A memo to WaPo: Next time you want to give credit to a paper for breaking a story, how about doing it in the first couple of graphs? How about doing it at all?

On Friday morning at 9:58 a.m., Paul Farhi wrote about the flap over Politico yanking a video on its “about” page because Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) office got its knickers in a twist about the potential lack of ethics involving a video of his staffer on a page where they’re selling Politico.

The story is well-written and cites Politico Chief Operating Officer Kim Kingsley. But why does it take Farhi eight flippin’ graphs to mention the story and publication that broke it in the first place, which was Roll Call on Thursday at 4:58 p.m.? He writes,

“Roll Call, a Politico competitor, reported Thursday that senate ethics rules prohibit senators and their staff from making endorsements. The publication reports Holmes said he didn’t realize that the video would be used as an ad. He received a written request for a video interview from Politico’s director of marketing, who said the video would be ‘a profile of you first — and how you use Politico second.’”

Farhi told FishbowlDC by email: “I was not aware that Roll Call had broken the story until I got your email (I’m assuming you’re correct, btw). I was first alerted to the story yesterday by a colleague, who didn’t mention where he’d seen or heard about it. I reported it out and filed something short about it late last night. I DID notice that Roll Call had done some fine reporting on this and credited them accordingly.”

Psst…Farhi! Google is your friend.

We also reached out to Roll Call‘s Meredith Shiner, who broke the story, for comment.

UPDATE: WaPo‘s Erik Wemple also writes about the Politico-McConnell debacle — because why shouldn’t two media reporters from the same publication delve into the same story? He cites Shiner by name five graphs into a pretty lengthy post.

Politico’s Manu Raju has been re-elected to serve on the Executive Committee of Periodical Correspondents. The committee is “one of four Congressional/Press Media Galleries that issue press credentials to bona fide correspondents.” Kim Kingsley, Executive Vice President and General Manager for Politico, emailed the staff on Wednesday, saying, “Gang, I’m delighted to announce that Manu Raju has been reelected to the Executive Committee of Periodical Correspondents. Manu has been representing reporters’ interests on Capitol Hill as a committee member for more than a year. He continues to prove why he is such an outstanding POLITICO — and we are very proud of his efforts. Please join me in congratulating Manu.”

When HuffPost‘s Michael Calderone left in Politico in March of 2010, no love was lost on either end. The whys of that are hard to decipher — he broke news and worked at a feverish pace as most reporters there do — but the fit was never a good one. Which may help explain his rollout of anti-Politico stories in recent months, the latest of which has Politico laying people off, even though the decisions appear to be nothing of the kind. In June of last year, Calderone wrote a lengthy insiders piece on his former employer. In it, he reported on the “stressful, hamster wheel” environment in which a “handful of reporters receive preferential treatment from company leadership, while the majority are left drifting in a far off galaxy.”

In his most recent story on Politico, Calderone reported that two people have been let go in recent days — Photo Editor Jay Westcott, who opted to go public with the news on Facebook and Twitter and Jess Kamen, a technology reporter. These things are usually quiet matters. But there’s nothing quiet about Westcott, who also went public last September about his split from his fiancé, Madeline Marshall, also a Politico employee, and told his Facebook pals about his heartbreak. After she changed her status to “single”, Westcott snapped, “I took that picture. Take it down.” Eventually he seemed to come to his senses when he wrote, “I am devastated. I have to get off Facebook.”

So two people were shown the door. As Politico’s Editor-in-Chief John Harris eventually told Calderone for his story, Publisher Robert Allbritton has given them the green light to expand and bring on 30 new hires in 2013 — does this sound like a season of layoffs? To be sure, the word “layoff” is a loaded one and HuffPost, a Politico competitor, was sure to use it in their headline. The word, like it or not, denotes a company that’s struggling. On Sunday, WaPo media writer Erik Wemple also questioned Calderone’s use of the word. “Here’s one instance in which terminology matters a great deal,’ he wrote. “‘Layoffs,’ after all, sends a signal that the organization is shrinking, unable to meet its budgets with current staffing levels. If that’s the case here, it’s a giant story…” If not, he added, it’s a “far less consequential story.”

But Politico, struggling? WaPo recently made big offers to Alexander Burns and Maggie Haberman. Both rejected them to stay.

In Wemple’s story we learn that Politicos such as Harris, Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, Haberman, Danielle Jones and Kim Kingsley have all signed multi-year contracts, crushing any impression that an exodus is underway. “He got played by bad sources because a few junior people left,” a media observer explained. “Politico has people come and go every week, so some variation of his dumb and naïve story could run most months.”

Asked to comment on whether he holds any ill will against his former employer and whether “layoffs” was a proper word to use, Calderone remarked to FishbowlDC… Read more

Politico brass has to be grinning ear to ear today as a new survey has them clobbering many other publications on Capitol Hill.

“POLITICO ranks No. 1 among Capitol Hill publications, both in print and online, in the latest Erdos & Morgan survey of congressional and executive branch opinion leaders,” a morning release from Politico states. “The survey, released Thursday, shows POLITICO ahead of Congressional Quarterly, The Hill, National Journal and Roll Call in terms of which publication these influentials read and visit the most.”

“Politico’s mission is to provide political and policy professionals the agenda-setting breaking news and smart, timely analysis they need to do their jobs,” said Chief Operating Officer Kim Kingsley. “Ranking so high in this well-respected survey proves that we’ve been successful in that mission.”

