Center
Summarized from more than one independent rater, including AllSides and Ad Fontes Media. We do not rate outlets ourselves.
Founded in 2007 to cover Washington the way a trade publication covers an industry, and owned by Axel Springer since 2021. Its influence rests less on its free site than on Politico Pro, the expensive subscription product that lobbyists and congressional staff actually read.
Its reporters know the mechanics of legislation better than almost anyone. Critics on both sides argue that covering politics as a game played by insiders, with winners and losers each news cycle, encourages readers to treat policy as sport and drains the substance out of what is being fought over.