Deadspin is hiring

Source: http://deadspin.com/5703793/deadspin-is-hiring

As some of you may have heard, there are big, scary changes happening all across the Gawker MEDIA network, including here. In the spirit of big, scary change, we hope to add some staff to the Deadspin masthead in 2011.

ALL OF THESE POSITIONS REQUIRE YOU TO LIVE IN THE NYC AREA SO YOU CAN WORK IN THE GAWKER OFFICE (SEEN ABOVE)

* A Video-Focused Blogger

This is pretty basic, but it does require knowledge of iMovie and what's going on in sports on a nightly basis in order to be highly effective. The person should also be familiar with Deadspin and why we do what we do, etc. This is a full-time position. The pay will be commensurate with experience, aka, 'how much is your rent per month?' I hope we can find a salary that makes us both happy.

* Senior Staff Writer

This is a difficult position to fill — the hardest, actually, because the ideal candidate needs multiple skills in order to be successful on this site. (Insert your dick joke/Favre penis/TMZ Sports scoffing here.) Plus, they'll have to deal with all my unpredictable quirks and masochistic editorial style. Just specialize in something: reporting, feature writing, or muckraking. This pay is quite good. Really good, if you don't have pesky student loans dragging you down. We're already focusing on two prospective candidates, but I've been advised to "see who else is out there" in case there's a genius on the loose.

* Interns Video or editorial are welcome. Preferably, this internship is for college credit. That would be rad. That way we can pay you in lunch from Parisi's and Chinese Fantastico visits and help mold your fragile eggshell minds.


REMEMBER, ALL OF THESE POSITIONS REQUIRE YOU TO LIVE IN THE NYC AREA

So there. The word is officially out.

Interested parties should email me at ajd@deadspin.com. Please don't take it personally if I don't respond right away. Have a good night.

Send an email to A.J. Daulerio, the author of this post, at ajd@deadspin.com.

 

No way in hell I would work for them

 

Why not? I'm genuinely curious.

I'm not chomping at the bit here to go work for Gawker, but it seems to me they provide endless opportunities to write whatever the hell you want, report as much — or as little — as you want. Sure, it can be crass, but hasn't some pretty quality stuff come out of Deadspin? They promote "stories that don't suck," is there any reason those stories in the future couldn't start on Deadspin? There are often good essays on the site. If you like breaking news, you have more readers already built into that site than most newspapers in the country.

It's intriguing because it seems stable, the pay allegedly is quite/really good, and has the potential to be damned fun. I can say all this, of course, with the blessing of a stable-for-now newspaper job. If I had recently been laid off, however, or was ready to make the jump from publications that still brand themselves with Olde English font, this would be very appealing.

So, again, Idaho... Why not?

 

Name one "quality" thing that has come out of Deadspin since Will Leitch left. Maybe Favre's dick is your definition of quality, but if you think that site is now or will ever again be a place for intelligent conversation, you obviously haven't been following it for the last few years. And Daulerio has repeatedly demonstrated his contempt for any behavior that could be described as ethical.

Add to that, Nick Denton is legendary for being difficult to work for.

Have fun.

 

Anytime Petchesky does one of those explanatory essay posts. The one on what the hell the NFL/American Needle Supreme Court ruling meant comes specifically to mind. Most thorough AND easiest to read explanation I found on that.

 

Anything Drew Magary writers. Then again, you're required to have at least the slight hint of a sense of humor to enjoy it or virtually anything on that site.

 

Tommy Craggs is a fine writer and thinker. Drew Magary is a gifted humorist, though not much to my taste. There's a lot to like there. And a great deal to dislike.

 

Agreed. Also, I very much enjoyed Pat Jordan's spring break series. Not sports, but fun. And you can't tell me the stuff Deadspin produces doesn't severely impact that which we "real" journalists cover.

 

Magary? Yeah, you have to be slightly racist to enjoy it.

 

I really didn't mean to ignite another "deadspin sucks/no it doesn't thread." I genuinely am curious how many people with professional journalism experience find this job appealing. I know I would under different circumstances. Does that make me wrong? It apparently makes me racist, which is wrong...

 

Craggs has written a ton of good stuff, he's one of the best sports essayists around. I love Magary, but I can see why some wouldn't dig his brand of humor. Great guest posts from guys like Fatsis and Nate Jackson. Lot of good stuff there. And rip of them for the way they went about the favre stuff, but it's obviously a real story.

 

To put it in terms of this being the jobs board, and Idaho's declaration that he'd never work there:

You would be working for a guy who has peeked over people's shoulders to read text messages, who has gone public with details he wasn't necessarily authorized to share (the Sterger case is such a mess that who knows what to believe), who attempt to out an NFL player, who used to post something at the end of each week with the essential quality of "who gives a fuck if this is true but you will get a laugh and it will embarrass somebody," and who generally behaves in an intenionally outlandish manner. For all of this he receives handsome financial reward from a boss who is one of the lowest bloodsuckers in the industry.

If you are a prospective employee, you have to assume you will at one point be forced to choose between your ethics and your job.