[Bill] Simmons grew so big that ESPN was willing to fund an entirely separate site -- Grantland -- as a way to make him happy and keep him tied to their larger brand. His quasi-departure from the company that had "made" him presaged other moves like it. Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg broke from the Wall Street Journal to start Re/code, a tech site. David Pogue, a popular tech columnist at the New York Times, left to start a larger brand of his own under the Yahoo umbrella. Ezra Klein, a star policy writer here at WaPo, left to run a broader site for Vox Media. And Nate Silver, who made his name as an election modeler for the Times, jumped to ESPN -- drawn by the model Simmons had created with Grantland.
-- "What Bill Simmons' Suspension Tells Us About the Changing World of Journalism," WaPo, Sept 25, 14
I realize the takeaway here is supposed to be that "Individual Content Creators Who Just Say Things Are Now Bigger Than The Institutions That Launched Them," but here is my takeaway ...
That's a whole lotta dudes who turn into brands.
And the one woman, Kara Swisher, is mentioned in conjunction with her co-founder dude.
It's worth digging in to: Are there "star" reporters capable of launching their own brands who happen to also be women? More TK.
Didn't the Washington Post have some online voting contest to choose the next political blogger for their site (which surprise, surprise, was a a dud.)?
Posted by: verucaamish | 09/26/2014 at 06:41 PM