When you’re leaving a publication like Politico, best to keep your journalism comrades as close as possible just in case you need them for something in the near future.
On Friday Politico‘s Mike Allen turned over the reins of his beloved Playbook to BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith, who formerly worked for Politico, a suburban publication that apparently has good kitchen snacks.
Announcing him as a “GUEST PLAYBOOKER,” BuzzFeed Ben wrote about Politico as much as he could before he just couldn’t stand it anymore. Then he gave the mic to BuzzFeed‘s national LGBT reporter to say that using the word “transgendered” is wrong and then turned the spotlight on — what else? — more BuzzFeed and himself.
“Two things I learned from my time at POLITICO: Reporting is the most important part; and shameless self-promotion doesn’t hurt. So yes, here’s some great journalism BuzzFeed News has done in just the last day.”
And with that, he featured five BuzzFeed stories. Strangely he did not feature “17 Funny Tweets That’ll Make You Say ‘Wow, I’m Dumb'” or “I Took 10 Selfies Under Different Light Sources For Science.” Also no mention of “15 Anal Sex Horror Stories That’ll Make You Gag.”
Finally, a note about a rumor Smith says has been floating around the world. Except strangely few in Washington media circles have heard it. Also…what’s with the weird exclamation point after Jim VandeHei??!!!!
“Near-final self-reference: There is a media rumor abroad in the land that I am going back to POLITICO,” Smith wrote in his Playbook takeover. “Weirdly, I heard it the other day from one … Jim VandeHei(!). Nope. But it is nice to visit with you all!”
Famous last words.