A memo Friday from Gawker Media Group Editorial Director Joel Johnson says Geoff Manaugh, Gizmodo’s top editor, “did not integrate well with the structure both within his team and the company as a whole” and is no longer with the company. Brian Barrett will replace him.
Memo:
Yesterday was Geoff Manaugh’s last day as Editor-in-Chief of Gizmodo.com.
Geoff is a real talent and one of the smartest thinkers in our editorial group, but unfortunately did not integrate well with the structure both within his team and the company as a whole. He is moving forward with an upcoming book and his continued work on BLDG BLOG.
Effective immediately, long-serving editor Brian Barrett has been promoted to full, permanent status as Editor-in-Chief, and will work with me to expand Gizmodo’s hiring to the levels necessary to ensure Gizmodo’s position as the leading voice of discovery in technology and design news.
Joel Johnson
Editorial Director
Gawker Media Group
Gawker honcho Nick Denton followed Johnson’s note with another memo:
Geoff brought an exciting perspective to topics like design and urban planning. I’ve long been fans of his work on BLDG BLOG, and will remain so. The design coverage — which Kelsey and Geoff pioneered on Gizmodo — will only be reinforced.
Ever since Brian Lam was in charge of Gizmodo, we have hoped for a site lead who could build the tech blog’s physical presence in New York, where most of the writers and videographers are based.
But we need to be flexible. Barrett has successfully managed that team remotely. He is its natural leader — even if based in Alabama. In finally giving Barrett the nod, Joel has acted decisively. Dissatisfaction — on Gizmodo or other sites — will not be permitted to fester.
Gizmodo needs to tap talent and cover stories, whether on the East Coast, West Coast or between. It is a national — and now with Manuel’s success in Spain and Latin America — an international site.
So join me in wishing good luck to Joel, Barrett, Kelsey, Jesus, Manuel and the rest of the Gizmodo team.
If The Verge is seen as the pinnacle of a tech blog, the competition is eminently beatable. I’ve always found that site nearly as boring as Vox.com itself.
Gizmodo brought in 4.5m visitors from the US last week, up 80% over a year earlier. Now just imagine what the team can do once it is properly led.
Nick
Manaugh was named EIC of Gizmodo last year and promised “a tone that will not be as juvenile as previous iterations of Gizmodo.”
Also on Friday, Matthew J.X. Malady wrote about Stephen Kosloff’s experience getting hit in the head by a drone at a Gizmodo party.
My first order of business as Gizmodo’s new EIC is to deweaponize our drones.
— Brian Barrett (@brbarrett) May 23, 2014
Here’s a tweet from Manaugh:
Fun while it lasted, but time to get back to writing. The good news is I never have to use Kinja again.
— BLDGBLOG (@bldgblog) May 23, 2014
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