Derek Thompson

You've written that one of the consequences of Politico and its success—

is the rise of political porn.

This by-the-hour, by-the-minute obsession with political coverage.

And I'm quoting from you here.

We helped create a monster.

Politics as entertainment and the dominant weapon in a never-ending cultural war.

This wasn't the intent, but we can't deny the outcome."

Before we continue with the history of the Washington Post and the changes in the media and political landscape, I'd love you to reflect on this, the idea that you helped to create a monster.

That sounds pretty bad.

Do you think the success of Politico has something to do with the fact that you sort of, you co-evolved with several technologies?

You launched 2007, so does the iPhone.

You launched 2007, Twitter is just around the corner from taking off.

Social media is about to take off.

Have you reflected on the possibility that you didn't just have a good idea, you had an idea whose timing turned out to be technologically perfect?

I want to put a pin in this idea, this relatively abstract idea that the kinds of news media that tend to succeed in a certain period

tend to be a reflection of the technology that is taking off in that period.

You could say this of maybe early printing technology, of radio technology, of television technology in the middle of the 20th century, the smartphone in the 2000s, and we're at the cusp potentially of a new industrial revolution in technology with artificial intelligence.

So we'll return to that, but I want to make sure that I put a pin in it.

Whether folks love Politico or they blame it for the rise of political porn and the demise of democracy, it has objectively been a success.

Yep.