The media website Columbia Journalism Review devotes its long read “The last good website” to a very special medium: Defector, the sports website resurrected from the remains of Deadspin. Once part of the Gawker empire, Deadspin reported subjectively and provocatively on US sports and culture. When they clashed with the new private equity owners and the dispute escalated, the editors just walked out.
Now they continue with Defector and they own the place. Lived anarcho-syndicalism, in which the editors do not work for their owners, but in solidarity with each other. It’s a kind of laboratory experiment in breaking free from the moral compromises of standard commercial journalism:
the group felt it wasn’t worth pursuing anything short of a journalists’ utopia. Every aspect of the business—from paying freelancers half of their rate after receiving a first draft to letting writers and podcasters own their intellectual property—would form a blueprint for a publication both ethical and profitable. The site would be worker-owned, with everyone getting an equitable stake. The hours would be humane
But can this serve as a model for other digital media? The crazy plan works amazingly well thanks to tens of thousands of paying subscribers. What came out of it: no clickbait, content editors, some of whom earn more than in the other US media that had been bled dry and half dead – and yet a functioning business model.
The article lets you feel the snotty Brooklyn start-up atmosphere reminiscent of early Vice – but with the clear knowledge that Defector is unlikely to become a really relevant medium anymore. From lovers for lovers – that’s what you call it Verticala term, der is currently on many lips.
The whole thing has its price: over time, the best reporters go to major media such as The Athletic or the Washington Post – lured by the significantly higher number of readers or the prospect of an athlete or club manager giving you an interview, because Defector hardly gets it Approaches to the subject of his biting comments. And on the company retreat, conflicts do break out, for example because some work more than others for the same salary in solidarity.
Anyone interested in media experiments in the digital age will find plenty of food for thought here.