Strike! against Gizmodo Media
March 1, 2022 10:17 AM Subscribe
The Writer’s Guild East has announced a strike of all Gizmodo media sites, including The Root, Jezebel, LifeHacker, Kotaku, Jalopnik and Gawker.
Workers are asking Gizmodo Media to “maintain its cap on healthcare costs and add WPATH-compliant Trans-inclusive health coverage, maintain parental leave, and secure guaranteed minimum wage increases.” The picket is both physical and digital, and organizers are calling the effort “ the first digital media shop to go on an open-ended strike for a fair contract.”
Gizmodo’s been having notable troubles lately, with 15 out of 16 writers at The Root quitting in less than a year (Previously) and Gawker itself dramatically imploding. (Previously)
(Also this is my first Metafilter post, in an effort to contribute to the site more, so be easy on the kid, yeah?)
Workers are asking Gizmodo Media to “maintain its cap on healthcare costs and add WPATH-compliant Trans-inclusive health coverage, maintain parental leave, and secure guaranteed minimum wage increases.” The picket is both physical and digital, and organizers are calling the effort “ the first digital media shop to go on an open-ended strike for a fair contract.”
Gizmodo’s been having notable troubles lately, with 15 out of 16 writers at The Root quitting in less than a year (Previously) and Gawker itself dramatically imploding. (Previously)
(Also this is my first Metafilter post, in an effort to contribute to the site more, so be easy on the kid, yeah?)
Solidarity! Thanks.
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 10:30 AM on March 1, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 10:30 AM on March 1, 2022 [7 favorites]
So it's like one writer going on strike at The Root?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:35 AM on March 1, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:35 AM on March 1, 2022 [9 favorites]
The Writer’s Guild East has announced a strike of all Gizmodo media sites, including The Root, Jezebel, LifeHacker, Kotaku, Jalopnik and Gawker.
Gawker is not part of G/O Media, Bustle owns it.
posted by Fidel Cashflow at 10:40 AM on March 1, 2022 [7 favorites]
Gawker is not part of G/O Media, Bustle owns it.
posted by Fidel Cashflow at 10:40 AM on March 1, 2022 [7 favorites]
Good! Good. Good on you strikers, and good on the post.
posted by lauranesson at 10:41 AM on March 1, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by lauranesson at 10:41 AM on March 1, 2022 [8 favorites]
man, the continuous slow demolition of what used to be basically the network of Every Website I Read Daily has been really something. solidarity and support to all; I hope that however this shakes out, all of these writers end up with better homes for their work and more competent leadership in the near future.
posted by Kybard at 10:41 AM on March 1, 2022 [34 favorites]
posted by Kybard at 10:41 AM on March 1, 2022 [34 favorites]
Gah, I miss Jalopnik being good so, so badly.
Solidarity and strength to the strikers.
posted by 1adam12 at 11:11 AM on March 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
Solidarity and strength to the strikers.
posted by 1adam12 at 11:11 AM on March 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
After the linked discussion of The Root last month I switched to reading The Grio and have been enjoying it. Several of the writers from The Root moved there.
posted by Nelson at 11:14 AM on March 1, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by Nelson at 11:14 AM on March 1, 2022 [7 favorites]
Is the AV Club not part of the GMG Union? I don't understand. They're a part of G/O Media and they've been disproportionately affected by the forced relocation policy. What the story here?
posted by Ian A.T. at 11:19 AM on March 1, 2022
posted by Ian A.T. at 11:19 AM on March 1, 2022
I’ve deleted all the G/O feeds from my RSS reader for now, but I think AV Club is going to have to be a permanent deletion after that crap they pulled.
posted by ejs at 11:26 AM on March 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by ejs at 11:26 AM on March 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
The writers at The AV Club are(/were? today is their last day at AVC) members of The Onion Union. Here's the Twitter thread where their situation was first made public.
posted by tomorrowromance at 11:27 AM on March 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by tomorrowromance at 11:27 AM on March 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
Is the AV Club not part of the GMG Union?
