Mike Fisher and Maven/SI

[robillionaire]

https://www.npr.org/2019/10/03/766929743/new-owners-of-sports-illustrated-set-massive-layoffs-journalists-rebel?fbclid=IwAR2TCI88q-D5RZuTxod8MqiRQHZI5D7IcRiqz5o5A001C2tUzt0HQ3xdTd4


NPR obtained a petition signed by approximately three-quarters of [i]Sports Illustrated[/i]'s journalists asking its new owners not to deliver control of the publication to a digital publisher named TheMaven network.
"TheMaven wants to replace top journalists in the industry with a network of Maven freelancers and bloggers, while reducing or eliminating departments that have ensured that the stories we publish and produce meet the highest standards," the petition reads. "These plans significantly undermine our journalistic integrity, damage the reputation of this long-standing brand and negatively [affect] the economic stability of the publication."

The new controlling executives include Ross Levinsohn, the controversial former [i]Los Angeles Times [/i]CEO. The plan as described in the journalists' petition appears to echo an earlier strategy by Levinsohn, who was appointed by Maven. As publisher of the [i]Los Angeles Times[/i] and an investor in a digital outfit called True/Slant, Levinsohn embraced a strategy he termed "gravitas with scale" — a model that was based in part on unpaid contributors and meant job losses for the traditional newsroom journalists in the Tribune publishing chain.