The NYT and The Athletic

I'm beginning to think The Athletic doesn't know what the fuck it's doing.

 

I thought when the NYT bought The Athletic and did some layoffs over the summer there was something about more regional writers instead of on one team per say.

 

“You don’t have to chase breaking news… until you do.”

 

This tracks. If you go through their roster you’ll see more writers shifting from beats to regions or sport-specific GA writers. Think that trend will continue as more original staffers are replaced.

 

When was that?

 

What are your thoughts on DNVR (if any), @MileHigh?

 

That made my eyebrows rise.

 

I think they're good at what they do. DNVR is not a journalism outlet, but doesn't masquerade as one, either, and that's something that I think sets them apart from sites that may be categorized similarly. They're homers working beats, and while the site and social content is definitely not Barstool (and I mean that in a good way), a lot of how the staff carries themselves on social is very Barstool-esque. They mostly so commentary and analysis, and not breaking news. They're all about trying to be entertaining while trying to add some beat expertise to it because they're credentialed and most of their staff genuinely knows the ins and outs of the teams they cover. They've also done a good job of pushing hard into branding and were at the forefront of NIL once it started.

I have friends who work there, and I admit that I don't like everything they do. But it has a strong audience that's growing, and that's all that really matters for it as a business. I know nothing about Brandon Spano personally outside of reading the occasional Twitter spat, but I have a lot of respect for the way he has been able to grow that place as a media org.

 

I just realized the World Series pits a team whose beat writer The Athletic laid off this season (D-Backs) against a team whose beat writer was re-assigned to morning newsletter duties this season (Rangers). LOL. Great job, great effort, Athletic/Times.

 

Looks like Stephens is covering the Coyotes, too. That's four teams. He is one ahead of Staples in NY.

Knoll (from L.A.) wrote a preview of the Ducks-Bruins game because new Ducks coach Greg Cronin is from Boston. In his story, he mentioned the Ducks' previous game in Columbus and wrote that there were no out-of-town media there to ask about Trevor Zegras being benched in the third period and OT.