Wea4ぎa4ёe been hearing that some of AOLa4ぎa4г employees are unhappy with the companya4ぎa4г growing focus on boosting traffic above all else, but until now that has been limited to anonymous complaints and vague reports of discontent. Today, however, AOL-owned Engadget lost a longtime editor, and he didna4ぎa4д leave quietly.
Paul J. Miller announced his departure from Engadget on his personal blog. Judging from his earliest post, Miller has been at Engadget since September 2005. For context, thata4ぎa4г around the time that AOL acquired Engadgeta4ぎa4г owner Weblogs, Inc., and ita4ぎa4г also a year before VentureBeat was founded &8212' Miller has been at the gadget news site for a while.
So why leave now After the usual thank yous and reminiscences about his time at Engadget, Miller explains his discontent with his current employers:
Ia4ぎa4d love to be able to keep doing this forever, but unfortunately Engadget is owned by AOL, and AOL has proved an unwilling partner in this sitea4ぎa4г evolution. It doesna4ぎa4д take a veteran of the publishing world to realize that AOL has its heart in the wrong place with content. As detailed in the a4ぎAAOL Way,a4ぎ and borne out in personal experience, AOL sees content as a commodity it can sell ads against. That might make good business sense (though I doubt it), but it doesna4ぎa4д promote good journalism or even good entertainment, and it doesna4ぎa4д allow an ambitious team like the one I know and love at Engadget to thrive.
Miller is referring specifically to a company document that was leaked to Business Insider back in January that outlined &''The AOl Way,&'' an ambitious plan to increase the companya4ぎa4г traffic that emphasizes every blog post must be a moneymaker.
As part of chief executive Tim Armstronga4ぎa4г plans to turn the company around, AOL has also been making some high-profile acquisitions, like the popular tech news site TechCrunch and the even more popular political news site The Huffington Post. In both cases, one of the first questions that came up was how long Armstrong can keep the sitesa4ぎa4 editors around.
To be clear, I havena4ぎa4д seen any signs that either TechCruncha4ぎa4г Michael Arrington or The HuffPoa4ぎa4г Arianna Huffington are about to head out the door. But it looks like Armstronga4ぎa4г direction is making some writers mad, and he cana4ぎa4д hold on to everyone.
[image of Armstrong and Huffington via Yfrog/Arianna Huffington]
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Companies: aol
People: Paul J. Miller, Tim Armstrong
Companies: aol
People: Paul J. Miller, Tim Armstrong
Anthony is a senior editor at VentureBeat, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining the site in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.
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