Matt Taibbi

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/10/30/inside-story-matt-taibbis-departure-first-look-media

^^ what a mess

Yep. It was pretty much sold as a hands-off project for Omidyar at the start but spending a quarter of a billion dollars to let Matt Taibbi write what he wanted never exactly added up.

I applaud the Intercepts transparency about all this, but do wonder if Omidyar won't just pull the plug soon because of all this.

I don't know a lot about the man, but seeing to taxi receipts etc when you injected $ 250 million into a new media company... I don't know. Is he that bored?

who would have guessed that taibbi would be hard to work for, total shock

Here's a relevant blast from the past:

http://observer.com/2000/06/from-russia-with-lust/

letting taibbi write what he wanted is one thing, but -- at least given his public persona -- making him a manager seems like a poor decision by both sides

also, a lede somewhat buried:

These simmering problems came to a head this month when a Racket staffer complained to senior management that Taibbi had been verbally abusive and unprofessionally hostile, and that she felt the conduct may have been motivated, at least in part, by her gender.

No question Taibbi is difficult to work with probably, but the same probably goes for Greenwald and more Intercepters. What I find remarkable is that they use Taibbi's departure to openly criticize Omidyar, and they're not trying to do it subtly either.

I have to say that as much as I love Taibbi's writing, it would not surprise me at all to discover the complaint had merit.

XXp that is indeed somewhat buried

Wonder if Jay Rosen jumped ship at First Look because of this too. He left a couple of weeks ago, supposedly because there was "nothing to do" for him.

The Intercept piece is positioning it as a dispute over corporate culture rather than a far more damaging issue of editorial interference.

well sure but what it doesn't say is that the colleagues that matt was abusing were CIA plants

just skipped to p4reene's endnote

the strange death of liberal bloggers

On a Saturday night in May, Mark Ames and Matt Taibbi were drinking Pepsi and smoking American Spirits in a one-bedroom apartment in a high-rise near Times Square. They took turns leaning over a plastic compact disc case, snorting lines of speed.

i enjoy reading taibbi but no fucking way would i enjoy working with much less for him

can't tell if this was a d-bag move by Greenwald et. al. putting out all this stuff about Taibbi and making themselves look like the reasonable good kids, or that they knew First Look would leak the accusations against Taibbi and wanted to get in first with a more accurate version of events.

There's going to be an NY Mag 'expose' over the weekend, aiui, and this is getting their side of the story out first.

well hey this has kept taibbi and pareene quiet in the run-up to the 2014 midterms -- good show, pierre!

cld tell this thing was gonna be a shit show by how they were calling it a "digital magazine"

A "digital magazine" sounds like a place you'd go to read articles about Atari Teenage Riot

amazing how lingo tells you guys everything you need to know

sorta like "Hope" i guess

wld hope so

now you reminded me of hope partlow!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9qBziX7ugc

@pareene
A person had an issue with Matt. That person is in no way responsible for this outcome. Competent management would've resolved it easily.

@pareene
Finally, I want to make one thing clear: Actually this is about ethics in games journalism

curious how taibbi/pareene are going to cover the republican congress

with a fire blanket

sounds to me like First Look decided to put all their eggs in the Intercept basket and found some reasons to push Taibbi out

burning hot take

oh thanks! where can I pick up my ILE Pulitzer?

just click the flag post link next to yr name

My name is not Permalink

wow rude

with a fire blanket

and bucket of water hopefully

and . . . he's back!

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/oct/31/matt-taibbi-rolling-stone-first-look-media

http://racketteen.tumblr.com

Vanity Fair's Sarah Ellison:

Confirmed. @johnjcook leaving @intercept to return to @Gawker. Please DM or email me any news or tips.

huh wow this shit goin down in flame

oof going back to gawker. situation must be real bad.

gawker traded max to first look for cook. max is going to be greenwald's handler now.

responsibilities: walk dogs, find/invent blogging software that limits the number/length of updates

...shop for flip-flops and cargo shorts

lol xp

Seriously though, wondering if the exodus at Intercept will come to an end or if this is only the beginning

this is the first defection from the intercept iirc, taibbi was the racket, both under first look media, not to be pedantic just its interesting because it was thought that everything was cool at the intercept

...but maybe not?

http://racketteen.tumblr.com

― lag∞n, Tuesday, November 11, 2014 6:08 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

most interesting thing to me is that the remaining staff of the racket have set up a joke tumblr

that story on taibbi defection bylined by all the intercept people seemed pretty much like they were putting first look on notice to me