No, The Onion has it's own union, The Onion Union, that also covers Deadspin, The Takeout, the AV Club and a few others.
posted by Fidel Cashflow at 11:28 AM on March 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
No, The Onion has it's own union, The Onion Union, that also covers Deadspin, The Takeout, the AV Club and a few others.
posted by Fidel Cashflow at 11:28 AM on March 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
Correction to my previous comment: Today is the last day for four of the seven AV Club staffers forced out by G/O Media's bullshit. William Hughes breaks down what the site is losing with these folks today on Twitter.
posted by tomorrowromance at 12:02 PM on March 1, 2022
posted by tomorrowromance at 12:02 PM on March 1, 2022
Some of the writers from Jalopnik are starting a new site, Autopian.
posted by Eddie Mars at 12:25 PM on March 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Eddie Mars at 12:25 PM on March 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
Much like ejs, I deleted the whole of the G/O Media Empire from my RSS reader about a week ago.
As Nelson mentioned, theGrio replaced The Root, with some supplemental help from The Undefeated (which rebranded today as Andscape)
Jalopnik has been supplanted by AutoBlog and The Drive (and coming soon, the Autopian) (also, Ms. Streeter, if you read this, please get out, you're far too good for your surroundings)
Deadspin got replaced by Defector long long long ago.
Jez was never my speed once Tracie left forever ago, so I haven't really sought out a replacement.
Lifehacker and Gizmodo, I've replaced them with other lifehack and tech blogs, namely The Verge.
Kotaku has been switched over to VGC and Polygon, although I may peek back in there from time to time to see about how BAshcraft is doing.
Solidarity.
posted by deezil at 12:35 PM on March 1, 2022 [16 favorites]
As Nelson mentioned, theGrio replaced The Root, with some supplemental help from The Undefeated (which rebranded today as Andscape)
Jalopnik has been supplanted by AutoBlog and The Drive (and coming soon, the Autopian) (also, Ms. Streeter, if you read this, please get out, you're far too good for your surroundings)
Deadspin got replaced by Defector long long long ago.
Jez was never my speed once Tracie left forever ago, so I haven't really sought out a replacement.
Lifehacker and Gizmodo, I've replaced them with other lifehack and tech blogs, namely The Verge.
Kotaku has been switched over to VGC and Polygon, although I may peek back in there from time to time to see about how BAshcraft is doing.
Solidarity.
posted by deezil at 12:35 PM on March 1, 2022 [16 favorites]
Aw, this is a bummer! (Not the strike but the conditions that led to a strike.) G/O media tends to be where I spend idle internet time--probably too much, tbh--and good TV recaps are sparse these days. I sometimes read Vulture recaps but their tone is a little more pop culture saturation than I can relate to.
posted by Kitteh at 1:23 PM on March 1, 2022
posted by Kitteh at 1:23 PM on March 1, 2022
One of my friends is part of this strike! The GMG Union covers workers at Gizmodo, Jalopnik, Jezebel, Kotaku, Lifehacker, and The Root, so they are asking people not to click on—or contribute content to—those sites until they win a fair contract. And, yes, there is a strike fund.
posted by icebergs at 1:38 PM on March 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by icebergs at 1:38 PM on March 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
No mention of Vichy Deadspin?
posted by hwyengr at 1:58 PM on March 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by hwyengr at 1:58 PM on March 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
Unsubscribed from the lot of 'em. Thanks for posting to let us all know.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 2:06 PM on March 1, 2022
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 2:06 PM on March 1, 2022
I'd appreciate recs to replace IO9 and AVClub
posted by Ber at 2:11 PM on March 1, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by Ber at 2:11 PM on March 1, 2022 [8 favorites]
I have a very strong hunch that this is a deliberately provoked strike.
All these sites are part of what I think of as core left-wing media, but they’ve recently been purchased by forces of the right.
And we are at a critical moment in the US, a moment which will determine whether the right takes over, allies itself with Putin, neofascists in Eastern Europe and Latin America, the Saudi faction in the Middle East, and does everything it can to accelerate and worsen the emerging catastrophe of Global Warming.
It’s in the interests of all those forces to silence these writers, and I hope they will do all they can to find other forums as the strike continues.
posted by jamjam at 2:18 PM on March 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
All these sites are part of what I think of as core left-wing media, but they’ve recently been purchased by forces of the right.
