Whitewash a no-G/O for new Gizmodo critics
Jim Spanfeller, the new CEO of G/O Media, is getting flak for bringing in “older white guys” from his past to run Gizmodo Media and The Onion after he was tapped to run the dozen Web sites private equity firm Great Hill Partners picked up from Univision in early April.
The criticism comes after Mike McAvoy was given his walking papers last week. McAvoy had been running ad sales for the sites that include Jezebel, Gizmodo, Deadspin, Splinter, The Root and others, while simultaneously serving as chief executive of satirical site The Onion, The A/V Club and the food site The Takeout.
Said one insider of McAvoy’s sudden ouster: “It was an ambush. He was fighting for women who have been passed over or been replaced by older white guys.”
Univision had operated Gizmodo Media and The Onion as separate operations but sold both to Great Hill in April. Under the new company, executives are merging operations into one unit.
Sources said McAvoy’s last day was July 11. A G/O Media spokesman confirmed the departure, adding, “We wish him well.”
Many of Spanfeller’s new “older white guy” hires have ties to him from his past gigs, which include Playboy, Forbes Media and Spanfeller Media, which he sold to Tribune Publishing, sources said.
“The appointments are being made without interviewing anyone and without posting the jobs,” said one insider, adding that this is a departure from the days when it was owned by Univision.
Virtually the only woman to join the company since the takeover was the newly hired human resources director, Angela Persaud, who joined this week from ad agencies Carat and Amplify.
However, in an email to Media Ink, Spanfeller disputed the claim that he is only hiring former colleagues who happen to be white men, stating:
“The characterization that women are not being offered promotions or the chance to apply for roles is not accurate. Diversity and inclusion are core to our culture.”
He said that in addition to adding Persaud as senior vice president of Human Resources, he promoted Joyce Tang to executive managing editor. He said he hired Faisal Javaid as deputy general counsel.
He added that in the coming days, he plans to announce one more key hire, which will be of a woman.
“Other than that, I am not going to comment on the specific merits of someone over another in the org,” Spanfeller said. “Simply not fair to anyone.”
About 25 people, some 6 percent of the 400-person workforce, were laid off in late April, shortly after the acquisition by Great Hill.
Time magazine is running a sponsored cover on the issue dated July 29 celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, marking a rare commercial intrusion onto a cover of the venerable magazine.
In small type, the cover carries the commercial message, “Brought to you by Jimmy Dean.” A front cover flap has an ad on its underside “celebrating 50 years of quality sausage.”
Time Inc., which was sold to Meredith in January 2018, had a virtual ban on commercial messages on its cover and a strict separation of church (editorial) and state (advertising). New owner Meredith sold it to billionaire tech entrepreneur Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne late last year.
One rare time such an intrusion occurred on Time’s cover was a decade ago when Pfizer Canada had a cover wrap. But Time executives were so concerned about the 1999 cover that they added a disclaimer saying it was a “promotional cover wrap” and “it did not constitute an endorsement by Time and no endorsement is implied.”
However, times have changed. In 2014, Time and Sports Illustrated both ran ads for Verizon Wireless on their covers. A spokeswoman for Time said Intel was listed as a sponsor of June 2018’s special report, “The Drone” issue.
“As slippery slopes go, that slope has gotten slipped harder and sooner by other magazines,” former Time editor Jim Kelly, now books editor at soon-to-launch Air Mail, told Media Ink. Graydon Carter, the former Vanity Fair editor in chief, will let fly his new weekly newsletter creation, Air Mail, on the morning of July 19. Carter has backing from private equity giant TPG, which he said “is the majority owner” as well as some “family and friends.” He’s looking to get subscribers to pay $50 for an annual subscription or $15 for a quarterly. “The mission is to produce a sprightly Saturday morning digital weekly that is international in flavor and easy on the eyes,” Carter told Media Ink. “My best guess regarding audience is that it will be made up of people with active passports and an understanding of the world beyond our borders. “We are looking for people who want a pure read on a Saturday morning, without the jumpy distractions that so many news sites have.”