The Atlantic Media-owned National Journal went on a hiring tear this summer.
They lured Major Garrett away from Fox News – a major coup; nabbed Michael Hirsch from Newsweek; got Matt Cooper from Time; Beth Reinhard (Miami Herald); Aamer Madhani (USA Today); Yochi Dreazen (Wall Street Journal); Marc Ambinder (The Atlantic); Patricia Wilson (Thomson Reuters); and plenty of others.
The Journal's key hire, though, came in June, when Atlantic Media president Justin Smith and chairman David Bradley convinced Ron Fournier, the Associated Press’ Washington Bureau chief, to lead what would become a beefed up masthead ahead of an extensive relaunch -- not unlike the one the Atlantic underwent a few years ago.
TheWrap recently spoke to Fournier about the hiring spree, his editorial vision for the National Journal and his tenure at the AP.
Is there anyone left who hasn’t been hired by the National Journal in the last two months?
[Laughs]
What is the strategy behind the aggressive staffing?
Like any editor, we’re looking to hire smart people, whose background lines up with the policy and politics we cover. People who can break news, write smart analysis, and offer deeper and more comprehensive insight. People who can go short and go long. What we did here was combine the newsrooms of Hotline, National Journal and CongressDaily. That will give us between 90 and 100 editorial staffers, when all is said and done. And I have less than a handful more hires to make.
Do you have a date in mind? At what point will the hiring push end?
We plan to launch in late October, and I plan to be finished assembling the staff then. Though, not everybody is going to be in the door. Beth Reinhard, for example, our chief political correspondent -- we hired her from the Miami Herald. But she wanted to give them the courtesy of covering the rest of the campaign, and I agreed with her. I wouldn’t want someone to leave us in the middle of the campaign. And Marc Ambinder, even though we’re getting him from our sister publication, is going to cover the election for The Atlantic, then come over here, which will be after we launch.
When you say “launch,” do you mean the National Journal? Are you talking about a relaunch?
Yeah, relaunch is probably a better word for it. We’re going to have a whole new look, new identity, new mission, so I think of it as a launch. This is a start-up. That’s how I think of it. We have a start-up mentality. There’s plenty of money behind it to make sure we do the relaunch right.
Speaking of money, I heard your salary is around a million dollars a year. Is that true?
Holy s---! [Laughs] No, no, this is a labor of love. [Laughs] Put it this way: If that really is my salary, I’m going to have to speak to David Bradley about [getting paid].
