TechCrunch writer posts story criticising parent company AOL for removing editor
Technology website TechCrunch maybe set for a revolution according to one of its writers who has posted an entry on the website aimed at criticising alleged interference by parent company AOL.
MG Siegler, who has written for the technology news website since 2009, has posted a piece on the site entitled ‘TechCrunch as we know it may be over’, following claims by the New York Times that its editorial integrity could be challenged after the launch of a start-up venture fund by its editor Mike Arrington and AOL.
Arrington was then fired from the site earlier this week when president and editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington announced that he no longer worked for the website but claimed that he may still be employed by AOL Ventures.
In a real moment of editorial independence Siegler has posted the piece, describing the situation as ‘nuclear’ and claiming that:" He [Mike] built TechCrunch out of thin air. He’s made enemies along the way. He rubs some people the wrong way. But there is no question that the entire space is better because of what he’s built. And there’s also no question that what he’s built needs him.”
Siegler added that he believes a new editor-in-chief is being sought by Huffington to replace Arrington, although admits that the situation is not clear, even to those working on the site.
“I can’t believe this is even a possibility. But it is,” he continued. “And so I’m writing this at the eleventh hour to let you, our readers, know before you find out via a press release. I don’t know, maybe I’m hopeful that the collective voice of millions of loyal readers can change a company’s mind. Maybe that’s naive. But it’s worth a shot. We owe that to Mike.
“AOL seems to think that by cutting off the biggest conflicts — ones so big that they’d obviously have to be disclosed — that they’ll be a bastion of integrity in the editorial landscape. What a bunch of horse shit. The conflicts we need to worry about are the ones not disclosed. They’re far more prevalent and they do actually deceive readers because they’re far more subtle. But that’s an impossible task. AOL can’t fix that — no one can. So instead they’ll slaughter the lamb everyone can see to gain puffery amongst the old media peers who also live to die another day.
“It has almost been exactly one year since AOL acquired us. At the time, they promised not to interfere with the way we do things. For 11+ months, they’ve kept their word, and things have run beautifully from our end. Our business is one of the few sterling ornaments on their mantel. Now they may break their promise to us. And if that promise is broken, it will break TechCrunch,” concluded Seigler.