On Monday, the journalists at the website Deadspin were instructed by its owners to stick to sports. On Tuesday, the site’s interim editor in chief, Barry Petchesky, was fired for refusing to obey that order. On Wednesday many longtime staff members quit in protest, hurling Deadspin into chaos, reports The NYTimes.
At least eight Deadspin journalists announced their resignations on Twitter, casting doubt on the future of one of the most popular digital properties owned by G/O Media six months after a private equity firm bought the company for an undisclosed price.
Laura Wagner, a reporter, was among the six staff writers — out of 10 — who quit. In August, Ms. Wagner wrote a deeply reported and highly critical story for Deadspin on G/O Media and its chief executive, Jim Spanfeller.
Joining her in saying that they had resigned were Tom Ley, the features editor, and the staff writers Albert Burneko, Kelsey McKinney, Patrick Redford, Chris Thompson and Lauren Theisen.
“Firing Barry yesterday was a disgrace,” Ley said in a text message, “and the direction that management wants to take the site in is something I cannot get on board with.”
Deadspin started as a sports-centric site at Nick Denton’s Gawker Media in 2005. Its founding editor, Will Leitch, posted a tweet on Wednesday, when Deadspin became a trending topic on Twitter because of the sudden departures. “Deadspin Today, Deadspin Tomorrow, Deadspin Forever,” he wrote.
The site relied on the work of energetic and irreverent journalists who did not always confine themselves to the game stories and sports-commentary pieces typical of the sports sections and publications that came before them. They favored a conversational voice that played well online at a time when other outlets still abided by the decorum associated with the printed page.
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