Deadspin on DK's site

[Moderator1]

A lot of stuff in here, curious if anyone else thinks they buried the lead?

https://deadspin.com/pittsburghs-cutting-edge-sports-site-is-a-meat-grinder-1821797940

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Given the reaction over on the Weinstein thread he definitely buried the lead, because no one seemed to read that far.

Dude is a real piece of work.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Given the reaction over on the Weinstein thread he definitely buried the lead, because no one seemed to read that far.

Dude is a real piece of work.

I saw the threesome stuff and the "nice tits" stuff - it was also in his pre-emptive column last night.

But I stand by what I said: Why should I have to wade through 3,000 additional words about how a guy doesn't like typos to get to the only material that anyone should give a damn about?

 

[User 4332]

I kept wondering what I was missing, and just as I was about to give up on the article I got to it. Yeah, lede is buried.

 

[poindexter]

After reading about how he reimbursed for hotels, but not for meals (or vice versa) I said to myself, "why in the **** am I reading this?"

 

[Dick Whitman]

After reading about how he reimbursed for hotels, but not for meals (or vice versa) I said to myself, "why in the **** am I reading this?"

Yeah, not exactly the Pentagon Papers, is it?

It's better, I guess, than the time Deadspin announced for a week that they were about to destroy ESPN with a huge revelation. It turned out to be that two muckety mucks in marketing got married to one another.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

As someone who was starting to believe the hype I’d read on other sites -- “Man, Deadspin is gonna take down DK!” It’s all over for DK once this hits!” -- I must say only the loss of my virginity was more underwhelming.

 

[Elliotte Friedman]

A friend of mine who is a small business owner had an interesting take.

He has an HR department which wouldn't allow some of the allegations (like the threesome accusation) to go without serious scrutiny/punishment...but about the rest of it: he said a small-business owner would empathize with Kovacevic more than we realize. You're trying to make it work in a dying business that costs a ton to cover, for consumers that have been conditioned to expect your content for free. You'd be tense, demanding and manic, too.

He wondered how much of their savings the Dejan and his wife put into this. No way DK has the same seed money as The Athletic. If you're an edgy guy to begin with, it would only exacerbate that. (Full disclosure: I had a couple run-ins with Dejan, but we buried the hatchet.)

He also said this kind of thing happens much more often than we realize, but doesn't get covered because people don't go public like media does.

 

[CD Boogie]

Yeah, not exactly the Pentagon Papers, is it?

It's better, I guess, than the time Deadspin announced for a week that they were about to destroy ESPN with a huge revelation. It turned out to be that two muckety mucks in marketing got married to one another.

“Hey, that was me!”— AJ Daulerio of ****ty Men in Media

 

[SoloFlyer]

1. Deadspin buried the lede. The comments about the former staffer's looks and whether she'd look good on television coupled with the allegation that he offered a woman site exposure in exchange for sex should've been at the top, especially since both allegations were backed up by witnesses, even if there wasn't hard evidence like text messages. I mean, Jesus Christ.

2. The rest of the staff treatment portion isn't damning in and of itself, but serves as further demonstration of his lack of character.

3. The IRS may be quite interested to learn about his payment (or non-payment) of employees. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. And even if he's paid the appropriate amount of taxes, his former employees may be entitled to some reimbursement.

4. His advertisers can't be happy. The fallout won't be pretty.

 

[Rhody31]

If he's sexually harassing people that's one thing ... but why are people upset he's criticizing their work? If your boss doesn't think you're good, that's a you problem, not a him problem.
Also not a huge fan of throwing around accusations without undeniable evidence. If you want to use text messages as evidence, you'd better have more than screenshots.
(This is me having an issue with the deadspin reporter, not the subject of the story)

 

[outofplace]

Kovacevic: About the coming Deadspin article

Here is the piece Kovacevic posted in advance of the Deadspin article. Not that I think much of the writing in either, it is related enough to be worth posting here.

 

[SoloFlyer]

Locking your Twitter account, your site's Twitter account, demoting yourself and publishing a preemptive "I'm not that bad of a guy" article aren't exactly the actions of an innocent person.

 

[Alma]

A lot of stuff in here, curious if anyone else thinks they buried the lead?

https://deadspin.com/pittsburghs-cutting-edge-sports-site-is-a-meat-grinder-1821797940

I mean, yeah, but I found the other stuff...fairly interesting...even if I found it gossipy. I think the general bent of the story was "this guy hired cheap, treated people like crap, and as an extension of that, also texted/said misogynistic stuff. I don't read that and think he's a predator. I read it and think "he has no filter, and he treats most people like ****."

I don't think you could have staked a story on those two allegations. But it's part of a whole.

 

[typefitter]

As someone who was starting to believe the hype I’d read on other sites -- “Man, Deadspin is gonna take down DK!” It’s all over for DK once this hits!” -- I must say only the loss of my virginity was more underwhelming.

I'm sorry, this is none of my business, but you found the loss of your virginity... underwhelming?

 

[poindexter]

I'm sorry, this is none of my business, but you found the loss of your virginity... underwhelming?

No, she did.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

I'm sorry, this is none of my business, but you found the loss of your virginity... underwhelming?

Compared to the hype surrounding sex, yes.

 

[SoloFlyer]

Something just dawned on me - this guy says he covered the cost of Apple laptops for his staff, but he won't pay them health insurance? What a prick.

I think the IRS stuff may have more of a lasting impact than the staff mistreatment. And it sounds like an IRS probing couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Kovacevic: About the coming Deadspin article

Here is the piece Kovacevic posted in advance of the Deadspin article. Not that I think much of the writing in either, it is related enough to be worth posting here.

Like I said in the other thread, this is the part that made me scratch my head. Did Kovacevic write that directly to the author in response to questions, or did he write it after seeing the story in advance to fend off the criticism, or what?

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

Like I said in the other thread, this is the part that made me scratch my head. Did Kovacevic write that directly to the author in response to questions, or did he write it after seeing the story in advance to fend off the criticism, or what?

I got the impression he wrote the response based off the questions he was asked.