The Death of Deadspin: A Eulogy for Independent Journalism
My career choice happened when I was 7. I wanted to be a reporter, not just a writer but a specific type.I started in high school and thought I had an avenue to career success and for a time it was one, then family commitments and responsibility and industry changes derailed me.
Anyway, I'm still a reporter in my heart and have a real thin skin about the industry receiving criticism and abuse from people who have no idea how it works, what it takes and the dissolution of it independent journalism.
Yesterday Deadspin died because of the dissolution, great voices and ideas ended, because the private equity firm Great Hill Partners that owns the former Gawker sites fired the top editors, demanded Deadspin to, "Stick To Sports". So all the editorial staff quit. This is about 10 days after Great Hill killed outright the Splinter site that focused on politics.
Deadspin was my favorite sports site because it wasn't a corporate voice like ESPN that just repeated the same nonsense narrative the leagues wanted them too. The problem with ESPN, CBS, FOX is that is all they do, tell you exactly what owners want you to hear, as news. Deadspin didn't do that, they supported the athletes, they supported the cities and fans, they joked, they were irreverent and bodies like the NFL and MLB can't have that, we must be reverent to them because that means you're reverent to America.
Sports though cannot be separated from politics and culture and to think they can is simply stupid. Race issues are obvious, LatinX issues too. Labor issues are at the core of sports. Misogyny, sexism, violence against women, all of this is interwoven into sports. Deadspin knew this and writers there understood that. They also understood that there is nothing in sports we should consider hands-off, or that is to be held in reverence.
Deadspin exists in name now but not in spirit, Gizmodo is in the line of fire already because Great Hill has no idea what kind of site it is, and soon The Root and Jezabel will probably be decimated because either the editorial staff sees the writing on the wall or Great Hill just kills them like they did Splinter, because there "Isn't significant traffic to pay for the staffing and production" when the real reason is their independence and that equals provocative in the corporatist’s eyes
Independent journalism is dying, not because reporters and outlets have some bias and don't report "just the facts/news" but because it has never been a hugely profitable industry and people just don't care where they get news, as long as it fits their own bias.
Sad days
🖖Peace
