Something cool for news junkies

Hey there. The other day I was watching something, I’m not sure what, and saw Mike Allen interviewed. Mike is a reporter for Politico.com, and he’s the editor of something called the Playbook — a summary of that day’s news that comes out at about 8 am ET. Mike and an assistant get to work at about 5 am, scan thousands of news articles, and prepare the Playbook. This is an impeccable piece of newsletter-type journalism, full of cool details, stuff to ponder, marvel over, roil at and send your friends. It’s a free daily service, delivered by email. Here is how to sign up.

6 thoughts on “Something cool for news junkies”

  2. I like that idea, but I’m in grad school (and working) right now. I have a very full plate already.

  3. Oh yeah, I get it. This is the perfect example of what newsletter journalism can do. This style reporting starts with The Kiplinger Letter (from which I spirited the salutation “Dear Friend and Client”), takes root as the newsletter industry (of which Planet Waves is part) and then finds a home on the Internet — which is the perfect medium for rapid, succinct, survey-styled journalism. This would make an awesome astrology format — a daily survey of that day’s blogs and horoscopes for the best quotes and ideas. Anyone want to be on an editing team?

  4. Eric,

    I’m not sure if you are aware of this, but Playbook is read OBSESSIVELY by the Beltway media. It is the origin for much of Beltway and cable news conventional wisdom, sort of like how the Drudge Report was in the late 90’s and first half of the 00’s. I suppose Playbook is an improvement over Drudge’s dreck, but I avoid reading Playbook specifically because it’s so insider-y. Here’s a bit from the NYTimes magazine illustrating what I’m talking about. I’ll let you make your own judgment.

    Best wishes,

    astrodem

    ————

    As a practical matter, here is how Allen’s 10 stories influence the influentials. Cable bookers, reporters and editors read Playbook obsessively, and it’s easy to pinpoint exactly how an item can spark copycat coverage that can drive a story. Items become segment pieces on “Morning Joe,” the MSNBC program, where there are 10 Politico Playbook segments each week, more than half of them featuring Allen. This incites other cable hits, many featuring Politico reporters, who collectively appear on television about 125 times a week. There are subsequent links to Politico stories on The Drudge Report, The Huffington Post and other Web aggregators that newspaper assigning editors and network news producers check regularly. “Washington narratives and impressions are no longer shaped by the grand pronouncements of big news organizations,” said Allen, a former reporter for three of them — The Washington Post, The New York Times and Time magazine. “The smartest people in politics give us the kindling, and we light the fire.”

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