In recent days the owners of G/O Media have made it abundantly clear that they want nothing more than to make a quick buck. Here’s a great article if you want more info. They have decided that gutting one of the best most ferocious regroup of websites is the best way to do this. G/O Media which holds Deadspin, Jezebel, The Onion, Splinter (RIP), Lifehacker, and their sister sites, recently purchased the group of sites from Univision. The top brass, led by Jim Spanfeller, has made many changes to the sites, most of which the writers and editors for the sites have ridiculed and criticized. Most recently they shut down Splinter, a politics website, right before they 2020 election. They also mandated that Deadspin, a culture website with a sports focus, “stick to sports” despite that many of its most popular articles did not include a single thing about sports. The G/O Media heads also started running auto-play sound-on ads on the site which has made many long-time readers (including me) awfully annoyed. Needless to say, something’s gotta give.
All this is to say, I should run G/O Media. Or at least people should band together and help me buy out G/O Media. So I’ve started a GoFundMe. You can find it here. But why give? Let me tell you what I’ll do with the site when I get it.
One, I’ll give editorial control back to the sites. No more mandates from the owners that you need to “stick to sports” or whatever. All top editors will be promoted from within the sites or hired by a team picked from current writers/editors
Two, I’ll start back up Splinter. We need a left website covering politics. Obviously.
Three, I’ll start the process for turning G/O Media into an employee-owned website. The Union would be involved in this and shape what it would look like. But it’d be a priority.
Fourth, I’d cut the number of ads in half. And no more damn auto-replay videos. Jesus.
Why am I the best person for this? I’m not. But I damn sure know how to delegate.
So, if this sounds good to you? Donate. If just 60 million people donate one dollar? We’re in business! Like and Share. Tag G/O Media writers! This can be real!