Dafna Linzer abruptly resigned as executive editor of Politico on Thursday, just a year after taking the helm at the political news site, amid an apparent clash of vision with Editor-in-Chief Matt Kaminski.
“I’ve decided to step down as Executive Editor of POLITICO after a remarkable year of remarkable journalism,” Linzer said in a tweet Thursday. “Couldn’t be more proud of the accomplishments. More to come.”
Linzer, who was hired a few months after German publishing giant Axel Springer bought Politico for $1 billion, helped the company craft a new strategy aimed at building the brand that is now being implemented, Kaminski said in a memo sent to staff that Linzer shared in her tweet after it started showing up online.
“The strategy has highlighted the need for our publication to evolve and meet the moment – in the ways that we do things, and in our structures,” the memo said. “But we saw ourselves diverging over the best way to get there.”
Kaminski said talks about her departure began in December. Her last day with the publication will be March 31.
Axel Springer CEO Mathias Doepfner has said he wants to expand operations in the U.S., and the company has poured money into the news site, The Washington Post reported.
Shortly after Linzer joined Politico, it published one of the biggest scoops of its history, the leaked draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn the landmark abortion case Roe v. Wade. The story is widely seen as a front-runner to win a Pulitzer this spring, the Post noted.
“As executive editor, Dafna has worked with many of you on some of the most impactful journalism we’ve produced in the past year, from the fallout from the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade to the war in Ukraine to the midterm elections,” Kaminski’s memo said. “Dafna brought passion and great ideas to these conversations, not surprisingly for someone with her distinguished record in our profession.
“She championed the creation of a fully-fledged legal team, just this week naming a new editor to lead it,” he wrote. “We have all gotten to know her as a talented journalist who advocates passionately for her ideas and especially for her people.”
Prior to joining Politico, Linzer was managing editor for politics at NBC News, and previously served as managing editor for digital at MSNBC. She was an investigative reporter at Pro Publica before that, and also did reporting stints at The Washington Post and The Associated Press.