The federal government continues adding contracts with Virginia-based media giant Politico and over the last four years has spent seventeen times more than when it first started acquiring contracts, according to a Weekly Standard report.

When Politico launched its "Pro" subscription service in 2011, the feds purchased several contracts worth $41,900. By 2014, the spending ballooned to $431,800 with 28 contracts across 16 departments. But as of fiscal year 2015, the previous year's amount nearly doubled to $710,044. 

The largest single agreement was purchased by the Department of Energy for $70,540, the report notes. But the grand prize goes to the Department of Health and Human Services, whose multiple agreements secured over $144,000 in Politico Pro licenses.

Contrast this with the Washington Post which dropped so much in the same time period that they actually owe the government a credit of over $3,000. It was nearly the same drop in contracts for The New York Times, all the way down to zero for the last three fiscal years.

What is Politico Pro? According to the website:

POLITICO Pro provides the most distinct coverage of Washington and beyond, and thousands of politics and policy professionals depend on us each day to do their jobs.

With a team of more than 100 accomplished journalists, we deliver Pro subscribers game-changing developments and exclusive insights in the following coverage areas: Agriculture, Campaigns, Cybersecurity, Defense, Education, eHealth, Energy, Financial Services, Health Care, Labor & Employment, Technology, Trade, Transportation, Tax.

The Weekly Standard report quotes Politico's Brad Dayspring, who assured there is no conflict of interest for them reporting on the federal agencies that also happen to be clients:

"Our editorial staff pursues news stories completely independent of the sales process — there is no interaction between the business team executing sales of the Pro service and the editorial teams gathering the news."

Nothing to see here, move along.