Plain English with Derek Thompson The Meltdown at The Washington Post—and the Crisis in News
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Feb 11, 2026 
Jim VandeHei, cofounder of Politico and Axios and former Washington Post reporter, discusses the Washington Post’s recent collapse and the long arc of news media change. He recounts building Politico, tech-driven shifts that reshaped journalism, cultural and strategic missteps at legacy papers, and how AI and identity-driven journalism will reshape what survives.
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News Is Returning To Identity-Driven Models
- The news industry is reverting to a 19th-century-like model where identity and subscriptions matter more than mass advertising.
- Derek Thompson argues the Post lost what 21st-century news needs most: a clear identity that drives subscribers.
Founding Politico From The Post
- Jim VandeHei left The Washington Post in 2006 to found Politico because he saw unmet appetite for fast, inside political coverage.
- He and colleagues built a small, high-impact team plugged into TV and the internet that quickly reshaped political journalism.
Political Coverage Became 24/7 Entertainment
- Politico accelerated the velocity and personalization of political news, creating a market for nonstop political coverage.
- That new attention economy helped politicize media consumption and contributed to polarization and 'political porn.'
