Published
Tue, Feb 6, 2024, 17:30
- Speaking anonymously to RA, employees confirmed the publication won't lose its digital footprint.
Pitchfork will continue operating its own website instead of transitioning into the GQ domain, according to employees.
Speaking to Resident Advisor, remaining staff members (who chose to remain anonymous) also confirmed that the Pitchfork and GQ teams will be joined. Last month, parent company Condé Nast announced the merger, laying off 12 Pitchfork employees in the process.
Since then, Pitchfork has mostly published news and reviews, as well as one feature that went live two days after the merger was announced. It's unclear if the site will continue to run features after its features editors were laid off. When staff asked their bosses for more information, they got "the runaround," one source told RA. The employees also backed up previous claims that the company now feels like a "ghost ship."
"It doesn't feel like anyone's in charge," one current staff member said. When asked if it seemed like GQ knew what was going on, they replied, "No." They continued: "It's just a collective confusion. Because we have a lot of questions and there doesn't seem to be a lot of answers."
Another Pitchfork source said they felt "unmotivated" by the "depressing situation" and that it was beginning to feel like the cuts were made "for no real reason."
In a now-deleted post on X, Claire Willett, part of Condé Nast's analytics team, wrote last month that Pitchfork has the highest daily site visitors by volume compared to the conglomerate's other titles. Current Pitchfork employees confirmed this with RA, saying they didn't understand the rationale behind the layoffs.
RA has approached Condé Nast for comment. We'll report more on this story as it unfolds.