Destructoid EIC quits over disagreement with management
Dale North says goodbye to popular consumer website after nearly a decade
Destructoid Editor-in-Chief Dale North has revealed on his tumblr that he's unfortunately calling it quits due to unspecifed disagreements with management at the website.
"Without going into details, I feel certain actions taken and statements made by Destructoid management have not accurately reflected my feelings or taken my input as Editor-in-chief into account. I'm no longer comfortable having my name attached to the continued engagement with former staff," he wrote.
"I love Destructoid. It has been at the center of my life for just short of a decade. It was one hell of a ride, and I'll miss it and its people dearly."
It's unclear what the argument stemmed from, or if it was GamerGate related in any way. GamesIndustry.biz reached out to Destructoid founder and chairman Niero Gonzalez who referred to North's "less than flattering choice of exit words," but quickly followed that up with praise for the former editor.
"It's all good. Like any boss and employee relationship, we dont always agree. He put in a solid 8 years here. I'm proud of him and wish him the best," Gonzalez added, without diving into any of the causes for the disagreement.
When asked about who's going to replace North as the new Editor-in-Chief, Gonzalez responded that he's still "waiting on Dale's recommendation."
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Cheers,
EDIT: FYI, no major site is going to interview everyone involved or report on the full story because they would have to admit that a certain thing blowing up on Twitter does involve corruption, and we can't have that interfering with certain narratives that were built on lies and misinformation. Prickly predicament, eh?
Edited 1 times. Last edit by William Usher on 22nd October 2014 6:39pm
Could someone link me to an unbiased article please? (Sounds like sarcasm, actually isn't. :) )
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Morville O'Driscoll on 22nd October 2014 8:05am
This is why the internet is such a breakthrough from traditional media because of the ability to add comment sections, where people can expose other sides of issues. Censoring users on comment sections is the worst thing a media site can do right now, it's a step backwards to a time where only a few in power had a voice.
This comment is a little off track, but I felt the need to say it.
Also just to point out that your Rule #2 is sexist by not including misandry in it as well. There are all kinds of comments floating around the internet right now blaming GG on angry white men, which is sexist, racist and misandry all in one. Lets not let that attitude spread here too please.
We may disagree on GG, but we should all be civil with each other. As an EiC you should be held more accountable because your opinions get passed through the entire site. So lets allow fairness and not personal opinion to fog what is going on. Personally I think both sides have things to talk about, but while the gaming press is only talking to and listening to one side this will not end and will just keep slogging on. This is not good for anyone in the industry.
@Andrew Ihegbu has a good point as well.
You... do realise that Christopher is EiC of Gaming Bus, not GamesIndustry.biz? Right?
No I didn't, but the majority of my point stands, if then taken in a general term. But thank you for the correction.
Every point raised about games journalism applies to all specialist press. All literature critics are working on there own novel, most music critics are in a band and/or work in the music industry in other capacities. The games industry isn't even a particularly bad example, inspect the tech writing sector or automotive writers sector, many whom are members of the SPJ with rafts of standards to follow and the conflicts of interest are worse. None of this is a games industry centric issue. Nobody ever knew who paid for Roger Ebert's taxi, dinner and film nor are we warned by any film critic. Nor does the GamerGate crowd seem to care.
It's hard to take any of this movement seriously when there is such wilful ignorance that this isn't a games journalist centric debate. Many things can be said about the specialist press but suggesting that emergency level drastic reform must happen immediately shows a real lack of objectiveness.
This just highlights all the more this has never been about journalistic ethics.
whoops, have I said too much?