When a litany of reporters starting posting “Why I joined The Athletic” items several years back, I remember thinking, “One of these days, someone is going to be sharing a far different message about that place.”
Enter Bob Kravitz.
Perhaps best known nationally for firing the first shot in the #Deflategate saga, Kravitz has been a fixture in Indianapolis, covering the Colts among other things. He voluntarily joined The Athletic. In June, he involuntarily left The Athletic. And in his new space on Substack, Kravitz is singing like Lenny regarding his experience with the company now owned by the New York Times.
Kravitz shares one very specific claim that illustrates the stress of getting people to pay for online content, via Jimmy Traina of SI.com: “I wasn’t happy that they put me on probation just a few months after a quadruple bypass in 2020. (And during the pandemic, no less). I guess my numbers weren’t what they wanted, but hell, I was recovering from a life-changing medical event. You would think that might have some impact on their thinking, but no. I had to produce 395 subscriptions in three months – or else. That’s absurd, unfair and outrageous, especially given my health situation. Well, I survived, producing more than 400 subs by working myself half to death, a great idea after open-heart surgery. But that soured me on the place forever. I felt it in my bones: They don’t give a fuck about me as a human being.”
Plenty of employers in plenty of industries have that very attitude toward their employees. Chew them up while their value exceeds their pay, spit them out the moment their price exceeds their production, and then find another warm body.
But the idea that The Athletic imposed a requirement that he personally generate 395 subscription in three months on the heels of open-heart surgery seems cartoonishly cruel. It makes me feel bad for what Bob went through, and what others in his situation will endure.
It also makes me grateful for the fact that I own my own little corner of the Internet — and for the fact that some of you choose to spend your time reading the stuff that we have to offer.