NOTUS plans to rebrand and build “the next great Washington newsroom”

Another billionaire-backed news organization has announced ambitions to expand into the void created by The Washington Post’s layoffs.

NOTUS, a nonprofit newsroom backed by Politico founder Robert Allbritton that covers “government and politics with the fresh eyes of newcomers and the expertise of veterans,” is rebranding and doubling its staff, as first reported by Semafor’s Max Tani. In 2024, editor-in-chief Tim Grieve described NOTUS to then-Post reporter Jeremy Barr as “essentially like a teaching hospital for journalism” because it acts as a training ground for fellows at the Allbritton Journalism Institute, which Allbritton founded in 2023. (He is also NOTUS’ publisher.)

While other D.C. and D.C.-adjacent newsrooms have announced targeted efforts to expand local coverage, the NOTUS memo reported Monday by Tani outlines ambitions both local and national.

“The world of Washington journalism is in a moment of generational change,” Allbritton, Grieve, and CEO Arielle Elliott wrote in the memo. “We’re going to seize it by building the next great Washington newsroom — a team of reporters and editors who will cover government, politics, policy, local news and D.C. sports with the power of The Washington Post in the 1970s, the punch of Politico in the 2010s and the audience focus required to build a sustainable news organization in 2026.”

The memo positions the new NOTUS as “a publication that’s focused on both political Washington and local Washington.” It outlines plans to “nearly double” the NOTUS staff of around 50 by the end of 2026, and has already announced several high-profile hires, many of them former Post reporters.

List of the NOTUS’ recent top hires, from a staff memo today pic.twitter.com/XlRXmBftf4

— Jeremy Barr (@jeremymbarr) March 16, 2026

Beyond growing its teams covering national politics, the memo describes plans to expand coverage of the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department, and other federal agencies; add reporters who cover defense and national security, health care, energy and environmental issues; and add reporters who will cover local news “with a particular emphasis on the way politicians and other power players are shaping the District of Columbia.” The newsroom also plans to expand its new opinion section, Perspectives, adding columnists who will write about politics, policy, local issues, sports, and “other topics that matter to people who care about Washington.”

One area the expanded newsroom will not cover, per the memo, is the suburbs of the Washington, D.C. metro area. (Allbritton previously backed and shuttered the short-lived D.C. local news site TBD.)

The newsroom’s core audience will remain “members of Congress, Executive Branch leaders and others who have the power to shape the future of our country.” Allbritton told Barr, now at The Guardian, that the expanded outlet will cover “what the professional community of Washington is interested in,” focusing on the federal government and associated industries.

The name NOTUS, which stands for News of the United States, will soon change. Observers have noticed both the Washington Star and Washington Sun were recently trademarked; Allbritton told Barr he hopes to have “Washington” in the name. (Allbritton’s father owned the Washington Star, a former Post rival.)

The rebranded NOTUS plans to sustain its larger operation through a mix of government affairs sponsorships of various news products and subscription revenue “from a large local and national audience.”

NOTUS chief of staff Justin Peligri declined to share further details about the scope of the news outlet’s local coverage ambitions. Read the full memo here, and The Guardian’s reporting here.