New York Observer plans network of 50 state political websites

Politicker

– Inside Politics for Political Insider – has been started by Jared Kushner, the publisher of The New York Observer

. At present they’ve got about a dozen sites up, includings PoliticsNJ.com, (Now PolitickerNJ.com ) which was acquired, rather than being built by the Observer group. To the extent that it creates more detailed coverage of statehouses – and perhaps some competition to provide richer news streams, and more transparency, this could be a very good thing. The plan seems to be to use two or three full-timers in each state, and a much larger number of “editors” – who will come from the ranks of political insiders. Perhaps if the recruitment is sufficiently heterogeneous, biases will be overcome or at least clearly stated. Since New York isn’t one of the states that’s up yet, it’s difficult for us to judge – but the New Jersey site looks pretty good.