Sanders’ message to Deadspin‘s staff came after the site’s employees decided to quit in the wake of G/O/ Media firing longtime deputy editor Barry Petchesky on Tuesday. Petchesky’s firing came after he refused to obey the “stick to sports” directive in a memo to staff; the site’s four new top headlines on Tuesday, with one technical exception, were not about sports. 

“Hi!” Petchesky announced on Twitter Tuesday. “I’ve just been fired from Deadspin for not sticking to sports.”

As Common Dreams reported, management also removed a post from G/O Media properties acknowledging reader distaste for atutoplay ads on the platform. G/O spokesperson Jeffrey Schneider told Common Dreams that taking down the post was not a violation of a union agreeement on editorial independence because company leadership took a vote; staff at the site said they doubted such a vote even took place.

Spanfeller and G/O Media also shuttered the company’s politics site, Splinter, on October 10. 

The Deadspin staff exodus began on Wednesday after a meeting with G/O Media management and continued Thursday. Longtime writers and editors departed the site, citing management’s directives and an unacceptable working environment as why they coudn’t stay on. 

“I resigned from Deadspin this morning,” tweeted Drew Magary, one of the site’s most popular writers, on Thursday. “That was a fun time you and me had there all those years, wasn’t it? Let’s do it again sometime.”

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