And we are at a critical moment in the US, a moment which will determine whether the right takes over, allies itself with Putin, neofascists in Eastern Europe and Latin America, the Saudi faction in the Middle East, and does everything it can to accelerate and worsen the emerging catastrophe of Global Warming.
It’s in the interests of all those forces to silence these writers, and I hope they will do all they can to find other forums as the strike continues.
posted by jamjam at 2:18 PM on March 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
Yeah... I fully support this but I'm worried it won't be effective. The management there is real trash and is more likely to let them strike all the way to the door, then replace them with randos who don't mind taking a dirty check for as long as the sites last afterwards.
I've loved a lot of these sites and people and it's sad seeing them so cruelly mismanaged but unfortunately it feels like the snowball has grown beyond the size where a strike could stop it.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 2:44 PM on March 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
I've loved a lot of these sites and people and it's sad seeing them so cruelly mismanaged but unfortunately it feels like the snowball has grown beyond the size where a strike could stop it.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 2:44 PM on March 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
I bought a Defector membership when it first launched and I couldn't be happier with it. While I'm not a giant sports fan, the level and quality of writing there is excellent, and as with a lot of the old Gawker-adjacent sites, they write about a lot more than just sports.
posted by idiotking at 2:55 PM on March 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by idiotking at 2:55 PM on March 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
I too would like some more recs for replacement sites, including Jezebel, io9, and AV Club! It goes without saying that they need to be sites that call out toxic fandom rather than catering to it.
posted by ejs at 3:53 PM on March 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by ejs at 3:53 PM on March 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
I continue to read The Mary Sue, and although I won't call all their content sophisticated, they are at least pretty progressive in terms of race and gender.
posted by suelac at 4:11 PM on March 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by suelac at 4:11 PM on March 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
All these sites are part of what I think of as core left-wing media, but they’ve recently been purchased by forces of the right.
It was pretty clear when they shut down Splinter with no explanation shortly after purchasing GMG that this is the new tactic. It's much more subtle than a big showy trial bankrolled by a billionaire. That got too much attention, too many people talking about how it was a bad sign for freedom of the press. Instead, buy out the sites doing journalism. Purchase the newspaper that's pushing too far. Gut them, fire the writers, replace the work they did with pap.
I wish the GMG Union the best, but I don't think they'll win this one. I hope they manage to find something out there, but the web is filled with excellent writers all trying to find work in a field they've worked their whole lives to break into. Like a lot of other things, I don't know how this ever ends up working out for the better. There are always people saying "they should start up a Defector thing" without understanding just how much work went into it, or how much of a unicorn Defector is. I enjoy the site, and I'm happy to keep subscribing, but I'm already worried about their long term sustainability. Yes, they had a massive initial subscriber base, but over time, not everyone renews, and then where do you keep your growth coming in? They don't have the Ringers' deal kind of funding (or, thankfully, any of the strings that come with it), but where do they keep the cash coming in from?
Anyway, I finally deleted all G/O bookmarks today. I've been reading since the beginning of the Gawker network, and it's been a long, slow death. I miss that era, but now it's just another era that's gone that I wish wasn't.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:25 PM on March 1, 2022 [6 favorites]
It was pretty clear when they shut down Splinter with no explanation shortly after purchasing GMG that this is the new tactic. It's much more subtle than a big showy trial bankrolled by a billionaire. That got too much attention, too many people talking about how it was a bad sign for freedom of the press. Instead, buy out the sites doing journalism. Purchase the newspaper that's pushing too far. Gut them, fire the writers, replace the work they did with pap.
I wish the GMG Union the best, but I don't think they'll win this one. I hope they manage to find something out there, but the web is filled with excellent writers all trying to find work in a field they've worked their whole lives to break into. Like a lot of other things, I don't know how this ever ends up working out for the better. There are always people saying "they should start up a Defector thing" without understanding just how much work went into it, or how much of a unicorn Defector is. I enjoy the site, and I'm happy to keep subscribing, but I'm already worried about their long term sustainability. Yes, they had a massive initial subscriber base, but over time, not everyone renews, and then where do you keep your growth coming in? They don't have the Ringers' deal kind of funding (or, thankfully, any of the strings that come with it), but where do they keep the cash coming in from?
