A journalist first for L’Unità in Naples and then for La Repubblica starting in 1988, Polito was head of the on-line edition of La Repubblica and a correspondent from London.
In 2002 he left the newspaper to found and direct Il Riformista, a newspaper of the moderate left. A Senator for the Margherita party with the charge of secretary to the III permanent commission for foreign affairs and emigration of the Italian Senate, since 2007 Polito has been vice-president of the Italia USA Foundation.