Politico Pro Editor-in-Chief Tim Grieve (voted in FBDC’s Summer Superlatives as having the biggest temper in D.C.) also gushed on the matter in a canned quote that really isn’t worth reading but we’ll give it to you anyway… Read more

Ever since his hot mic flub, it was a mystery where longtime Washington journo David Chalian would wind up. This morning the cat’s out of the bag: He’s headed to Politico to be their VP of Video Programming to guide their expanding video efforts.

Chalian is the former Yahoo! News’ Washington Bureau Chief. The company immediately fired him after an incident in August in which he made a racial joke against Mitt Romney at a news event and the mic picked it up. “They’re not concerned at all. They’re happy to have a party with black people drowning,” Chalian joked during an ABC News/Yahoo! News webcast.

See the internal memo from Executive Chief Operating Officer Kim Kingsley…

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Several reporters from Bloomberg, Reuters and Dow Jones have been spotted in the Politico newsroom in recent weeks, FishbowlDC has learned.

Here’s why: The NYT broke the story last night that Politico plans on expanding its subscription service Politico Pro in the coming months.

“This week, the news outlet is starting to hire 20 more reporters and editors to help increase its coverage on the economy and military,” the story said. “Politico is also adding 20 more employees to its business side.”

Politico Playbook also highlighted the news, including a memo from Editor-in-Chief John Harris, Executive Editor Jim VandeHei, and COO Kim Kingsley and Playbook’s author Mike Allen plugged the announcement in a segment on MSNBC’s Morning Joe today.

In case that wasn’t enough promoting on Politico and its sister TV station, MSNBC (hardy har), and in explanation of our blown up blowfish graphic, Politico‘s media reporter Dylan Byers also wrote up the story in a blog post and also included that internal memo explaining the changes:

“[Monday] morning, we’ll announce plans to launch POLITICO Pro Defense and POLITICO Pro Finance – a package of coverage that will include financial services and tax policy. To produce that coverage, we’ll be growing our newsroom dramatically – with more than two dozen new editorial positions and a similar number on the sales side.”

We’ve requested comment from Kingsley on the hiring numbers and will update if she responds.

HBO’s Game Change came to Washington last night, perhaps in more ways than one. Politicians, their aides and reporters came together last night at the Newseum for a star-studded evening to celebrate the now famed book by NY Mag’s John Heilemann and TIME‘s Mark Halperin. On hand was Julianne Moore, who plays former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and producer Tom Hanks.

Also dotted in the crowd were network stars like the inseparable Mika Brzezinksi and Joe Scarborough of MSNBC (pictured above). The pair mingled at the cocktail party. Once in their seats, they rose twice — once to say hello to Bloomberg’s Margaret Carlson and then a second time. Mika returned with little slices of bread, which she shared with Joe. Then 15 minutes into the movie, they bolted for the door.

Before the screening, reporters convened on the ground level for what turned out to be one of the sanest red carpets we’ve seen in a long time thanks to SKDKnickerbocker. Check-in was smooth and drama free. Reporters appeared to quietly get the interviews they needed and none of the cameramen were shoving or stressed out. Unlike some of these celeb events, the scene never turned into a brawl. Guests received fancy chocolate on the way out.

Halperin and Heilemann were the belles of the ball last night. Halperin explained that he and Heilemann were not close before writing the book. “We sure are now,” he said. ” We had never even written a shopping list together. Now we’re joined at the hip. We debate, but our general view of journalism is simpatico.” Asked who is his favorite star in the movie, he replied, “I love all our children equally.” Both men are tall, but Heilemann towers over everyone he encounters, especially Game Change scriptwriter Danny Strong. Halperin is dark-haired and talks in soundbites. Heilemann is bald and speaks off the cuff.  While in a press gaggle, Heilemann joked that he likes to rest drinks on Danny’s head.

The Hill‘s Managing Editor Bob Cusack got quite a jolt to see himself in the film as an extra — well, he’s 98 percent certain it’s him. He’s something of a professional extra (he was also in “Clear and Present Danger”). “I was sitting right behind Woody Harrelson as a bar patron,” he told FBDC. “Spent my life preparing myself for that half a second. I think I nailed the scene.”

Heilemann and Strong

Luke Russert

Spotted in the crowd…

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Fashion designer Tory Burch will host a special reception along with Elena Allbritton, a dermatologist and wife of Politico Publisher Robert Allbritton, CBS Chief White House Correspondent Norah O’Donnell and philanthropist Catherine Reynolds in the Tysons Galleria boutique this Thursday evening to benefit the Rebecca Project. The Rebecca Project is a human rights organization that aides vulnerable women and children in the U.S. and Africa.

This is Burch’s first visit to the boutique since it opened in May.

Other Washington media types likely to be eyeballed in the crowd: NBC “MTP” Executive Producer Betsy Fischer, Neera Tanden, Amy Baier (wife of FNC’s Bret Baier), Abeer Al-Otaiba, Margaret Spellings, Beth Dozoretz, Autumn VandeHei (wife of Politico‘s Jim VandeHei), Tracy Sefl, Marit Babin, Dina Powell, Anita Dunn, Tammy Haddad, Susanna Quinn, Amy Little Thomas, Debbie Dingell, Politico‘s Kim Kingsley, Gail Huff, Meryl Chertoff, CNN’s Jessica Yellin, Hilary Rosen, Jennifer Brown Tapper (wife of ABC’s Jake Tapper) and many more.