Anyway, I finally deleted all G/O bookmarks today. I've been reading since the beginning of the Gawker network, and it's been a long, slow death. I miss that era, but now it's just another era that's gone that I wish wasn't.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:25 PM on March 1, 2022 [6 favorites]
Replacing AVClub has been a little difficult, but I added a patchwork of entertainment sites to my reading list. For music I always read Pitchfork, and I added Stereogum and Brooklyn Vegan. For movies, I added Indiewire and The Wrap.
And of course Fanfare is decent. :) The whole reason I am here on MetaFilter is that quitting G/O media meant I didn't really have a place to shoot the shit, so I was looking for a new community. I was just thinking today that it would be cool if metafilter implemented a rating/grading system in Fanfare, so people could grade the latest episodes of their shows, like they used to on AVClub.
posted by anhedonic at 5:54 PM on March 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
And of course Fanfare is decent. :) The whole reason I am here on MetaFilter is that quitting G/O media meant I didn't really have a place to shoot the shit, so I was looking for a new community. I was just thinking today that it would be cool if metafilter implemented a rating/grading system in Fanfare, so people could grade the latest episodes of their shows, like they used to on AVClub.
posted by anhedonic at 5:54 PM on March 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
Writers Guild East were instrumental in getting the iHeart Podcasters Union recognized, so I'm a big fan of them as it is. Solidarity with the strikers!
posted by Maaik at 6:03 PM on March 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Maaik at 6:03 PM on March 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
I just now heard about this. I need substitutes for The Takeout, Lifehacker and Jezebel then.
posted by Selena777 at 9:47 PM on March 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Selena777 at 9:47 PM on March 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
I’ve found Vulture a good replacement for the review parts of the AV Club.
posted by ellieBOA at 3:23 AM on March 2, 2022
posted by ellieBOA at 3:23 AM on March 2, 2022
The Vulture recaps will do but it's not as good as the AV Club can be. You'd think in this day and age, we'd have better recaps available to us should one recap site go to shit but I find that that is not the case. (You are missed, TWoP.)
posted by Kitteh at 4:19 AM on March 2, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 4:19 AM on March 2, 2022 [5 favorites]
I need substitutes for The Takeout...
Eater! :) This is one where the "substitute" is hands-down better than the G/O property, anyway.
posted by anhedonic at 4:54 AM on March 2, 2022
Eater! :) This is one where the "substitute" is hands-down better than the G/O property, anyway.
posted by anhedonic at 4:54 AM on March 2, 2022
Gizmodo was pretty much a time-wasting site for me, and The Verge or some other thing can maybe step in to that spot. But I'm already missing io9.
posted by Foosnark at 6:02 PM on March 2, 2022
posted by Foosnark at 6:02 PM on March 2, 2022
I quick io9 back when they were folded into Gizmodo. For sff writing, tor.com isn't bad.
Also a reminder that Jason Schreier is writing for Bloomberg these days. And oddly enough Paul Tassi on Forbes of all places does a decent job of it too. However, you don't get the commentary that added to the kinja articles. Personally, I go to Rock, Paper, Shotgun and Polygon for video game stuff these days.
posted by Hactar at 8:47 AM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
Also a reminder that Jason Schreier is writing for Bloomberg these days. And oddly enough Paul Tassi on Forbes of all places does a decent job of it too. However, you don't get the commentary that added to the kinja articles. Personally, I go to Rock, Paper, Shotgun and Polygon for video game stuff these days.
posted by Hactar at 8:47 AM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
I haven't purged the sites from my feeds yet so I noticed that some of the sites had added new content - they're using articles from the Australian versions of wherever they can (Gizmodo, Kotakua, Lifehacker) with comments off. They do note where the articles come from but it seems pretty underhanded. Do the Australia-based authors know how they are being used? The internet was pretty harsh to the first guy who wrote an article for Deadspin after the staff walked out.
posted by LostInUbe at 3:08 PM on March 4, 2022
posted by LostInUbe at 3:08 PM on March 4, 2022
If nothing else is a clear neon sign for just how much Spanfeller and the rest have completely missed the point for the media group they bought, their kneejerk disabling of comments hammers that home. For a years the commentary on posts was just as good/enjoyable as the articles themselves. A good number of commenters on Deadspin ended up with writing jobs because of the comments section.
