As Twitchy reported earlier this week, a peek into the spending of USAID showed that the agency had paid $8.2 million to the news outlet POLITICO in just the last fiscal year. A lot of people said it was no wonder that POLITICO had a leftist slant in its coverage. The blowback was sufficient for the White House to cancel the millions of dollars in subscriptions.
CNN, of course, reported that a false right-wing conspiracy had spread.
You see, this money wasn't paid to POLITICO to influence its reporting. It paid for subscriptions to POLITICO Pro, which is an entirely different entity.
POLITICO put out a note to its readers to explain how it managed to secure $8.2 million from USAID:
Goli Sheikholeslami and John F. Harris write:
POLITICO is a privately owned company. We have never received any government funding — no subsidies, no grants, no handouts. Not one dime, ever, in 18 years.
…
POLITICO Pro is different. It is a professional subscription service used by companies, organizations, and, yes, some government agencies. They subscribe because it makes them better at their jobs — helping them track policy, legislation and regulations in real-time with news, intelligence and a suite of data products.
…
Government agencies that subscribe do so through standard public procurement processes — just like any other tool they buy to work smarter and be more efficient. This is not funding. It is a transaction — just as the government buys research, equipment, software and industry reports. Some online voices are deliberately spreading falsehoods. Let’s be clear: POLITICO has no financial dependence on the government and no hidden agenda. We cover politics and policy — that’s our job.
So POLITICO has never received any government funding; the $8.2 million was paid for subscriptions to POLITICO Pro.
Do they save the legitimate, unbiased stories for Pro subscribers?
POLITICO Pro must be like NPR, providing priceless reporting and insight to our elected leaders. And we fund NPR, too.
We'd really like to get a look at POLITICO Pro is a subscription is worth more than $10,000. It must be good stuff.