Other obligations kept me away yesterday but allow me to add my voice to the chorus of folks — both readers and staff alike — expressing dismay at the abrupt firings of 3 editors at Autostraddle. I’m stunned and hurt and I’m so sorry to Vanessa, Shelli and Ro.
I think we’ve comforted ourselves w/ the belief that AS is a different space…and, in a lot of ways, it is. But that these editors — whose jobs were centered around building community — were the first sacrificed…well, it feels like maybe we aren’t that different after all.
It’s impossible to look around the media landscape at the moment and believe that AS would be the one to escape unscathed…no matter how generous our readers were and/or how willing our staff was to sacrifice for the benefit of the community.
Maybe there are no good options.
But even in the face of those harsh realities, there’s a right way and a wrong way to move forward and this was, unequivocally, the wrong way.
It fell short of what we owe our readers.
It fell short of what we owe Vanessa, Shelli and Ro.
I understand that trust in Autostraddle has been shaken, if not shattered…and I hope that the moment is met with an honest and transparent accounting of what brought us here.
Without that, no amount of money is going to save us.