2021
“Mischief-making has always been a part of Politico’s secret sauce,” Kaminski said. “We were an upstart. Some of that sensibility is always going to be a part of this publication.”
Hours later, Politico held a Zoom meeting to hear comments and criticism on the Shapiro newsletter. At least 225 people tuned in.
There are now upwards of 225 people on the @politico Zoom call convened to hash out the decision to invite @benshapiro to guest-write an edition of Playbook. People are very mad, I am hearing.
— ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) January 14, 2021
Shapiro told the Washington Examiner that he’s “completely unsurprised” by the criticism.
“I’m completely unsurprised by the blowback,” Shapiro said. “In fact, I warned the editors at Politico that they would receive this kind of blowback, and to their credit, they published me anyway. The staff at Politico actually proved my point: that the goal for much of the Left is complete ostracization of the Right from cultural and political life.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to Politico for further comment.
