Former Deadspin staffers are reuniting to form a new site, Defector
Defector Media will launch its website in September.
The wry and once-popular sports-centric website Deadspin has been a shell of itself since its entire staff of writers and editors quit in protest last October after its management issued a stick-to-sports mandate.
The writers who departed have been scattered at various media outposts since. But as first reported by The New York Times Tuesday, the vast majority of journalists who resigned en masse are uniting to launch a subscription digital media company that the staffers will own and operate.
Defector Media will launch its website in September. Former Deadspin writer and editor Tom Ley will serve as editor in chief. Eighteen former Deadspin staffers are on the Defector roster, among them Drew Magary and David Roth. Magary and Roth will also launch a podcast, titled The Distraction, that debuts August 13.
Monthly subscriptions to the site will cost $8 per month, with a less-expensive annual option also available.
The fallout at Deadspin began last summer, when it published a deeply reported story about its own parent company, G/O Media. The issue about what was suitable for Deadspin, which frequently ventured outside of sports coverage, came to a head in October when then-editorial director Paul Maidment, who had been subject to criticism on the site, issued a memo telling the staff that its articles must have something to do with sports.
Editor Barry Petchesky was fired for refusing to heed the order, and the rest of the staff soon resigned.
Defector has no plans to stick solely to sports.
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