The Albritton Journalism Institute (AJI) is a political journalism training nonprofit founded by Politico founder and former-owner Robert Albritton. ¹

One of the institute’s stated goals is to increase the sociopolitical diversity of political reporters. Albritton has expressed concerns over the number of “social-warrior believers” in modern newsrooms. ²

Background

The Albritton Journalism Institute was founded in 2023 by Robert Albritton, who founded the media company Politico in 2007 and owned it for 14 years before selling it to German media company Axel Springer SE in 2021 for $1 billion. ^{3 4}

Albritton founded AJI with a reported $20 million commitment to train future political journalists, in part because of his concern over the decreased opportunities for training in shrinking local newsrooms. ⁵

AJI has been described as a “new kind of journalism school,” and Albritton said that while he had considered partnering with an existing journalism school for the program, he was concerned that too many journalism school graduates were going into public relations instead of becoming reporters. ^{6 7}

The AJI’s staff and faculty includes former reporters, editors, and producers from media outlets including The Atlantic, Axios, BuzzFeed News, CNN, The Dispatch, The Hill, HuffPost, The Independent, MarketWatch, McClatchy, National Journal, NPR, Politico, Roll Call, Vanity Fair, Vice News, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. ⁸

AJI fellows, faculty, and staff produce News of the United States (NOTUS), a nonprofit political news website. ⁹ The site’s editor in chief, former Politico Pro editor in chief and Miami Herald publisher Tim Grieve, analogized NOTUS to a “teaching hospital” where doctors in training learn by working alongside more experienced professionals. ¹⁰

Ideological Diversity

AJI founder Robert Albritton has expressed concern over what he views as a lopsided ideological balance of political reporters in American newsrooms, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement. ¹¹ “There was definitely a kind of a woke kind of shift that took place within newsrooms,” he told the Washington Post. “I wouldn’t say it’s radical. It’s not. But there’s some social-warrior believers in there. I’m not sure they use their voices, but definitely believers. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s good to have an opinion. But it does make it a little harder to get to the truth if you’re coming in there with either a liberal bias or a conservative bias.” ¹²

To counteract this, Albritton has charged the Albritton Journalism Institute with finding fellows from diverse life experiences and ideological backgrounds, pointing to a graduate of a Christian college and a former U.S. Army artillery officer as members of the first class of fellows who would have been unlikely to find traction in Washington, D.C., newsrooms. ¹³

1. “Robert Allbritton Launches Non-Profit Educational Organization to Provide Practical Training for Aspiring Journalists.” Editor and Publisher, May 2, 2023. https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/robert-allbritton-launches-non-profit-educational-organization-to-provide-practical-training-for,243485.
2. Barr, Jeremy. “Robert Allbritton’s New Mission Is Creating More Journalists. Why?” The Washington Post, May 30, 2024. https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2024/05/30/robert-allbritton-notus-journalism/.
3. Tani, Max. “Allbritton Nonprofit Plans ‘news of the United States’ to Showcase Rising Talent.” Semafor, December 6, 2023. https://www.semafor.com/article/12/06/2023/allbritton-nonprofit-plans-news-of-the-united-states-to-showcase-rising-talent.
4. Benton, Joshua. “Politico Is Being Sold for More than $1 Billion; Here Are Some of the Smart Moves It Made to Get There.” Nieman Lab, August 26, 2021. https://www.niemanlab.org/2021/08/politico-is-being-sold-for-more-than-1-billion-here-are-some-of-the-smart-moves-it-made-to-get-there/.
5. Tani, Max. “Allbritton Nonprofit Plans ‘news of the United States’ to Showcase Rising Talent.” Semafor, December 6, 2023. https://www.semafor.com/article/12/06/2023/allbritton-nonprofit-plans-news-of-the-united-states-to-showcase-rising-talent.
6. Tameez, Hanaa’. “A New Fellowship, Backed by Robert Allbritton, Aims to Shake up the Capitol Hill Reporting Pipeline.” Nieman Lab, May 3, 2023. https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/05/a-new-fellowship-backed-by-robert-allbritton-aims-to-shake-up-the-capitol-hill-reporting-pipeline/.
7. Barr, Jeremy. “Robert Allbritton’s New Mission Is Creating More Journalists. Why?” The Washington Post, May 30, 2024. https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2024/05/30/robert-allbritton-notus-journalism/.
8. “Aji Staff.” Allbritton Journalism Institute. Accessed June 10, 2024. https://aji.org/about-us/.
9. “Notus.” NOTUS. Accessed June 10, 2024. https://www.notus.org/
10. Barr, Jeremy. “Robert Allbritton’s New Mission Is Creating More Journalists. Why?” The Washington Post, May 30, 2024. https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2024/05/30/robert-allbritton-notus-journalism/.
11. Barr, Jeremy. “Robert Allbritton’s New Mission Is Creating More Journalists. Why?” The Washington Post, May 30, 2024. https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2024/05/30/robert-allbritton-notus-journalism/.
12. Barr, Jeremy. “Robert Allbritton’s New Mission Is Creating More Journalists. Why?” The Washington Post, May 30, 2024. https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2024/05/30/robert-allbritton-notus-journalism/.
13. Barr, Jeremy. “Robert Allbritton’s New Mission Is Creating More Journalists. Why?” The Washington Post, May 30, 2024. https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2024/05/30/robert-allbritton-notus-journalism/.