April 4, 2012

DigiDave
David Cohn has decided to leave Spot.Us four months after the crowdfunded journalism site became part of American Public Media’s crowdsourcing platform, Public Insight Network. When APM took it over, Cohn had planned to stay involved in a contract role. Now, he writes on his blog:

It has come to my realization, however, that in its new form Spot.Us is no longer the best place for me. In many respects that’s perfectly fine. … With this post I’m handing full reigns of Spot.Us over to APM not just in ownership (which already happened) but in terms of direction. This change has been going on in the background for some time and now it’s official. This is me taking a bow and exiting stage left.

When I asked him what happened, Cohn told me by email:

The original contract had me in that role [as a consultant] until August and then perhaps joining the APM team that was based in Oakland. The Oakland Team doesn’t exist anymore… I think I’ll leave it there.

The Oakland change he’s referring to occurred in March. MinnPost’s David Brauer reported:

Joaquin Alvarado, hired in late 2009 to lead Minnesota Public Radio’s national digital efforts, has been let go along with four members of his Oakland-based software development team, a network spokesman confirms. …

The move comes as MPR and its national programming arm, American Public Media, grapple with an unspecified end-of-budget-year deficit.

I have contacted APM for comment and will update this when I hear back.

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Steve Myers was the managing editor of Poynter.org until August 2012, when he became the deputy managing editor and senior staff writer for The Lens,…
Steve Myers

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