Politico’s Ryan Lizza Apologizes to NYT’s Annie Karni After Publishing Info That Was Supposed to Be On Background

Sarah RumpfMar 25th, 2021, 11:05 am
 
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Screenshot via Politico on Facebook.

Politico Playbook, the site’s email newsletter, kicked off Thursday’s edition with a story about White House reporters’ predictions for President Joe Biden’s first press conference, scheduled for later in the day. The discussion included several quotes from The New York Times’ Annie Karni, who was identified as “one of the few brave souls to attach her name to her comments.”

One big problem: Karni had only given permission to print her comments, texted to Politico chief Washington correspondent Ryan Lizza, on background.

The relevant section from Thursday’s Playbook (emphasis in original):

Speaking of Karni, we reached out to about 20 White House reporters to get a sense of what’s on the press corps’ mind going into the event, and she was one of the few brave souls to attach her name to her comments.

“I think there are plenty of important topics we haven’t heard from him directly about,” Karni told Playbook. “Immigration and the border, how he feels about unity when Republicans are set on depriving him of any successes; real questions about how he gets anything else done without ending the filibuster; what kind of political capital is he willing to spend on gun control; even a better sense of his day to day.”

By this time in a new administration, there are some sore spots between the White House and the briefing room reporters. Karni gave this rundown of the relationship: “So far, I find the team responsive. We have registered our complaints about them providing people to us on background with quote approval, which they overuse.

“[But] overall, it’s definitely a more functional operation than it was in the previous administration. I don’t know if I’d call it a honeymoon, but there haven’t been any blowups since [TJ] Ducklo left.” She added, “This issue about the press being allowed to document HHS facilities at the border is their first real live test of transparency.”

Politico senior staff writer Michael Kruse tweeted a link to the post, and tagged Karni in it. She responded less than an hour later, “Oh wow – when you send [Lizza] stuff that you say is on background to be helpful it goes straight into playbook apparently.”

Lizza reached out to her privately and also posted a public apology, saying that it was his mistake. According to Lizza, Karni had “initially indicated she didn’t mind being on the record,” but when she sent her comments in a long text he had not scrolled to the top to see other texts “making it clear they were on background.”

“I’m very sorry,” tweeted Lizza.

Karni seemed to accept Lizza’s apology, tweeting that the incident had been “an honest miscommunication.”

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Sarah Rumpf - Contributing Editor

Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law&Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe. Follow Sarah on Threads, Twitter, and Bluesky.