Wow this sounds nuts.
Lots more at the link.
Lots more at the link.
Deadspin's editor in chief has left the company, saying the new leadership of parent company G/O Media have made it "impossible" for her to continue working there.
"I have been repeatedly undermined, lied to, and gaslit in my job," Megan Greenwell said in a brief phone call with The Daily Beast on Friday.
G/O Media was formed earlier this year when Gizmodo Media Group, the former Gawker Media company that included sites including Deadspin, Gizmodo, and Jezebel, among others, was purchased from Univision by private equity firm Great Hill. As The Daily Beast previously reported, G/O's new leadership have occasionally clashed with some of the company's famously independent and outspoken editorial staff.
Greenwell said Friday that she feels "heartbroken" about leaving and that, while she does not want to be seen as a victim, recent decisions by company brass left her with few options.
Among the many grievances, Greenwell said, G/O leadership refused to guarantee editorial independence for Deadspin and asked for the site to "stick to sports"—a long-running source of frustration for a staff that also covers media, politics, and culture beyond sports.
Also contributing to Greenwell's exit was an email CEO Jim Spanfeller sent in July to the entire staff criticizing a then-impending story, published earlier this month by Deadspin, highlighting how new leadership has operated since taking charge.
In the email, Spanfeller said he was "greatly concerned about the objectivity and core intentions of this piece," and questioned the editorial standards of Deadspin's editors. The CEO alleged that the piece was pre-written with its conclusions and that any responses he may have would be "mere window dressing." While he did not specifically name any individuals, Spanfeller singled out both the Deadspin reporter and editor-in-chief.
"I'm making the gamble that Deadspin will be better off once the team leader is someone the leader of the company wouldn't feel the need to smear in front of 400 people," Greenwell said.
Greenwell said that, following the report's publication, she was repeatedly asked to "commit to G/O and its management." When she inquired as to what that entailed, Greenwell said, she was never given a direct answer, nor would the company guarantee she and her team would not be punished for its reporting on company brass.
Greenwell's departure comes as the network of former Gawker websites undergo cultural changes at the behest of G/O leadership. On Thursday, for example, the company released a draft of a new staff handbook with stricter new rules, alarming some staff members. It's unclear whether the handbook contradicts the company's existing editorial union contract.
The G/O handbook declares that the company can search employees' "personal vehicles, parcels, purses, handbags, backpacks, briefcases, lunch boxes," review all electronic communications made on company property, and disclose those messages to others if the company deems it appropriate. The new rules also strangely allow the company to access reporters' "tweets" and bars employees from using encrypted email programs—a common tool journalists often use to protect highly confidential sources.
Perhaps most bizarrely, the handbook also establishes an attendance policy and a dress code. Employees must arrive between 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., according to the handbook, and are required to wear "smart casual" attire. "Offensive" logos or "sweatpants, exercise pants, Bermuda shorts, short shorts, biker shorts, Mini-skirts, beach dresses, midriff tops, and halter tops" are all banned.
