This reporting is featured in this week’s edition of Confider, the newsletter pulling back the curtain on the media. Subscribe here and send your questions, tips, and complaints here.
The top editor at one of G/O Media’s most famous properties has quit, Confider has learned, as staffers say CEO Jim Spanfeller has become unhinged and impossible to work for.
Jezebel editor-in-chief Laura Bassett resigned from her post on Friday, becoming the seventh EIC in a portfolio of ten sites to quit G/O over the last eight months—the second EIC in as many weeks.
ADVERTISEMENT
She was absolutely unsparing towards management in her resignation note, which was obtained and reviewed by Confider. “If I’m not allowed to replace my deputy editor, give any of my writers raises or promotions ever for the great work they do, or fill any of the half dozen open writer slots I’ve had for a year, it’s clear that any pathway for growth I had here has been deliberately cut off and that I’ve done all I can do to make this site what it could be given reasonable resources,” she wrote.
Bassett took over Jezebel in September 2021 and now joins a running list of G/O EICs to have bailed: Eric Barrow, who exited as EIC of Deadspin in December; Vanessa K. De Luca, who left as EIC of The Root in April; Bob Sorokanich, who left as EIC of Jalopnik that same month; Zach Seward, who quit as EIC of Quartz in May; and Patricia Hernandez, who exited as EIC of Kotaku just last week.
It all comes as Spanfeller, whom many current and former employees derisively refer to as a “herb,”pushes ahead with an expanded use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom and has introduced a “scorecard” to mark staff performance. Under this system, people familiar with the matter told Confider, writers and editors are assigned points value based on an algorithm that Spanfeller concocted, which is 25 percent based on output, 50 percent based on traffic generated, and 25 percent on engagement.
The scorecard, which has been strenuously objected to by staffers, ultimately dings feature and investigative writers who don’t produce as much content as someone covering breaking news or churning out slideshows.
Like what you’re reading? Subscribe to the Confider newsletter here and have The Daily Beast media team’s stellar reporting sent straight to your inbox every Monday night.
Spanfeller, who insiders claim is obsessed with the number of articles each site publishes in a day, grills editors at a weekly traffic meeting about their respective site’s performance. “He is too focused on small details of headlines and when an article went up to understand an online news site,” one G/O staffer told Confider.
Making matters worse for morale: Spanfeller hired his daughter to a sales position and then promoted her within a year, according to two people familiar with the matter, all while continuing to block internal promotions.
The bigger mystery, however, as staffers told Confider, is what G/O’s ownership at private equity firm Great Hill Partners plans to do with all of this. “They are not going to get the valuation they planned for,” one insider told Confider. “The media market has collapsed in the time they’ve had this asset.”
A spokesperson for G/O Media emailed Confider about the EIC exodus: “When there is a change in editorial management there is frequently some turnover in the senior editorial ranks. We couldn’t be happier with the new EICs of our sites and the overall editorial direction of G/O Media.” And regarding the use of AI, the spokesperson continued: “We see AI as a supplement to our editorial workflow, not a replacement. We do not plan on laying off editorial staff due to AI activities.” And on Spanfeller’s scorecards, the spox added: “These performance metrics are consistent with metrics used by other digital media companies. G/O Media is committed to long form journalism across all of our portfolio of sites.”
A spokesperson for Great Hill Partners did not respond to a request for comment.
Subscribe to the Confider newsletter here and have The Daily Beast media team’s stellar reporting sent straight to your inbox every Monday night.
