Chaos erupted inside the left-leaning newsroom of Politico this past week when employees discovered their paychecks were missing. The delay, initially brushed off as a “technical error” by company leadership, left staff scrambling for answers and fueled speculation about the financial stability of the Germany-based, foreign-owned media outlet.
According to leaked internal emails, management assured workers that the issue would be “promptly resolved.” While payroll was eventually processed within 24 hours, the delay raised serious questions about Politico’s financial operations—particularly its deep connections to USAID funding and foreign influence.
Politico is controlled by Axel Springer SE, a Germany-based media conglomerate that used to be publicly traded but is now privately held. Despite being headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, its ultimate decision-makers are overseas. This has sparked concerns about how much influence its foreign parent company wields over U.S. political coverage and newsroom priorities.
Making matters worse, public records reveal that Politico, LLC has received millions in taxpayer dollars from USAID, the U.S. government’s international development agency. Federal records on usaspending.gov show over 200 financial transactions flowing from USAID to Politico, dramatically ramping up in recent years.
Critics argue that a newsroom receiving federal cash should not be the one covering the very agency funding it. Yet Politico has continued publishing glowing reports on USAID’s activities without openly disclosing its financial ties to the agency.
While there is no direct evidence that the recent payroll fiasco is linked to USAID funding, the timing is suspect. Could a bureaucratic hiccup in government funding have contributed to the delay? Observers say Politico’s silence on the matter is deafening.
For a company flush with federal grants and backed by a foreign parent, the idea that it couldn’t even pay its own employees on time is shocking. Meanwhile, conservative media outlets have long warned about the dangers of state-funded journalism and the risks of media outlets becoming extensions of the very government agencies they’re supposed to hold accountable.
Despite reassurances that payroll is now “functioning,” Politico has not addressed the larger issue—why a supposedly independent newsroom is accepting massive sums from USAID while shaping American political discourse.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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One Response
Perhaps people in the third world were HUNGRY for a left-center view of American politics, so much show that AID needed to divert money that the Congress said to use for things such as food relief to pay for political indoctrination.