Even if the writing and editorial staff that had been built and refined over the years had as little value as Spanfeller seems to believe, the value of a dedicated, active userbase, including more than a few who took advantage of Kinja and managed to carve out their own blogs on the site (free fucking content!) should be readily apparent as a massive value in and of itself.
Instead, every time Spanfeller shits the bed, the immediate response is to kill commenting. The commenters, both as audience and as the enhancement they provided to the articles, the discussions they initiated and sustained made Gawker/Gizmodo what it was.
This is what it all comes back around to: it's easier to believe that Spanfeller buying GMG was essentially a more subtle way of destroying it than endless Thiel backed lawsuits. The other option is that Spanfeller is simply that enormously, ass-shittingly stupid that he would have so little idea of what actually made the thing he was buying so valuable, and so well loved, and then, having bought it, proceed to ruin what he'd bought buy applying only the dumbest, most three-generations-of-the-web-ago monetization schemes that only alienated every single person involved with it.
I mean, it has to be the conspiracy, right? Otherwise, it's just admitting to ourselves that the immense wealth we allow to rip apart all the good things we have, and the things that help get us through the day is largely held by the absolute worst of us, the least capable because we've allowed the world, and worth, and ability to be literally decided on the basis of an intensely flawed and unequal game of wealth accumulation, the first, most basic rule is "start by being rich, otherwise, fuck off."
Imagine being so titanically bad at the thing you perceive as being your special skill that people entertain all sorts of tinfoil hat insanity just to try to figure out how you got to be where you are.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:07 PM on March 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
Even if the writing and editorial staff that had been built and refined over the years had as little value as Spanfeller seems to believe, the value of a dedicated, active userbase, including more than a few who took advantage of Kinja and managed to carve out their own blogs on the site (free fucking content!) should be readily apparent as a massive value in and of itself.
Instead, every time Spanfeller shits the bed, the immediate response is to kill commenting. The commenters, both as audience and as the enhancement they provided to the articles, the discussions they initiated and sustained made Gawker/Gizmodo what it was.
This is what it all comes back around to: it's easier to believe that Spanfeller buying GMG was essentially a more subtle way of destroying it than endless Thiel backed lawsuits. The other option is that Spanfeller is simply that enormously, ass-shittingly stupid that he would have so little idea of what actually made the thing he was buying so valuable, and so well loved, and then, having bought it, proceed to ruin what he'd bought buy applying only the dumbest, most three-generations-of-the-web-ago monetization schemes that only alienated every single person involved with it.
I mean, it has to be the conspiracy, right? Otherwise, it's just admitting to ourselves that the immense wealth we allow to rip apart all the good things we have, and the things that help get us through the day is largely held by the absolute worst of us, the least capable because we've allowed the world, and worth, and ability to be literally decided on the basis of an intensely flawed and unequal game of wealth accumulation, the first, most basic rule is "start by being rich, otherwise, fuck off."
Imagine being so titanically bad at the thing you perceive as being your special skill that people entertain all sorts of tinfoil hat insanity just to try to figure out how you got to be where you are.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:07 PM on March 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
Here's what I ended up with. I set up a subscription for Defector. I had just dropped NYTimes after they upped the price (plus they were just pissing me off in general) so I was ready for another subscription. Then I dropped AVClub and IO9 out of my Chrome bookmarks bar to be replaced by Vulture, TVRecap, Den of Geek, Nerdist, and The Verge. I already get the TOR newsletter which has some very good writing on SFF topics even though it leans towards their authors.
posted by Ber at 2:28 PM on March 5, 2022
posted by Ber at 2:28 PM on March 5, 2022
Holy shit, they won?! Four days of picketing, and it looks like they got basically everything they were striking for. Good fucking job, GMG. It’s nice to see some good news for a change.
posted by Ghidorah at 2:48 PM on March 6, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Ghidorah at 2:48 PM on March 6, 2022 [5 favorites]
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