Politico and other news outlets received millions of dollars from government subscriptions.

 

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt before the announcement. New York Post/Getty.

Politico and other news outlets received millions of dollars from government subscriptions. New York Post. Politico, a news outlet owned by German Alex Springer, received 8.4 million for subscriptions and contracts. Those have now been canceled by DOGE. Politico is best known for their regular news outlet but they also have many trade and policy newsletters about health care, energy and other topics. 

Politico was not the only news outlet receiving these kinds of contracts and subscriptions. The Wrap. Two major wire services, AP and Reuters, received $620,000 and $3.1 million respectively. The New York Times had also received more than $375,000. 

My Comment:

This is a very good thing for a couple of reasons. The most obvious is that this was a colossal waste of money. From what I understand these subscriptions were for trade magazines and newsletters. Some of those might have had some use for a few federal workers but the cost they were paying was absurd. Some of these Politico subscriptions were worth six figures! That's an absurd waste of taxpayer money. I am sure that the information contained in these news letters are publicly available. 

And that's just the explanation that the media is using for why these subscriptions were being used. It's very possible that they weren't actually being used by anyone. If all these things are is trade letters, what do you think the chances are that the government employees that had these subscriptions never even read them? In that case it's an even bigger waste of money, especially for what the government was paying for them. 

The other major benefit is that this sure looks like graft. It at least has the appearance of doing so. Some of this money was from USAID and other government agencies that could have used these subscriptions as a way to ensure that Politico itself gave good coverage to their efforts. Given how critical Politico is of both the Trump administration and right wing politics in general this could mean that their coverage of those things are not actually organic. They could be paid off. 

Are we certain that is what is happening? I believe it. I have very little doubt that the government and news outlets were coordinating with each other to both prevent Donald Trump from returning to office, among other things. Can we prove that in court? Probably not. But if it is the case I would like to see these folks face justice because I doubt that is legal. This would essentially be a bribe. 

Regardless, the most important thing is that these money is no longer going to Politico and other news outlets. This is going to hurt their bottom line but that's a small price to pay if it means less money is being wasted by the taxpayers. I doubt there was any real legitimate reason why these subscriptions and contracts existed and that's all money that could be spent elsewhere.