Dafna Linzer Named Executive Editor Of Politico

Dafna Linzer, who has most recently been managing editor for politics at NBC News and MSNBC, has joined Politico as executive editor.

Matt Kaminski, Politico’s editor in chief, announced in a staff memo on Wednesday that Linzer would be joining the media outlet, starting on April 25.

“Following a national search, Dafna emerged as an ideal candidate to join the editorial leadership team in this essential role,” he wrote. “Dafna’s mandate is to ensure that our journalism is best in class and ambitious, and that we have the talent here to deliver on that promise to our readers.”

Linzer previously served as senior investigative reporter at Pro Publica, and previously worked for The Associated Press and The Washington Post.

“As I’ve gotten to know her well, I’ve been struck by many things about Dafna,” Kaminski wrote. “Her passion for the story and for her teams. Her sharp intellect and commitment to editorial greatness. Her competitive drive. Her sense of humor. And not least her keen eye for talent — and for championing it.”

Politico was acquired last August by German publishing giant Axel Springer.

Kaminski’s complete memo is below:

Team,

I’m delighted to share some exciting news today: Dafna Linzer will be joining POLITICO as Executive Editor.

Over the past months, we’ve talked to many of you about the publication’s current and future ambitions. Drawing on those conversations, we’ve looked broadly for people who will help us achieve them. Dafna’s appointment is one of the critical steps we are taking this spring to position POLITICO for a great new era.

Following a national search, Dafna emerged as an ideal candidate to join the editorial leadership team in this essential role. Dafna’s mandate is to ensure that our journalism is best in class and ambitious, and that we have the talent here to deliver on that promise to our readers.

Working closely with me and other editors, Dafna will steer our daily report across the newsroom. I’ve also asked her to oversee the news, Washington and politics, states and enterprise teams. She’ll help all of us recruit aggressively, and be an indispensable partner to our colleagues on the business side.

Dafna brings an unusually broad range of experience and record of achievement to POLITICO. She has worked in print, digital and television. She knows the political and Washington story as well as anyone, but has also excelled as a foreign correspondent and investigative reporter. She’s succeeded at every professional stop — most recently at NBC News and MSNBC as Managing Editor for politics. There, she built great teams and led the network’s coverage for campaign reporting (including two presidential cycles), political enterprise and political investigative teams, White House and Capitol Hill original reporting. Prior to that, Dafna was the first senior investigative reporter hired at Pro Publica, where she wrote about criminal justice reform, race disparities, and human rights law. Before that, she was a must-read as a national security correspondent at the Washington Post.

As I’ve gotten to know her well, I’ve been struck by many things about Dafna. Her passion for the story and for her teams. Her sharp intellect and commitment to editorial greatness. Her competitive drive. Her sense of humor. And not least her keen eye for talent — and for championing it. These impressions have been repeatedly reinforced by Dafna’s dazzling testimonials, especially from people who have been her reporters and described the devotion and loyalty she engendered from them and the tenacity with which she pushed them to greater journalistic heights. She is a leader who will push us day in and day out to be the very best at what we do.

Dafna grew up in Canada and became a U.S. citizen in 2011. By then, she had been a foreign correspondent for The Associated Press in Jerusalem and at The United Nations before joining the Washington Post and moving to other career stops. She is currently a spring fellow at the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service.

She and her spouse, the journalist Barton Gellman, live in New York and have four kids. She’ll be starting at our office in Washington April 25 and reporting to me. We could not be more excited to welcome her to POLITICO. You’ll all have a chance to meet her shortly.

Matt