Politico Stonewalls Mike Allen Payola Scandal

Politico Responds To Mike Allen Allegations
Politico Chief White House Correspondent Mike Allen talks during the Politico Playbook Breakfast at the Newseum in Washington, DC, November 28, 2012. AFP Photo/Jim WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
Politico Chief White House Correspondent Mike Allen talks during the Politico Playbook Breakfast at the Newseum in Washington, DC, November 28, 2012. AFP Photo/Jim WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

In the fifties, a bunch of rock stations got caught taking money from music producers to give their artists airtime. The "Payola" scam, as it was called, was sufficiently outrageous to become a major national scandal. Last month, Washington Post reporter Erik Wemple reported that Politico's Mike Allen is running a similar scam — accepting lucrative payments from advertisers and lending his editorial voice to hyping, and sometimes parroting, their agenda. Given the relative importance of national politics vis-à-vis rock music, this struck me as a potentially career-ending revelation. Instead, Politico has ignored the report and carried on as if nothing at all were amiss.

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