Archive for November, 2019

By November 1, 2019, every writer and editor at Deadspin had quit.

If you haven’t heard the backstory, it reads like fiction: the Gawker Media website published a sex tape involving Hulk Hogan, who then partnered with billionaire Peter Thiel to sue the site (Thiel held a grudge against Gawker for outing him). Upon winning the suit, Gawker was forced into bankruptcy and Deadspin, one of its blog-sites that covered sports, was sold to Univision Communications, who later sold to a private-equity firm that created a new company called G/O Media Inc.  

G/O Media’s owners and management team did not integrate well with the existing staff. There were accusations of gender discrimination and writers and editors were baffled by their leader’s demands that weren’t in the best interest of readers or staff, or even the bottom line. When a beloved deputy editor was fired, the entire staff quit in protest.

I was shocked. Perhaps belonging to the GMG Union provided sufficient solidarity to band together. It’s much more common for peers in a toxic work environment to quit one-by-one, in a slow trickle, when each person either finally finds a new job or hits the limit of what they are willing to accept.

If you’re dealing with your own toxic workplace, don’t expect your peers to stand with you to the end. When people feel like their jobs are in jeopardy, they are more likely to focus on self-preservation. Instead, focus on making the best choices you can. For some, that might mean quitting as soon as their integrity is challenged. For others, it might mean putting their family’s need to stay housed and fed first – and then finding a better job.