11.13.06: Denton fires Valleywagger Nick Douglas
By Richard Koman - November 13, 2006
Nick Denton reveals on his Valleywag site that he has fired Nick Douglas, the cub reporter who's been blogging away on the dirty skinny from Campbell to San Mateo.
Denton notes that the site needs a little more hardboiled reporter - "But, to helm the site, we're now looking for someone with, ideally, some background in reporting. An old-media career, useful in the sparkling new world of blogs. Who would have thought?" - and a little less sex.
We're still going to break open secrets ... but I suspect we're going to tone down the personal coverage of civilians, because they haven't done anything to seek out attention, and their personal lives aren't that interesting. Unless they are. Anyway, more money, a little less sex: that is Valleywag's new gossip mantra.
Matt Marshall at VentureBeat talked to Denton briefly, who said, as talented as Douglas is, the site wasn't living up to expectations to deliver Wonkette-level audience.
Marshall predicts hurtin' Wired News will pick him up.
UPDATE: From Tom Foremski
Nick Douglas did a fine job with ValleyWag although by the time he left he had burnt a few bridges/contacts.
Nick Douglas will do well, he has a great nose for a story. But surviving in SF on the kind of wages Nick Denton pays is very difficult even if you are a young (ex)student.
That's a key weakness for the Gawker business model, find good writers, train them up a little bit, pay them very little and then watch them go places where they can make more money-- and then have to do it again, and again.
I'm sure Nick Denton would rather be doing something else, such as running his business than having to do a job that pays peanuts. Which goes to show that Nick Douglas's departure was rather sudden.
Some clues on Nick Douglas's next project over at 10 Zen Monkeys:
Interview With Valleywag Nick Douglas - 10 Zen Monkeys (a webzine)Nick Douglas did send me a note saying he was open to a new gig, especially in video.
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Comments (5)
Tom, would you hire Nick Douglas?
Posted: November 13, 2006 2:23 PM
Sure, I would hire Nick...
Posted: November 13, 2006 6:30 PM
Where did you hear that Nick was fired?
I knew Nick was leaving Valleywag for at least a month. That doesn't indicate someone getting fired.
Posted: November 13, 2006 7:18 PM
Robert, it was in the wording of Nick Denton's "let go" phrasing.
Who dumped who is just probably a matter of timing, and of phrasing. Clearly, there was not much warmth between the Nicks over the past few weeks or so but they did like each other. Both will do well, I'm sure of it.
Posted: November 14, 2006 2:12 AM
I'm just working from the text of Denton's message, as Tom notes. "Let go" ... "he'll do well somewhere else but the site was not living up to its potential" ... No inside information (so maybe he's just spinning) but clearly Denton thought a personnel change was in order and Douglas doesn't appear to have managed a soft landing.
Posted: November 14, 2006 9:39 AM