The staff of the sports news outlet Deadspin staged a revolt on Tuesday against a mandate from management dictating that they only cover sports instead of politics, CNN Business reports.
After Paul Maidment, editorial director of Deadspin’s parent company G/O Media, issued a memo saying that Deadspin “will only write about sports and that which is relevant to sports in some way,” many staffers responded by submitting stories that had nothing to do with sports.
The policy led to the firing of both the editor-in-chief Megan Greenwell and the interim editor-in-chief Barry Petchesky. In response to the outburst and the firings, Maidment said in a statement that “Deadspin reporters and editors should go after every conceivable story, as long as it has something to do with sports,” adding that he was “sorry that some on the Deadspin staff don’t agree with that editorial direction and refuse to work within that incredibly broad mandate.”
G/O Media first took control of Deadspin and other media outlets in April, after being purchased from Univision by the private equity firm Great Hill Partners, resulting in a significant shift in management. G/O Media, formerly known as Gizmodo Media Group, was originally part of the portfolio that was owned by Gawker Media before Hulk Hogan’s $140 million lawsuit brought the company down.