Deadspin editor quits, blasts G/O management

Thank you for linking that Times article. It was good to read something about this event that wasn't a series of tweets. Much better context.

 

Just read Magary's goodbye....which I enjoyed. One part stuck out to me the most, though.

"I have had five-and-a-half EICs in my time here. All six of those people shielded me from the bureaucratic and political horseshit that typically engulfs any media company, this one included. The last one and her hubby helped convince ER doctors that I was in mortal danger when those doctors didn’t think my life was in any danger at all. Her replacement kept us protected from all the garbage cascading down from the Great Hill front office until, at long last, none of us could keep at it bay.

I swear to god, if you knew the OCEAN of bullshit that these people—along with deputy editors, union reps, the astonishing Victor, and the art and video departments—had to hold back every day so that the rest of us could do what we did, and so that this place wouldn’t become stupefied in a way its detractors would just ADORE (but not enough to entice them to actually come read it), you’d buy them endless rounds. You know a bit about that right now, but not nearly all of it. Thanks to those aforementioned guardian angels, Deadspin remained Deadspin far longer than many of us thought it could."
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When I was younger, one thing my father drilled into me was, "You have to accept responsibility for your actions." I accept we're all different; not everyone feels the same about everything. But I really get upset when someone else gets into trouble for something I do, or I see someone get thrown under the bus for something someone else did. One of the biggest fights I ever got into at a workplace was for blasting someone who let another individual get in trouble for a mistake that was the responsibility of the first person.

It bothers me a lot. When I screwed up the swim race, one of the reporters who interviewed me told me that another broadcaster he spoke to wondered where the producers were. It was a 22-second mistake, and the broadcaster felt the producers failed me in that situation. I told the reporter we weren't going there, and that when you do the job I do, you accept that your mistakes happen in public. You eat them.

One of the Executive Producers I work for told me once that "I'm paid to take this shit." Yeah, I get that to some degree, but people get fired for backing the wrong horse. There's a limit.

I appreciate Magary taking pains to recognize that. I hope the other reporters do, too. A lot of people took bullets for them. They were lucky, because it happens less and less.