Confider #84: The Messenger Is ‘Out of Money,’ Meghan McCain Goes MIA
Welcome to this week’s edition of Confider, the media newsletter that pulls back the curtain to reveal what’s really going on inside the world’s most powerful navel-gazing industry. Subscribe here and send your questions, tips, and complaints here.
EXCLUSIVE — MESSAGE RECEIVED?: Growing increasingly anxious over the financial health of The Messenger, staffers at the “non-partisan” media start-up have quietly been pushing to unionize the newsroom while urging management to hold a town hall to address their myriad concerns, multiple people familiar with the situation told Confider. Among the issues employees would like to see addressed, sources noted, are the outlet’s recent partnership with an AI firm, The Messenger president Richard “Mad Dog” Beckman’s suggestion to others that the site is “out of money,” and the internal secrecy over the site’s traffic. Additionally, employees wonder why editor-in-chief Dan Wakeford continues to be MIA, especially with the increased bumps in the road for the site, noting that owner Jimmy Finkelstein has taken to regularly sending editors story ideas and tips, a task generally reserved for Wakeford. A Messenger spokesperson, however, contended that Wakeford still “has complete editorial control” and that Finkelstein merely “makes editorial suggestions to the team.” Launched in May with grand promises of booming traffic and massive revenue windfalls, The Messenger saw key execs hit the exits just months into its existence, citing clashes with Beckman, who earned the nickname “Mad Dog” for his brutish management style at Conde Nast. Meanwhile, with reporters already grousing about the reliance on “clickbait” journalism and aggregation to generate gobs of content, the newsroom was taken aback this month by the announcement that the site was partnering with Seekr, an AI company. According to the press release, the “strategic partnership” would be used to flag “clickbait” and “eliminate bias.” Of course, that left employees confused due to the site’s embrace of sensationalized headlines but also worried that they’ll be essentially replaced by AI bots. Adding fuel to the firestorm, sources said, was The Messenger’s very favorable story about the company two weeks before the partnership was revealed. The fallout over the collab, which staffers said they were “blindsided” by, has been made worse by internal comments from Beckman—the one who made those pie-in-the-sky promises of $100 million in revenue within the first year—that the site is struggling financially. (A spokesperson for The Messenger disputes this characterization, telling Confider that the site “is doing extraordinarily well” and expects to be profitable by the end of 2024, adding that there is “no question about us staying afloat.”) Staffers have also fumed about management tightly guarding access to the site’s Chartbeat, which provides data and analytics on online traffic. According to people familiar with the matter, only senior editors have the ability to see the data, on orders of Finkelstein, prompting concerns that traffic is struggling and ad revenue is tanking, especially since the site still largely relies on low-paying programmatic advertising. Based on Similarweb’s external traffic analysis, The Messenger currently ranks #195 among U.S. news sites, pulling in similar numbers to local Texas news stations.
EXCLUSIVE — ACRIMONY IN ALBANY: The New York Times has brought in an outside law firm to investigate new complaints against one of their star reporters, Confider has learned. Jesse McKinley, the paper’s former Albany Bureau Chief, has been accused of inappropriate behavior by a former top aide to ex-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. In her new book What’s Left Unsaid, Melissa DeRosa writes that during a pandemic-era meeting in McKinley’s backyard, he drank more than a bottle of wine before attempting to hit on her when she tried to leave. After McKinley inquired about her eye color, DeRosa said he grabbed her on the wrist as she attempted to walk away. “Don’t go, Melissa. It’s still early. Stay longer,” he said as he pulled her towards him, according to the book. She says McKinley held on to her for a few seconds more until she was able to grab her belongings and leave. The Washington Post’s Eric Wemple first reported on the incident last week and found other instances of alleged inappropriate behavior. That has prompted Times brass to launch its second probe into McKinley after an initial probe in 2021 looked into a complaint from DeRosa. “The question that still remains unanswered is how The New York Times who was the driver of the Me Too movement and specifically the Me Too moves against Andrew Cuomo could determine that the governor putting his hands on a woman’s face at a wedding is a front page offense but yet when something much worse was brought to their attention in their own house they did nothing about it,” DeRosa told Confider, adding that she told Times journalist Nick Confessore about the incident around the time it happened in 2020. “When Nick informed [Managing Editor] Carolyn Ryan to the extent that there was a situation with their Albany bureau chief, why did she do nothing at all? I think the entire situation underscores the hypocrisy of The New York Times.” But the Times says it was not clear DeRosa was making a complaint when she spoke with Confessore. “A complaint was made against Jesse McKinley, a New York Times journalist in 2021. An independent, external investigation did not substantiate Ms. DeRosa’s characterization of the events, and McKinley denied the accusation that he grabbed her in any way,” a rep for the Times told Confider. “We take all allegations very seriously and are reviewing the new accounts.” McKinley did not respond to a request for comment.