That there would even be a vote on this was a surprise to me. Whatever faults it might have belong to me, and all the public opprobrium being directed at Jordan Sargent, a terrific reporter, should come my way instead.) (This isn’t the place to debate the merits of that story, other than to say that I stand by the post. Advertisers such as Discover and BFGoodrich were either putting holds on their campaigns or pulling out entirely. The article, about the Condé Nast CFO’s futile effort to secure a remote assignation with a pricey escort, had become radioactive. On Friday, I told my fellow managing partners-Nick Denton, founder and CEO Heather Dietrick, president Andrew Gorenstein, president of advertising and partnerships Scott Kidder, chief operating officer and Erin Pettigrew, chief strategy officer-I would have to resign if they voted to remove a story I’d edited and approved. I want to give you some sense of what happened within Gawker Media on Friday, and what has happened since, as a means of explaining why I have to resign as executive editor. Here is Craggs’ memo to the editorial staff of Gawker Media: Over the weekend, Denton and colleagues of Read and Craggs tried, and failed, to persuade them to stay. On Saturday, Read informed staffers that if Craggs quit, he would quit as well. When Craggs began informing others that he was indeed quitting, colleagues persuaded him to wait until Monday to officially make a decision. On July 17, shortly before the post was taken down, Craggs informed the managing partnership that, “If we decide to pull the post, I think I have to quit.” Still, as we reported last week, four partners-CEO Nick Denton chief operating officer Scott Kidder chief strategy officer Erin Pettigrew and Andrew Gorenstein, who serves as president of advertising and partnerships-voted to remove the post. Under those conditions, Craggs and Read wrote, they could not possibly guarantee Gawker’s editorial integrity. In letters sent today, Craggs and Read informed staff members that the managing partnership’s vote to remove a controversial post about the CFO of Condé Nast-an unprecedented act endorsed by zero editorial employees-represented an indefensible breach of the notoriously strong firewall between Gawker’s business interests and the independence of its editorial staff. Tommy Craggs, the executive editor of Gawker Media, and Max Read, the editor-in-chief of, are resigning from the company.
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