What do you mean? What? New York TimesA sports blog owned by a company told employees to ignore politics and focus on sports. This is true. Mediaite says that The Athletic staffers don’t seem to be taking the unexpected edict very well.
Mediaite’s Jackson Richman wrote, “Sports news website The Athletic reportedly gave its staff a message last week when it comes to expressing political views: Shut up and stick to sports.”
This is as unexpected as a Death Valley snowstorm. The New York Times bought The Athletic in January for $550million. Management noticed that the site was losing money first and began to worry about how sports journalists would be able to move into politics.
The Athletic, which was launched in 2016, grew quickly and was deemed to be the best sports news site. It’s clearly been struggling recently.
According to Front Office Sports, the Times’ investment hasn’t paid off so far. The Athletic lost $6.8 million in the first two months of this year.
A blogger for the site Defector, Laura Wagner, got the scoop on The Athletic’s crackdown on politics. She reported that The Athletic’s chief content officer, Paul Fichtenbaum, announced the edict. He stated:
“We don’t want to stop people from having a voice and raising their voice for appropriate issues. But there comes a point where something that is a straightforward, ‘Hey, I’m concerned about guns in America,’ for instance, right, that’s an apolitical statement. It becomes political when you say, ‘I’m concerned about guns in America and this political party is the reason why we’re having an issue,’ right? That’s when it tips over. So again, we don’t want to stop people from having a voice and expressing themselves. We just need to keep it from tipping over into the political space.”
The Athletic’s anonymous employee blasted Wagner for the proposed change and called it absurd.
“What about Black Lives Matter? Does that constitute a social cause or not? Writers will be asked about the protests of athletes. How about trans athletes? Where this policy gets you is that the people who care the most about a particular issue, the people who are most informed about a particular issue, are now the ones who are banned from covering the issue.”
No, they can write about these topics for news or commentary sources willing to give them a forum for their political opinions. The Athletic was rejected by the sports media market and management reacted with dismay.
Wagner says multiple staffers expressed negative opinions on the change to her. According to them, management has made it more difficult for them do their jobs. She unleashed an anti-GOP diatribe in her story, accusing reactionary Republicans of “constantly looking for new ways to expand their vicious attacks on the basic humanity of black people, transgender people, and women.” And now The Athletic can’t address these topics.
Staffers further told Wagner there have been four affinity groups at The Athletic—queer, black, female and mental health—who held quarterly meetings with management. The meetings are now over.
All indications point to The Athletic as being a safe haven for identity politics disguised as a blog about sports. It’s great to see management trying to re-direct the mission back to sports. This is a great example for other sports media.
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