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This is the political scene, and I'm David Remnick.

For This is the political scene, and I'm David Remnick. For Washington insiders and people in the media especially, Politico publishes some of the scoippiest and wonkiest reporting inside the Beltway.

It's not what you'd call a mass market publication, but it's a highly influential one,

and it's had some very big moments.

It was Politico, after all, that obtained Samuel Alito's draft opinion from the Supreme Court about the decision that ended Roe v. Wade.

Last year, the German news publisher Axel Springer bought Politico for a pretty startling sum,

a billion dollars. Springer is based in Berlin and owns the German tabloid build among other

properties. And it's led by CEO, Matthias Duffner. Duffner is famously contrarian, and he likes

to chide American media for pandering, he says, to increasingly

partisan audiences, even as he himself seems to relish taking provocative stances on some very

significant issues. I talk with Matthias Duffner recently.

So a very basic question to begin, the media business, as you know, better than anybody, is a very tough business these days. Why did you spend a billion dollars to buy Politico?

So for two main reasons. In general, I believe that journalism has a very bright future if we get some things right.

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