I had to write a painful post yesterday announcing that my soon to be former employer, National Journal has decided to discontinue the blog I helped launch in October 2008.
Here’s the link and what I wrote:
In October 2008, National Journal supported my idea to create Under The Influence as a way for me and my colleagues to bolster our in-depth magazine work with daily news and analysis of the advocacy and lobbying community. Over the past two years, we built a following of thousands of readers and I am grateful for your support. Thank you to my colleagues Peter Stone, Julie Kosterlitz, Alexis Simendinger, Jim Barnes, Eliza Krigman, Eliza Newlin Carney, Amy Harder, Sara Jerome, Gregg Sangillo and editors Bob Gettlin, Randy Barrett, Lucas Grindley and Kevin Friedl for helping to make this blog so successful.
National Journal this summer is undergoing a restructuring as it implements a new digital strategy and merges newsrooms. As part of that plan, National Journal has decided it will not continue to support the Under the Influence blog or its online forum.
Thank you again to all of our readers and stay tuned. While I will be leaving the company on July 30, National Journal’s coverage of lobbying will continue but in a different format.